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| Image from "The Crime Report" |
Updated 3/8/24
By Michael Liebowitz
A Connecticut prisoner for nearly 25 years, Liebowitz is currently housed at Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers, CT.
Since his release, he authored "View from a Cage: My Transformation from Convict to Crusader for Liberty" and currently hosts the podcast, "The Rational Egoist".
Along with Brett McCall, Liebowitz is also co-author of "Down the Rabbit Hole: How the Culture of Corrections Encourages Crime", available at Amazon. Dr. Stanton E. Samenow, PhD reviewed the work in a 3/12/21 article in Psychology Today magazine. In his review he writes, "I have found that Liebowitz and McCall are keen observers with a positive objective - to help others become more effective in helping people like themselves to change and become responsible human beings. This book is definitely worth a read."
Liebowitz is also a regular guest with Todd Feinburg on WTIC AM 1080. Podcasts of Todd's segments with Liebowitz can be heard, here.
Introduction
I would argue
that; strictly speaking, ending mass incarceration per se, should not be the
goal. Rather, what we ought to seek to
accomplish is a significant reduction of criminal behavior. After all, if we simply set out to eliminate
mass incarceration as our primary goal it would be simple enough to achieve:
just open the prison gates and release the bulk of the population. I highly doubt, however, that this “solution”
would be palatable to the general public.
The questions
are: Are there policies we can implement
that will dramatically reduce crime and if so, what are they? I firmly believe the answer to the first
question is yes and the purpose of this plan is to articulate and propose such policies.
Crime reduction will undoubtedly require
a bold and comprehensive plan. And while
due to my lack of resources I am unable to provide all the details I would like
to (such as cost, for example), I still think my plan meets these criteria.
It consists
of the following:
·
End the War on Drugs
·
Widespread Implementation of
Functional Family Therapy (FFT) and Multisystemic Therapy (MST); Hold Juveniles
Accountable
·
Widespread Implementation of
Evidence-Based Programs
·
Widespread Implementation of Core Correctional
Practices
· Remunerate Correctional Officials and Employees Based on Results, i.e., Reduced Recidivism
· Remunerate Correctional Officials and Employees Based on Results, i.e., Reduced Recidivism
·
Privately Fund a Significant Portion
of Reform Programs
Let’s examine each of the plan’s components in turn.
End
the War on Drugs
I argued above that our primary goal ought not to
be ending mass incarceration, but to reduce crime. I pointed out the ease with which we could
shrink the prison population by releasing prisoners en masse, but that the
public would likely see this as undesirable. There is one type of offender, however, who
should be released and one type of crime that should be removed from the book:
drug offenders and drug offenses. These
two reforms would by themselves significantly reduce the prison population. Ending the “war on drugs”, however, would not
only do this, but it would also reduce crime, and not just crimes related to
sales and possession.
