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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWe can't afford free college, yet we can afford putting people in prison?
Last edited Tue Feb 23, 2016, 05:18 PM - Edit history (2)
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/1780/article/p2p-85987604/Source: BY GARRETT THEROLF, LA Times
February 23, 2016
Los Angeles County's juvenile detention system was designed in an era when youth crime was on the rise.
The number of juvenile arrests has fallen dramatically in recent years.
Some say the system has not kept up with this shift, and now it's costing taxpayers money.
A county audit found that the average cost of incarcerating a youth has soared to $233,600 a year, significantly higher than other comparable jurisdictions. In Chicago, the annual cost was $204,400 per youth; in San Diego, it was $127,750; and in Houston, it was $84,680, the study said.
In New York City, it costs $168,000 a year per adult prisoner.
In the state of California, it costs an average of $47,000 a year to incarcerate an inmate.
CNN chart comparing the cost of education to the cost of housing an inmate for each state.
"I don't mind having to pay for putting people in jail, overbloated military expenses, wars, or corporate welfare, but how dare the poor blacks and hispanics get free stuff!"
Giving poor people access to college is an investment that will bring tax revenue in the future, whereas putting people in prison marks them with a felony and will be a net drain in the future, because they will likely not be able to get a job and have to lead a life of crime to survive, making sure they go back to prison in the future and further draining taxpayers of money. Helping people is better than being nasty and kicking them to the curb.
The obsession of many American people with racism and nastiness is costly.
On Edit: added war to the quote, inspired by a response.
tk2kewl
(18,133 posts)tk2kewl
(18,133 posts)Total Cost of Wars Since 2001 $1,671,742,966,972
Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying
$8.36 million for Total Cost of Wars Since 2001.
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/
ProfessorGAC
(65,138 posts). . .how many people wouldn't plea bargain to go to junior college instead of jail?
Going to jail leads to harder criminals. Going to college might prevent the next recidivist.
Igel
(35,337 posts)The "affluenza" kid?
Send him to school.
And if any of the police officers in the Gray case in Baltimore get convicted, offer to spring for an associate's degree for them.
haele
(12,673 posts)Taxpayers get screwed, but private security and other contractors make lots of money, jails where industry becomes a "partner" to "train and employ" prisoners make lots of money, investors are happy, and excess population that would otherwise be demanding living wages, respect, and a change in the business culture to reflect actual economic reality (as opposed to a investor/casino economy) are taken swept out of the political sphere - pretty much permanently.
Disaster capitalism in action. A few people are getting very, very wealthy and very, very comfortable in their personal reality, and they want to keep it that way.
Haele
MerryBlooms
(11,771 posts)We're so screwed.
Initech
(100,099 posts)Quantess
(27,630 posts)College isn't for everyone.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)I spent four years at my state's flagship public university in the 1980s. Then it had the largest enrollment in the country. I can guaran-damn-tee that 15-20% of the kids had no idea why they were there or what to do. It was a place to kill time, because in those days tuition was about $400 per quarter.
And the world will always need medical technicians, plumbers, carpenters, electrcians and many other skilled trades which cannot be outsourced and can be unionized.
Quantess
(27,630 posts)birth to age 3 are the most crucial formative years.
After that, it's up to 8 years of age that is the next most crucial time, developmentally.
We need to take care of our children (they are all ours) and raise them to be upstanding, productive, people who can think for themselves.
After a good childhood, they can become a plumber or a roofer or a nurse or a dentist or a real estate agent or a doctor. College or no college, every kid deserves a good start.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)progressoid
(49,996 posts)TBF
(32,085 posts)it's what the elites favor. They don't want an educated populace fighting back and they sure aren't going to pay for it.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)from putting people in the slammer. From public education, no.
maveric
(16,445 posts)Uneducated people are easy to mislead.
Skittles
(153,174 posts)spending any money on at-risk youth is considered SOCIALISM, but taxpayers footing huge bills for the prison-for-profit program is just plain CAPITALISM