It’s time to break bad corrections habits

Just as health professionals use the word “carcinogenic” to describe substances and behaviors that cause cancer, criminal justice experts have their own scary-sounding term for factors that increase the likelihood of crime: “criminogenic.” Substance use disorders, antisocial attitudes, and having criminal peers top many lists of what contributes to criminal activity.

But other criminogenic culprits are often overlooked: those within the corrections system itself. Three are particularly conspicuous targets for change:

1. Stop locking up people for lower-level offenses. The theory behind sending people to jail or prison for minor crimes is that they’ll learn their lesson and straighten out because they won’t want to be sent back again. And for some, time behind bars indeed is a deterrent.

{mosads}But in far too many cases, the net effect of using jail or prison for minor offenses is negative. Not only does incarceration separate people from jobs, friends and family members, it also functions as a school of crime, exposing those who were at a low-risk of reoffending to people with more serious criminal histories and destructive habits — and immersing them in an often violent environment that teaches them to be more manipulative and aggressive.

The result: They often walk out of prison more likely, not less, to resume a criminal lifestyle — and the type of crimes they commit may escalate. Research indicates that’s especially true for juveniles at low risk for reoffending, who after incarceration are more prone to commit crimes than are youths who were not placed in residential facilities.

No one disputes that some lawbreakers belong behind bars. But people whose crimes are minor can be held accountable through probation, victim restitution, community service and other more effective and less expensive alternatives.

2. Don’t overload supervision conditions. When courts put those who have committed less serious offenses on probation rather than sending them to prison, they typically impose a lengthy set of rules that these people must follow to maintain their freedom. These conditions generally include reporting regularly to a probation officer, performing community service, taking drug tests and participating in treatment programs.

The idea here is that extensive structure and intervention will curb illegal behavior. But it turns out that, rather than preventing people from graduating to more serious crimes, laundry lists of compliance requirements and programs can actually do the opposite. Most people have enough difficulty carrying out their daily activities and duties for work and family. For probationers, an extra set of burdensome tasks, many of which require time and transportation, can be a recipe for failure.

Many of those with less serious offenses would be better off with a much narrower and tailored set of requirements. So would community supervision agencies: being able to spend less time on minor cases would enable them to enhance focus on the higher-risk people who need more intervention and support to succeed.

3. Don’t keep inmates locked up until the final day of their sentences. Often called “maxing out,” this practice means that a prisoner serves every last day of his or her sentence and then is released without any supervision or support. As of 2012, more than one-fifth of people released from prison maxed out their sentences. Some even go home straight from solitary confinement with no monitoring or transition support whatsoever.

Research confirms the obvious folly of this approach, finding that people who are released to the supervision of a parole officer have lower rearrest rates than those who max out without subsequent supervision.

Trying to break old habits can be daunting — even more so for complex government systems than for individuals. But many states and localities have begun to do just that, taking concrete steps to improve their corrections systems and enhance public safety. This includes the nation’s most incarcerated state, Louisiana, which adopted comprehensive sentencing and corrections reforms last year that divert more people convicted of minor offenses from prison and scale back fines and fees.

With enough focus and determination, more states can leave these and other outdated and criminogenic customs behind. The dividends will benefit everyone, with safer streets, fewer taxpayer dollars funneled into the corrections system, and more people leading productive and fulfilling lives.

Adam Gelb directs The Pew Charitable Trusts public safety performance project.