Prison Policy Initiative (@PrisonPolicy) / X

Prison Policy Initiative

18.1K posts

Prison Policy Initiative

@PrisonPolicy

Challenging mass incarceration and over-criminalization through research, advocacy, and organizing. Get email updates: prisonpolicy.org/subscribe/

Easthampton, MA

Joined October 2009

Pinned
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Apr 7
🚨NEW REPORT: Most people think of probation and parole as pathways away from the carceral system — but that couldn't be further from the truth. New data reveal how community supervision has grown in parallel with mass incarceration and widened the net of social control 🧵
2K
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Nov 23, 2022
🧵We've pulled together some of the false claims about crime and incarceration you're most likely to hear at the Thanksgiving dinner table, and the data and facts to help you push back:
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Nov 22, 2023
Don’t worry! If your Thanksgiving dinner conversation turns from pie to prisons, or from cranberries to crime, we’ve got you covered. We pulled together some of the false claims you’re likely to hear at the dinner table and the data to help you push back. 🧵
387K
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Nov 23, 2022
Replying to @PrisonPolicy
Claim #2: "Crime is out of control." Response: Crime remains at historically low levels. The perception that crime is up is driven by hyperbolic media coverage and claims by opportunistic elected officials. Property crime is at its lowest level in more than 30 years.
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Nov 23, 2022
Replying to @PrisonPolicy
Claim #1: "Crime is up because of bail reform!" Response: Very few places have actually eliminated or reduced their dependence on money bail. In those places that have reined in their money bail system, most saw decreases or negligible increases in crime after reforms...
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Nov 23, 2022
Replying to @PrisonPolicy
Claim #3: "Crime is up because we defunded the police." Response: Very few cities actually defunded the police. In a small subset of these, crime went up slightly this year, but this is likely related to the pandemic and economic hardships. (continued)
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Nov 23, 2022
Replying to @PrisonPolicy
The vast majority of people arrested repeatedly are not actually violent and are more likely to simply have economic and health disadvantages that put them in more frequent contact with police. A better solution to crime is to attack inequality.
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Nov 23, 2022
Replying to @PrisonPolicy
While violent crime has risen slightly in recent years — roughly 4% since 2019 — violent crime rates are still almost half of what they were 30 years ago.
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Nov 23, 2022
Replying to @PrisonPolicy
For example, in 2017 New Jersey eliminated the use of cash bail. After that reform, the state's pretrial population decreased by 50%, and violent crime decreased by 16%.
Releasing people pretrial doesn’t harm public safety
From prisonpolicy.org
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Nov 23, 2022
Replying to @PrisonPolicy
And if all else fails, it never hurts to pull out this chart. Happy Thanksgiving!
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Nov 23, 2022
Replying to @PrisonPolicy
Even if places had reduced police funding, most policing has little to do with real threats to public safety: the vast majority of arrests are for low-level offenses. Only 5% of all arrests are for serious violent offenses.
theintercept.com
Police Make More Than 10 Million Arrests a Year, but That Doesn’t Mean They’re Solving Crimes
Amid aggressive enforcement of minor offenses, most victims don’t report crimes to police and fewer than 25 percent of reported crimes are solved by arrest.
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Jul 29, 2021
NEW: The Biden Admin. is piloting a program that takes away incarcerated people's mail and replaces it with scans. The program will push people away from paper mail, and toward the more expensive options provided by the BOP's corporate partners. Read more:
The Biden Administration must walk back the MailGuard program banning letters from home in federal...
From prisonpolicy.org
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Nov 23, 2022
Replying to @PrisonPolicy
Moreover, there are already tried-and-tested alternatives to police that do better at protecting public safety: Triage centers and civilian response teams for people in behavioral health crises, programs for youth, expanded healthcare...
Prison Policy Initiative
@PrisonPolicy
Nov 23, 2022
Replying to @PrisonPolicy
Claim #5: "Sometimes jail or prison is the best place for someone - they can get the help they need." Response: Even in the best of times, jails and prisons are not good at providing health and social services, such as substance use and mental health treatment.