America’s crime problem

Re “Do the time, lower the crime,” Opinion, March 30

Here we go again. You pick your study with one set of facts, and I pick another study with another set of facts, depending on which one will prove which case. James Q. Wilson tells us that incarcerating “criminals” is good for society. Nowhere does he explain why the U.S. has more people per capita in prison than any other country. Could it be that the U.S. has a social and a class problem? He fails to address that a disproportionate number of people in prison are young male minorities who are poor. He brushes over the fact that nonviolent drug use represents the largest increase in our prison population since the so-called war on drugs began under President Nixon. Maybe we all need to pay attention to the fact that our prisons are built and run by private corporations, and that this has been among the fastest growing, most profitable industries in our state.

Lillian Laskin

Los Angeles

How refreshing to read about solutions that focus on the root causes of why people enter our justice system rather than focus only on the length of prison sentences after a person is convicted of a crime. If such leaders as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the L.A. City Council and such writers as Wilson and Times columnists Steve Lopez and Patt Morrison could help educate the public about the value of programs that lead young people toward becoming productive citizens, many problems concerning crime would eventually solve themselves.

Could there be a day in our future when prisons are closing because there are not enough people to fill them?

William Woodrum

Covina

It’s obvious that if you lock up more poor, young people, there will be fewer crimes because there will be fewer people to commit them. However, it’s morally indefensible to lock up more people than you can care for humanely. It’s also morally indefensible to not take responsibility for an economy that can’t provide enough employment, and then observe that if you lock up more people, there will be less crime.

Wilson’s entire article supports my growing conviction that, to the wealthy, modern civilization is just a way to keep poor people around to work and prevent them from committing crimes when they catch on to the con -- much easier than all that messy feudalism. President Bush and cronies provided the epiphany that converted me from a reluctant conservative to an ardent liberal; Wilson just makes me happier in my decision. What a bleak, harsh, uncaring world conservatives live in.

Richard Waddell

Santa Ana