David Trieweiler: Long prison sentences don’t keep us safe

By David Trieweiler

Let’s get smarter on crime, not “tougher.”

This time of year, aspiring elected officials insist that we must get tough on crime to keep us safe. “Getting tough” almost always includes imposing more and longer prison sentences. Unfortunately, most of those claims are based on myths, fear and half-truths. Therefore, voters should insist that calls for increased punishment be replaced by programs that can actually reduce crime, help victims, and increase public safety.

According to widely accepted government statistics, the U.S. imprisons more of its citizens per capita than any other nation. Washington state imprisons people at a rate three times higher than most of the rest of the developed world. Over the past 10 years, we have imprisoned more people per capita than at any other time in our history. However, according to the National Academy of Sciences, most studies have concluded that this record breaking level of incarceration has not made us safer. We are not safer because the following myths are false or misleading.

Very long prison sentences deter crime. Untrue. They do not deter the individuals who receive them, and they do not deter others. That makes sense when one recognizes that most crimes, including violent ones, are committed on impulse, by young people, who are not thinking about future consequences. Making the consequences more severe does not change this dynamic.

Lengthy incapacitation is necessary for public safety. Untrue. According to a study published by the National Institute of Justice, even the most crime prone individuals age-out of crime by the age of 40. They simply mature or get tired of the lifestyle. This is true for violent crimes as well as property crimes. For example, persons released early after serving long sentences committed as juveniles have a minuscule recidivism rate of 2.1%. Notably, regarding the effect of imprisonment on recidivism, the National Academy of Sciences report concluded that the body of credible evidence “consistently points to no effect or to an increase rather than a decrease in recidivism.”

Long sentences are desired by survivors. Untrue. Numerous surveys around the country reveal that long prison sentences are not desired by most victims, even of violent crimes. Nationally known victim advocate Danielle Sered found that most victims tell her they do not desire lengthy prison sentences. Rather they want and need an explanation for the crime, remorse by the person who committed it, rehabilitation and other assistance, such as mental health counseling, medical assistance and housing.

In addition to the myths above, very long prison sentences are the epitome of wasteful and ineffective government programs. The expense of prisons alone in Washington exceeds $1 billion per year, not including the cost of county and municipal jails, courts, prosecutors and public defenders. It is wasteful, because it expends limited tax dollars on programs for which there is little to no evidence they work as intended.

A final major problem is that very long prisons sentences are disproportionately imposed on African Americans. According to a 2020 ACLU report by Katherine Beckett and Heather Evans, professors of sociology at the University of Washington, in 2017, although 3.5% of the state’s population was African American, they comprised 19% of the total prison population and 28% of those serving life sentences. These incredibly long sentences not only negatively affect those serving them, but their families and communities as well, further perpetuating our country’s tragic history of systemic racism.

Long prison sentences are ineffective, wasteful, and do very little to help survivors heal. Consequently, society would be better served by addressing crime’s root causes such as early childhood trauma, mental illness, economic insecurity and violence.

David Trieweiler, of Seattle, is a trial attorney with more than 30 years of experience both prosecuting and defending persons accused of crimes in the state of Washington. He is a member of the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and serves as the chair of WACDL’s End Mass Incarceration Project.