Georgia’s courts are overburdened and underfunded. Meanwhile, paying the bill for the state’s prison system has become much tougher during these cash-strapped times.
For the sake of public safety and fiscal prudence, there has to be a better way.
In his inaugural address, Gov. Nathan Deal, a former prosecutor, may have started the state down the road to cost savings and better results when he implored Georgia to rethink its habit of locking away many nonviolent criminals, drug addicts or the mentally ill. Sentencing reform is not a feel-good topic for an inaugural, but it is a necessary one in a state that spends about $3 million a day on prisons.
This month, Deal and lawmakers followed up by announcing legislation to set up the 2011 Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform for Georgia.
The need for change is easy to understand and should be easy to support, given that Georgia has the fourth-largest prison system in the U.S. and spends about $18,000 a year to warehouse each inmate.
Comparing that cost to the state’s $3,800 outlay for a k-12 student makes plain that our priorities and budgeting need serious realignment. As Deal put it, “That math does not work for Georgia. Today costs are too high, recidivism rates are too high and rehabilitation is too rare.” Good points all.
Fixing this imbalance will save money in the short run and, hopefully, reduce crime over the long haul. Let’s get on with it.
The task force’s report is due by next January on the day the Legislature resumes session. They should beat that deadline. It’s probably not reasonable to expect a well-researched report before the Legislature lumbers to an end this year. Even so, recommendations should be on the street well in advance of the 2012 legislative session. That will allow the most time for thorough discussion of needed changes.
There’s no time to waste, though. The recession’s rough grind has increased demand on the courts even as budgets have been reduced year after year. The courts have made do with less, but signs of fiscal strain are increasingly evident.
We have to do better. Maintaining a safe state requires a sound, smoothly running criminal justice system.
It also doesn’t take a skilled trial lawyer to make a convincing argument that the civil courts play a strong role in our economic health, given today’s lawsuit-loving society. Having a deep backlog of either criminal cases or business-related litigation harms both public safety and our state’s economy.
Finding alternatives to incarceration may free some money to bolster our courts.
And as public policies go, lock-’em-up-and-throw-away-the-key was never cheap, even if it was doable during the good times. The recession years have shown us that Georgia can no longer afford this old stance. Between 1987 and 2008, corrections spending nationally increased 137 percent.
When adjusted for inflation, spending on the state court system went the opposite direction, dropping 8.2 percent from fiscal 2000-2010, says a report prepared last December for the State Bar of Georgia. This while usage of the judiciary increased. As a line-item, spending on the courts totals less than 1 percent of the state’s budget.
So it’s clear that reform must come without undue delay. We’d be remiss in not noting that substantive change doesn’t mean twirling 180 degrees from tough prison sentences to a too-lenient model that prematurely turns dangerous criminals out onto our streets.
Perpetrators of the worst crimes — child predators, for example — should remain behind razor-wire-topped fences until they see the wisdom of the straight and narrow.
That said, it makes both common sense and good fiscal practice to develop alternative ways to keep a tight lid on crime and the cost of fighting it. It’s likely cheaper over time to concentrate efforts on reforming offenders who are willing to be rehabilitated. That requires adequate funding for drug abuse treatment and other programs for non-violent scofflaws.
Investing in the cure or, better yet, in prevention, should prove a better use of taxpayer money than the current system. And it should make us safer, which is the best bargain of all.
Andre Jackson, for the Editorial Board
Atlanta Forward: We look at major issues Atlanta must address in order to move forward as the economy recovers.
Look for the designation “Atlanta Forward,” which will identify these discussions.
