The growth in the prison population is largely because of tougher state and federal sentencing imposed since the mid-1980s by Reagan's policies and his Comprehensive Crime Control Act. Minorities have been particularly affected, since one out of every nine black men ages 20 to 34 is behind bars, and rates for Latinos is nearly as high. Many of them, along with many white people are locked up for mandatory minimum sentences for victimless crimes, to the point where there is a lot of overcrowding in prisons. And it's very costly, because over the past two decades, state spending on corrections (adjusted for inflation) increased 127 percent, as compared to spending on higher education which rose only 21 percent.
All these things are clear indicators of how counterproductive Reaganite "law and order" policies have been with regard to the criminal justice system. But, the rising crimes and incarceration rates are caused also by Reaganism-turned-Bushism with regard to its terrible lack of social and economic justice, its built-in inequity, and its redistribution of wealth to those who were already wealthy, at the expense of all the rest of us.
That's because, as president, Reagan also increased the trend of cutting taxes for the wealthy, claiming there would be a "trickle-down" effect that would ultimately benefit all citizens. He also started the Reaganite (and later Bushite) trend of trying to whittle down and destroy President Roosevelt's New Deal programs (like Social Security and Medicare), and all other social and human services programs, claiming that people should be "self-reliant" and "not depend on government." But that is misleading deception, and it is really a cunning way of ignoring the advice of the Christ Jesus, who said we should care for the poor, the disadvantaged, and the least of our brethren.
Since then, Reaganites and Bushites have not only continued to cut taxes for the wealthiest one percent (the wealthiest three million Americans), falsely claiming that it will ultimately benefit everyone. They've also continued to cut funding and decrease investment in human services and proven prevention and intervention programs.
That is relevant, because it has proved disastrous on many different levels, not only with increases in poverty, hunger and homelessness, but with increases in crime and violence.
Reaganites and Bushites have been blind to the utter foolishness of their policies, and to the fact that their policies during the last three decades have caused most of the problems that we have today. They don't want to pay their fair share of taxes, and yet they create greater need for greater revenue to pay for greater police forces and larger prisons and greater military forces, all of which are the most costly to our government and to the average American taxpayers who must bear the burden.
Is this not sheer insanity caused by greed and lust for money? Do they really serve "God and Country" as they claim? Or do they really serve Mammon and their own self interests? (That a rhetorical question, because the truth is self-evident to anyone who just looks at the facts.)
We simply must invest sufficiently in proven and effective prevention and intervention programs, because they will help solve many of our problems, including those caused by violence. Moreover, for every dollar invested in prevention and intervention programs, four dollars are saved and don't have to be spent on law enforcement and punishment.
We must also ensure that police forces and the criminal justice systems focus on serious crimes of murder, rape, violence, assault and battery, domestic violence; spouse abuse, elder abuse, child abuse, sex abuse, robbery, theft, fraud, and trafficking and use of harmful, addictive drugs like meth, crack and heroin.
But we have to realize that in order to focus on serious crimes, the police and prosecutors should stop spending so much time trying to deal with victimless crimes like prostitution and the use of fairly harmless substances like Marijuana. (And by the way, I don't say that lightly or unadvisedly. In fact, I know the scientific facts and the religious facts about it, and if you are interested, read the page on The Plant of Renown. Better yet, read Chapter 10. On The War on Marijuana in my second book. It reveals exactly how and why the U.S. Government's policies and laws against Marijuana ever since 1937 have been based on denial and blatant ignorance of truth and facts, including facts revealed in official government reports and research. It explains how and why over ten million Americans were arrested on Marijuana charges between 1972 and 2002, and that folly has continued. In fact, about one Marijuana smoker is arrested every 45 seconds in America, and insane laws enable police to confiscate their land and property, and put them in prison, wasting the time of police and the courts, and taking up prison space that should be reserved for larcenous and violent criminals who really ought to be there. Consequently, prisons are overcrowded, and many serious offenders are given early release.)
Anyway, getting back to the problem of violence, it cannot be solved solely by reforming the law enforcement and criminal justice systems. We have to consider the root causes, the biggest of which is poverty. (See the page on Poverty for causes and solutions.) But there are many other causes, and some of the worst are all the bad examples that influence us, and especially our children and youth.
For example, as I've mentioned, neighborhood gangs are created, maintained and strengthened by the "gang mentality" and the sense of belonging, superiority and power that it gives its members. And in my view, the worst and biggest example of a harmful gang was that of the bigoted, hypocritical, unfair and divisive right-wing conservative politicians and "religious" leaders of the Reaganite and Bushite New Right, or the Neo-Conservative ("Neo-Con") Movement in America.
After all, for the last twenty-seven years it has had tremendous political influence by claiming to tout "family values" and "Christian values," when it has actually created a culture of "Me First," and "It's everyone for himself." They of course claim they are merely against "big government" and for "self-reliance," but that's just a smoke screen. In fact, it's all a lie, and their policies have created terrible financial hardship for many working poor families and individuals.
The Neo-Cons (Reaganites and Bushites) really like big government if and when it suits their purposes. They especially like a big conventional police forces and a big conventional military, and even a big covert military force and covert "intelligence" force, so they can impose their will anywhere in the world. They just want to do away with government programs and services that help people who need help, just so they can pay far less than their fair share of taxes. But, by cutting taxes even further for the wealthiest few, they plunged the nation deep into debt and deprived many people of the help they desperately need.
Reaganites and Bushites were also successful at creating laws that enable the very wealthy few to get even more and more wealthy, while the majority of us have continually become less well off, the middle class has kept shrinking, more and more people have fallen into the working poor population, and the environment and infrastructure have suffered neglect. And all this has had a profoundly negative impact on many families and on our society in general, and it has exacerbated the problems of poverty, hunger, homelessness, violence and crime.
But the Reaganites and Bushites have certainly not been the only other bad examples.
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