The Politics Of Crime
The Politics of Crime
by Rev. Joe Summers
A year ago I became the vicar of a small mission church. I was excited to become part of this community because I knew it to be a group of people who were actively committed to working for peace and justice, both internationally and at home. But I also felt intimidated and apprehensive about participating in the church's main form of outreach - its prison ministry. Through my work in the prison ministry, however, I have decided that there is no issue which more dramatically highlights the problems of racism, classism and sexism in society, than does our penal system.
Between 1975 and 1985, at a time when there was only a modest increase in our population and crime rates, the number of people incarcerated nationally and in the state of Michigan more than doubled. In addition, during this period the minimum length of sentences imposed by judges in Michigan nearly doubled. Michigan now ranks first in the nation in terms of the length of time people serve for property offenses, with prisoners serving almost 50% more time than the national average.
Despite a massive prison building campaign, Michigan's prisons continue to grow more crowded. At present incarceration rates, the state would have to build one new prison a month just lo keep pace. The Michigan Department of Corrections' annual budget is presently approximately $800 million per year and the projected costs of the prisons which are being built is over one billion dollars. It is estimated that the new crime legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Perry Bullard, will cost the state $265.3 million in increased prison administration costs and $160 million in new prison construction costs over the next four years. With each new prison costing around $30-40 million to build and around $8-9 million to operate, it is clear that we need to radically review our present criminal justice policies if for no other reason than budgetary concerns.
Why is all this happening? Why is our state in the midst of constructing 26 new prisons at a time when the crime rate is predicted to decline as our population ages? Why has the state been led to pursue a course which will divert millions of dollars from such vital crime prevention areas as education, child care, job training, substance abuse counseling, and community development funds?
Because crime sells. If in the 1950's Democrats proved they were conservative through their support of anti-communist persecutions, today they earn their conservative credentials by sending ever greater numbers of people to prison for longer periods of time, thus proving they are tough on crime. These are harsh judgements, but it is time people faced what this so-called war against crime is really about. It is about locking up more and more young men and women, who belong predominantly to racial minorities and are overwhelmingly poor. It amounts to punishing some of society's greatest victims for the crimes of a society which is unwilling to face the real costs of justice and development. It means misleading the public into believing that by incarcerating more people, crime rates will go down. It means taking people who are suffering from the effects of dependency and powerlessness and putting them into a system in which they are rendered absolutely dependent. It means for years denying these people control over the most minute aspect of their lives and then throwing them back into a society that has no place for them, with no real preparation to make it on their own.
No one suffers more from crime than the poor. Yet the so-called war against crime has predominantly been a war against the poor. Additionally, a large percentage of those in our prisons have been victims of abuse. We cannot, therefore, claim to be serious about working against crime unless we put significant resources into the prevention of spouse and child abuse and counseling for those who have been its victims. And given that a large percentage of those in our prisons have mental illnesses or substance abuse problems, we cannot claim to be serious about working against crime until we provide these people with adequate treatment.
Most importantly, we cannot claim to be serious about fighting crime unless we recognize the degree to which it is linked to community development. In Michigan, the crime index and the unemployment index have followed each other in lockstep fashion. The effects of underdevelopment of Michigan, which has been the result of the flight of capital and industry, have been devastating. We cannot claim to be serious about fighting crime until we help the devastated communities in our state develop to the point that the people within them feel that there is some place for them in our society. We can do little to prevent the kind of crime most of us are most concerned about, violent crime, as long as a vast proportion of our society has no hope for a future with some measure of dignity.
We are at a crossroads. There will be no peace, no security, until we live in a society which is committed to helping every one of its members secure a place for themselves and their loved ones within it. We can either continue to invest billions of dollars in further crippling ever greater numbers of our population through incarceration in our present criminal justice system, or we can begin to invest our funds in ways that contribute to individual and community development. Though today it may seem to be a choice that will only tangentially affect many of us, ultimately it is a choice between an increasingly violent and repressive society and the kind of future most of us would wish for ourselves and our children.
Rev. Joe Summers is Vicar of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, Pittsfield Township