On Tue, 15 Mar 2011 17:40:24 -0400, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
SNIP
It's been a couple decades. But, I remember reading that
some class of criminals are far more expensive "loose".
Because they burgle, steal, assault, etc. Actually cheaper
for society when locked up.
SNIP
==========
Not that difficult a calculation to make, although it drives
some people wild.
As a general rule of thumb, a criminal must steal/rob about
10X as much as he actually spends on his life style,
assuming he is a full-time criminal. From what I can tell,
most criminal lifestyles are pretty marginal despite what
you see on TV and in the movies. The ones that make the
headlines are the "super stars," during their "peak earning
years."
Assuming a marginal life style for the average criminal,
about 25,000$ per year total will be required depending on
the area, social safety net services such as subsidized rent
in public housing, emergency room medical care, food stamps,
etc.
FWIW -- it appears that in many cases, low level criminal
activity is undertaken to augment the low pay from the
available McJobs, so the total from marginal criminal
activity like car clouting will be less.
This indicated a direct loss to society of about 250,000$
per year for a typical full time criminal. This goes higher
when collateral property damage, vic medical care, lost
productivity because of need to file police reports, etc. is
included, and there is considerable additional consequential
costs generated such as police apprehension [attempts] and
court processing.
The probabilistic factor is the likelihood that a typical
perp would have changed his ways out on the street during
the time he is in prison.
Even in California which
AFAIK is the highest cost state per
prisoner at 133$ per inmate per day or $48,500 per year,
this appears to be highly cost effective in the aggregate,
but not in direct state [tax payer funded] costs, which is
where the problems arise.
http://reason.org/blog/show/cutting-...sts-california
-- Unka George (George McDuffee)
...............................
The past is a foreign country;
they do things differently there.
L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author.
The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).