Mark A.R. Kleiman's book, When Brute Force Fails, has been making the rounds in the blogosphere, from Matt Yglesias to The Economist to The Volokh Conspiracy. The book is about how to improve criminal justice policy so that America has "less crime and less punishment." A centerpiece of Kleiman's argument is Judge Steven Alm's HOPE probation program in Hawaii, which has had startling success in reducing violation rates among probationers.
The main insight Kleiman draws from the program is that punishment is most effective as a deterrent when it is swift and certain, not necessarily severe. Our current method of dealing with crime, inconsistently doling out long, draconian prison sentences, Kleiman argues, is counterproductive and imposes significant social and financial costs on society--particularly in the communities offenders call home.
While Kleiman's ideas have gotten a lot of traction in the blogosphere, today is where some of those ideas begin to become policy. Earlier, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California -- a state struggling to cope with a massive prison population -- joined with Republican Rep. Ted Poe of Texas in announcing the introduction of the The Honest Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) Initiative Act. The bill would create a grant program for states interested in replicating Hawaii's HOPE program, in order to "reduce drug use, crime, and recidivism by requiring swift, predictable, and graduated sanctions for noncompliance with the conditions of probation."
It's worth mentioning that both Poe and Schiff are former prosecutors -- Poe also used to be a judge. The ideological landscape of criminal justice policy has shifted so significantly in recent years that ending the nightmare of mass incarceration is becoming a bipartisan proposition -- often with current and former law enforcement officials leading the way.
-- A. Serwer
