Check out the brand new paper released by the Cascade Policy Institute in Oregon. It’s entitled, “Protecting Public Safety and Reducing Correctional Costs in Oregon.”
Here is an excerpt:
It is also the case that effective law enforcement strategies deter crime, and sensible approaches to community corrections may reduce recidivism. For these and other reasons, simply raising the incarceration rate—an expensive option that diverts funds away from law enforcement, and community corrections—does not guarantee a commensurate drop in the crime rate. Many states—seventeen in the last decade—have been able to reduce both their crime rates and their incarceration rates.