News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Why prisons continue to grow, even when crime declines.

Re:Why prisons continue to grow, even when crime declines by meetri on Friday August 26, 2016 @06:52PM (#12369859)
so, what this article is saying is that while crime has gone down, the average offender has a much more extensive criminal record today than in the past? Doesn't that argument contradict itself? Wouldn't that mean that the real reason prisons continue to grow is that judges hand out more convictions for pettier crimes than in the past?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why prisons continue to grow, even when crime declines by CM30 on Saturday August 27, 2016 @02:19PM (#12373483)
Not really. It means there are less crimes and criminals overall, but the criminals that do commit crimes are repeat offenders and hence have a more extensive criminal record than before.

So a few prolific criminals vs many more occasional ones.

[ Parent | on HN ]