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Why does Oregon spend the highest percentage of its state budget on prisons while Oregon has a rate of incarceration which is below the national average?

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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A reliable source of incarceration data is the federal government's Bureau of Justice Statistics. The most recent report is for 1998. The measurement is for number of incarcerated persons [i]per 100,000 of population[/i]. (This manner of measurement equalizes large states, like California, with small states, like Rhode Island.)
The average incarceration rate nationwide is 450.
Oregon's rate is 262.
Idaho's is 279.
Washington's is 248.
California's is 485.
If Oregon pays a much higher percentage of its budget on prisons than the national average, while incarcerating a much lower rate of inmates, doesn't it follow that the problem is [i]not[/i] the rate of incarceration, but rather than an artificially high cost per inmate for incarceration?

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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As a "Teddy Roosevelt" Republican, I wonder who will be the truly moderate candidate for Darlene Hooley's seat, if anyone. I believe in the rule of law, a strong defense, limitations on the excesses of capitalism, and government staying out of my private life. In my first eligible election, I voted for Goldwater, but the Republican Party in Oregon strikes me as desiring to impose a Taliban-like theocracy. Until the Republican Party frees itself from dominance by the so-called cultural conservatives, I tend to vote for moderate Democrats (like Hooley).

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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