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May 4, 2009

Another notable lean-times report on the prison economy

The Salt Lake Tribune has this interesting piece, headlined "Probation and parole officers stretched thinner: Corrections struggles to track offenders in tight budget times," providing another on-the-ground prespective of the criminal justice impact of lean economic times. Here are excerpts from the story:

[W]ith probationers and parolees now comprising one of every 136 people in the Salt Lake Valley, monthly checks are growing to be nearly impossible.  Officers are coping by downgrading more high-risk offenders and ending supervision earlier for others.

Recent Department of Corrections budget cuts have included a six percent job reduction and the closure of an offender diagnostic center that recommended sentences to help judges.  They have also thinned the number of courses offered at Adult Probation and Parole offices, such as anger management and parenting....

Some probationers and parolees pay $180 per month for ankle-monitoring devices and officers to track them.  But the bill is a tough sell for people with criminal records already struggling to find or keep jobs . And officers usually have to check on unemployed offenders more often since, Luke said, "free time can turn to drugs and deviant thoughts."

May 4, 2009 at 07:19 PM | Permalink

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Comments

One Two Three Dead would relieve all overcrowding. It would do so by attrition, assuming zero deterrence.

It is cheeky for the vile criminal lover to generate massive costs, then to advocate saving money by loosing millions of vicious predators.

The criminal lovers on both sides, including the prosecutors, are knowing accomplices.

The criminal law should exclude all lawyers, especially from the bench. These self-dealing incompetents are a threat to the survival of the nation.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | May 5, 2009 12:42:34 AM

S.Claus...are all those who favor protecting citizens from tyrannical bureaucracies and rogue cops and prosecutors "criminal lovers" in your eyes?

Do you honestly view third-strike summary executions as a rational cost-cutting move?

I keep hoping your posts are meant to be satirical.

Regardless, Utah appears to be on the right track for the wrong reason.

It never made sense to pay glorified bureaucrats to systematically harrass non-violent, first-offenders on probation.

That the practice might end because it's become too expensive is OK with me.

Posted by: John K | May 5, 2009 1:54:57 PM

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