The number of criminal cases that are thrown out because defendents weren't properly "Mirandized" is actually quite small, since the police are careful to advise suspects of their rights. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court's 1966 ruling in Miranda v. Arizona has increased the likelihood that the guilty will go free.
Until Miranda , few people thought that it violated a suspect's constitutional rights for the police to question him without an attorney. In fact, voluntary confessions or self-incriminating facts given by defendents were essential to a large percentage of convictions.
The effect of Miranda was to dry-up voluntary confessions by immediately introducing defense attorneys into police investigations. For example,
Other cities reported similar declines, and researchers estimate that Miranda has reduced the nationwide confession rate by 16 percent. This is confirmed by comparing confessions in the United States with those in countries that use other approaches to regulating police questioning.
That means that each year about 4 percent of all crimes - 28,000 violent crimes and 79,000 serious property crimes - go unpunished because Miranda discourages guilty suspects from confessing.
Source: Paul Cassell and Stephen J. Markman, "Miranda's Hidden Costs," National Review, December 25, 1995.
Experts have concluded that illiteracy is a large contributor to delinquency, and that fact holds vast implications for those concerned about the approaching "bloodbath" of crime forecast by demographers for the next decade. School reforms now could help children to read better and stem the approaching malestrom of delinquency.
Illiteracy, experts say, aggravates crime because the frustration in failing in so key an area hurts the student both intellectually and psychologically.
A substantial number of educators lay the blame for illiteracy at the doorstep of a new method used to teach reading. It is called "whole language" and has replaced the phonics approach in many classrooms.
Advocates of whole language contend that systematic methods which make use of phonics are "heartless drudgery." Whole language theory holds that children can learn to read the same way they learn to talk: through context, pictures and "linguistic guessing." Advocates say children learn to read with less harm and demand on their self-esteem.
But a growing body of educators calls whole language teaching a "romantic" view of learning that is less effective than a developmental view like phonics, and least effective for those who tend to be at risk -- low-income minority children and those with learning disabilities.
Source: Mathew Robinson, "Learn To Read, Stay Out of Jail," Investor's Business Daily, January 11, 1996.
Restraining convicted criminals in prison, rather than releasing them back onto the streets, is a highly cost-effective way of cutting down on the number of murders, rapes, robberies, assaults and thefts.
That would amount to a conservatively estimated 390,000 murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults prevented in 1989 alone. That's because so many of those in prison have committed multiple crimes. In fact,
The research shows it costs society at least twice as much to let a prisoner loose than to lock him up. Compared with the human and financial toll of revolving-door justice, prisons are a real bargain.
Source: Prof. John J. DiIulio, Jr. (Princeton), "Prisons Are a Bargain, By Any Measure," New York Times, January 16, 1996.
Violent crime continues to be a serious problem in the United States despite reports of a decline in the overall crime rate. In 1993 1.9 million violent crimes were reported to the police, but a survey of victims finds that the actual number of violent crimes was 10.8 million. The American people basically are correct in their perceptions that not enough criminals are incarcerated, typical criminals are responsible for a large number of crimes and building more prisons is worthwhile.
Revolving-door justice is a reality:
Surveys of prisoners show that most of them are violent or repeat criminals.
Prisons do cut crime. Millions of violent and property crimes are averted each year by keeping criminals off the streets. Prisoners released early are responsible for tens of thousands of crimes annually.
Source: "The State of Violent Crime in America: First Report of the Council on Crime in America," January 1996, New Citizenship Project, 1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Suite 510, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 822-8333.
Some of the nation's cities are using a practice known as "community policing" to control crime -- and it seems to be working rather well. Advocates maintain that crime must be dealt with at the local level, rather than in Washington, in order to achieve serious advances against the current tide of violence.
Community policing involves freeing officers from their patrol cars to walk and talk with citizens. Commanders consult with community leaders, tenant associations and private security guards and are held responsible for detecting and solving crime problems in their precincts.
Two cities that have made real gains through community policing are New York and Houston.
In New York, the results over the past two years are substantial:
In Houston:
The same approach has helped in smaller-sized communities, such as Aurora, IL, Georgetown, TX, Kansas City, MO, and Reno, NV.
In addition to community policing, other factors -- such as a no-nonsense attitude toward crime and computer assistance -- have also played a part in the progress.
Source: Editorial, "The Most Effective War on Crime is Fought Locally," USA Today, January 26, 1996.
Longer incarceration of criminals partially explains why crime is decreasing in the U.S., according to a new study from the National Center for Policy Analysis. The author of the study, Morgan O. Reynolds, an economics professor at Texas A&M University, reports that crime in Texas is now at its lowest point since 1973 and the murder rate is lower than at any time since 1966.
The study, based on crime statistics and estimates of the punishment criminals can expect in Texas, revealed that:
The major problem in the exploding violent crime rate in recent years has been the inability of law enforcement to keep convicted criminals behind bars for a significant length of time.
Due to a federal court order affecting more than 40 states, prison officials were directed to reduce overcrowding of inmates some years ago. Parole was used by many prison officials throughout the country as a means to reduce prison overcrowding. Then Texas and other states began construction of more prisons.
Source: Linda Chavez, "Surprise: Punishment Actually Cuts Crime," USA Today, January 31, 1996.
The latest crime data from the FBI reveal that the overall crime rate fell 4 percent from 1993 to 1994. However, that is still 29 percent higher than in 1985.
The reduction in crime continued in 1995, extending a three-year downward trend. A number of large cities -- notably New York, Houston, Chicago and Detroit -- achieved substantial reductions in their rates of homicide and other violent crimes.
Criminologists expect this trend to continue for the next few years. But they also predict that violent crime will then resume an upward trend and soar within ten years. Factors behind the current shift include demographics, stabilized drug markets and innovative police techniques.
One technique which has been successful is debriefing suspects. The New York Police Department has gathered valuable information on developing problems or on criminals in the area by interviewing arrestees. "Offer (a suspect) a soda or a cigarette and its amazing what they will tell you," one officer reported.
Source: Matthew Robinson, "Are Cities Winning Crime War?" Investor's Business Daily, January 31, 1996.