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America’s incarceration rate is in decline

(www.theatlantic.com)
258 points paulpauper | 1 comments | 25 Jun 25 17:14 UTC | HN request time: 0.209s | source
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philipallstar ◴[26 Jun 25 11:11 UTC] No.44386200[source]▶
Incarceration isn't the same thing as crime. If the most populous state by far (California, almost 40m people in 2025) passes a law[0] that stealing things under $950 is a misdemeanor rather than a felony, then crime can continue while incarceration rates drop.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_California_Proposition_47

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snarf21 ◴[26 Jun 25 14:26 UTC] No.44387764[source]▶
This is a very one sided presentation of the facts. This fact is generally used to suggest that theft is all a liberal blue state issue. The highest felony theft amount in the US is in red Texas and is $2500. Around 40 states have a *HIGHER* felony $ limit for theft than California. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense to not spend $10K+ to jail someone for stealing $500 of stuff. There are more cost effective ways to rehabilitate people. However, our society doesn't prioritize helping as much as punishing.
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1. potato3732842 ◴[26 Jun 25 15:45 UTC] No.44388524[source]▶
The whole hoopla around the felony status is just a proxy. when you commit a bunch of felonies there's all sorts of coded in law and process (sentencing guidelines) that apply (as well as KPIs, cops and prosecutors care about being able to say they put felons away) so you can't really be habitually felonious very much without winding up behind bars.

Below the felony threshold the system is far more free to let you go back out and keep doing what you're doing.

So the actual dollar threshold of felony theft is really just a crappy (because not all states go equally hard on non-felony crime) proxy for the rate of recidivism.