Summer 2004:

In the Journal of Economic Perspectives, Steven Levitt, a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago looks at possible factors that led to the declining crime rates of the 1990s. He considers one important contribution to the decline in crime to be the dramatic increase in imprisonment in the 1990s. After hovering at around 100 per 100,000 of the population for almost 50 years, the imprisonment rate started to soar beginning in the 1970s. By 2001, the imprisonment rate was 472 per 100,000 and most of that increase took place in the 1990s. The implications of these numbers are not clear. I am interested in what this analysis says about us, about our society, and about our values. Of course, we all share a common interest in less crime. But imprisonment can’t be an acceptable way to achieve this goal. So what is an acceptable way to reduce crime? Education has always been a golden path in America. A recent study in the American Sociological Review by Becky Petit and Bruce Western highlights the importance of education and our society’s shortfalls in this area. Professors Petit and Western looked at lifetime risks of incarceration for black and white men at different levels of education. Their results are staggering. For a cohort of black men born between 1965 and 1969, 30% without a college education and nearly 60% of high school drop-outs had spent time in prison by 1999. At CASES, we have found that engaging young people in education reaps tremendous positive results. We encourage, we push, and we goad our young participants towards education. Through the School Connection Center we are making better school placements for young people coming out of detention and placement. In the Court Employment Project, we require school attendance in order to take part in our award winning employment programs that so interest our participants. We work in the schools with teachers and others; we offer classes and homework help. At Community Prep High School, our partnership with the Department of Education, young people who would otherwise be out of the education system are going to school. Ultimately, this is a far more meaningful contribution in addressing crime.  

Click here to view the Spring 2005 "Letter from the Director'

Click here to view the Summer 2004 "Letter from the Director"