National Center for Policy Analysis: History
Establishment of the Criminal Justice Center
The NCPA believes economic theory can explain crime. A series of NCPA studies claim that crime pays, imprisonment works and private-sector solutions can help reduce crime.
- A 1990 study by Texas A&M professor Morgan Reynolds showed that a murderer can expect to spend only 2.3 years in prison, a rapist – 3.5 months and an auto thief – 6.3 days. Numbers are adjusted for the probabilities of arrest, prosecution, conviction and imprisonment. A 1999 NCPA study released on Capitol Hill showed the downward trend in the U.S. crime rate in the last decade is directly related to an increased likelihood of retention in prison.
- The aforementioned study was covered by ABC Nightly News and received other national publicity. In response, the NCPA produced an annual update for several years.
- A 1992 NCPA study on Myths of Gun Control showed no relationship between guns and crime. Despite the national concern over assault weapons, only 250,000 machine guns can be found nationally in private hands and none of these legally owned weapons have been used during the commission of a crime in the past 50 years.
- A 1994 NCPA study found that three private law enforcement officers exist for every one public officer. The study recommended numerous ways for the private sector to help deter crime, including private attorneys serving as deputy DAs, rewards and bounties for apprehending criminals, privatization of the parole system (similar to the bail bond system) and factories behind bars in privatized prisons.
- In another widely-quoted NCPA study, University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell found that if the Miranda Rule had not taken effect, police would have solved as many as 20 percent more violent crimes and as many as 16 percent more property crimes. Cassell won a federal appeals panel decision in 1999 overturning the Miranda Rule in one jurisdiction, but the Miranda Rule was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court.