Even cops can’t get any love from conservatives. Stimulus skeptics are railing against Congress’ plans to provide $4 billion to law enforcement, using the stale argument that no sort of spending will ever stimulate the economy. It’s no matter that police departments are feeling the burn of shrunken budgets and that many may cut staff in response, contributing to unemployment woes. After all, government jobs – even the grittiest ones – couldn’t possibly be considered real jobs.
Still, the critics may have a point that the money could be better spent, even if their reasoning is wrong. Criminal justice reform groups have proposed alternate uses for the funding, arguing that there are better ways to combat a recessionary spike in crime:
[Reform groups] say, Congress' spending plans focus too heavily on law enforcement and not enough on other programs that could improve public safety, such as education and employment assistance for ex-offenders. Critics say putting more police officers on the streets inevitably will result in more arrests — primarily, they say, of nonviolent drug offenders who will fill up already overcrowded jails and prisons, straining government budgets further.
Supporting this approach, research from Naci Mocan and Turan Bali suggests that concentrating funds on deterrence and education programs could help reduce crime in the long term all while boosting the economy. While criminal activity increases along with unemployment, the reverse situation does not have a proportionally similar effect. Even as the economy recovers, individuals affected by the downturn may continue to commit crimes:
[I]f an individual engages in criminal activity during an economic downturn, his legal human capital depreciates and his criminal human capital appreciates, which makes it difficult to switch back to the legal sector (or to decrease time spent in crime) after the recession is over.
So, not only could crime prevention programs create jobs, they could also curb long-term job loss. Explain again how money spent in this area doesn't help the economy?
--Alexandra Gutierrez
