Executive Summary

• There are nearly three times as many private security guards as public law enforcement officers , 1.5 million in 1990, and the private sector spends almost twice as much on private security as we pay in taxes to support the public police.
• Private bounty hunters, or bail enforcement agents, make the private bail bonding system work for persons accused of crimes by tracking down and apprehending those who try to flee.
• And the private sector on occasion has been used innovatively in other ways to prepare cases for district attorneys, to prosecute criminal cases and to employ prisoners behind bars.

This study analyzes ways to expand the role of the private sector to reduce crime and lessen the burden of criminal justice for taxpayers. The proposed reforms include:

1. Contract out noncrime, nonemergency police functions to private security firms, allowing public law enforcement officers to concentrate more of their own efforts on crime. Pay bonuses or special incentives to departments that achieve independently verified reductions in crime.
2. Make greater use of reserve law enforcement officers and explore ways to expand their ranks.
3. Shut down pretrial release bureaus and so-called free bonds in favor of competitive, commercial bail bonds.
4. Increase the use of private rewards for criminal convictions, including bounties offered by commercial insurance policies.
5. Pay bounty hunters for recovering criminals who are wanted on bench warrants (orders by judges or courts to arrest persons charged with criminal offenses).
6. Make greater use of private attorneys to prepare and/or litigate criminal cases at private expense in order to expand prosecutor resources at no taxpayer expense.
7. Reduce legal obstacles to integration of criminal prosecution and civil remedies in order to raise the price of crime to criminals and compensate victims more adequately.
8. Require convicts eligible for probation and parole to post a private bond to guarantee good behavior, thus ensuring supervision by a bondsman, raising the cost of committing another crime or violating the terms of their release and encouraging self-control.
9. Accelerate private construction and operation of prisons to control costs and raise quality.
10. Accelerate the private employment of prison labor and explore private employment of convict labor alongside nonconvict labor.

The debate over crime has been in a rut for decades, with conservatives emphasizing tough policies and liberals emphasizing soft remedies and improved economic opportunities. Privatizing the criminal justice system on an incremental basis is a win-win solution: the innovation and productivity of private enterprise can reduce crime, reduce taxes and improve the protection of civil liberties.