Whether or not that provocative statement is true, the debate about whether a tough crime policy or a more humanistic approach is more effective continues. Following are some of the argument on both sides, followed by a workable plan for the state of Massachusetts.

Some experts prefer to focus on the end-result of the criminal justice process, favoring punishment for its own sake as well as its deterrent effect. They believe the death penalty and long prison terms will cause wrongdoers to think twice. Even if the wrongdoer doesn't think twice, the long incarceration or even loss of life will provide some justice for society. It is modeled on the Old Testament "eye for an eye" idea. Usually, this belief is accompanied by one that prefers strict sentencing guidelines, remo

Perhaps some of this was due to the lower poverty birth rate, as pointed out in Freakonomics. Without that factor, perhaps the numbers of low-life would have overwhelmed the NYPD's capacity to conduct a quality of life campaign.

Despite these figures, there is abundant evidence that, regardless of whether the policies work, they are not cost-effective.

Provide work opportunities for all youth. Even if it requires 'transfer payments,' by taking funds from other government programs, it would seem that helping young people to make money legally will prevent them from having to gain it illegally.

Plus, almost everyone who goes to prison eventually is released. It would be reasonable to assume that if they were simply incarcerated, and not rehabilitated, there would be no reason they wouldn't continue to commit crimes.

One might fling dollar amounts around for decades and, depending on who was 'massaging' the financial information, never arrive at a truly definitive picture of the costs of a 'tough on crime' stance. ON the other hand, it is much easier to justify what might be called a New Testament approach, one in which the criminals are assumed to have made mistakes for which they might atone, if only they could be helped to see the errors of their ways.

Yglesias (2003) pointed out that while it would be wrong to contend that prison is never the right solution, or that there are no instances in which jail time would be effective, there are limits to their effectiveness built into human behavior. Yglesias quotes Richard Kern, a member of Virginia's Sentencing Commission, who notes that laws such as California's "three strikes and you're out" rule go "beyond the point of diminishing returns" for the simple reason that career criminals are not equally active for their entire lives. Robbery, for instances, is "a crime of the young" (Kern, quoted by Yglesias 2003). When the criminals are in their 20s, they are very active, but almost not active at all by the time they reach their 30s (Yglesias 2003). This suggests that there might be a better way, or maybe a cheaper way, to deter these criminals than expensively housing them with others from whom they can learn even better techniques with which to finish their careers.

In 1982, an Atlantic Monthly article noted that police allowing low-level offenses to go unnoticed is much like the owner of an abandoned building allowing vandals to break windows. Finally, people realize they can get away with breaking the windows and they continue to do so until the entire building is trashed from rain and vermin getting in and so on. In New York, in the 1990s, the police believed that ignoring 'quality of life' crimes such as violations of noise ordinances amounted to much the same thing. As long as people figured they could get away with minor annoyances and petty crimes against other citizens, they would continue to do so and probably escalate the behavior (Anderson 1995). At the time, Mayor David Dinkins ordered a citywide campaign against offenses such as drinking alcohol in public, urinating on the streets and "other forms of rowdiness" (Anderson 1995). The argument was that paying strict attention to stopping low-level offenses would inhibit serious crime as well.

Opponents o

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)