The High Budgetary Cost of Incarceration

John Schmitt, Kris Warner and Sarika Gupta

CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs from Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)

Abstract: The United States currently incarcerates a higher share of its population than any other country in the world. We calculate that a reduction in incarceration rates just to the level we had in 1993 (which was already high by historical standards) would lower correctional expenditures by $16.9 billion per year, with the large majority of these savings accruing to financially squeezed state and local governments. As a group, state governments could save $7.6 billion, while local governments could save $7.2 billion. These cost savings could be realized through a reduction by one-half in the incarceration rate of exclusively non-violent offenders, who now make up over 60 percent of the prison and jail population. A review of the extensive research on incarceration and crime suggests that these savings could be achieved without any appreciable deterioration in public safety.

Keywords: incarceration; prison; jail; incarceration rates; budget deficit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E E6 E62 H H6 H61 H7 H72 K K4 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2010-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Working Paper: The High Budgetary Cost of Incarceration (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:epo:papers:2010-14

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