The myth of mass incarceration in California: Guest commentary

By Joseph Charney

What is the meaning of the term “mass incarceration”? If it means “too much incarceration,” then what is the correct level? Those who use the term have no real answer nor do they have any desire to find one. For most, it is sufficient if the words serve as an epithet that accuses law enforcement and the criminal justice system of unfairness.

The term in a previous iteration zeroed in on the arbitrary nature of detentions, such as the Soviet Gulag or the internment of Japanese Americans at the outbreak of World War II. Today, those who use the term rely heavily on the fact that the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. This high rate of incarceration represents a serious societal challenge. But concern over the number of incarcerated is quite different than concluding that the rate signifies wrong-headed criminal justice policy, unfair enforcement or arbitrary sentencing. Isn’t a failure to hold individuals accountable for predatory behavior an assault on the rule of law and a grave injustice to the victims of crimes?

Honduras, with one-fourth our rate of incarceration, has 40 times our homicide rate. Brazil, with one-half our rate of incarceration, has 20 times our homicide rate. In those societies rampant lawlessness presents the most significant challenge.

But we need look no further than Los Angeles County for challenges faced by law enforcement in its attempt to hold offenders accountable. Consider the fact that nearly 60 percent of violent crimes committed in Los Angeles remain unsolved. The arrest and prosecution of these perpetrators would provide justice to victims and yes, as a consequence, increased incarceration.

The Los Angeles News Group, through its year-long investigation “Getting Away with Murder,” has set up an interactive data base that puts a human face on the victims of homicide as well as heart-wrenching commentary from family survivors. These tragic and brutal crimes disproportionally impact African Americans, who make up 8 percent of the population but 34 percent of homicide victims. About a half of countywide homicides committed over a 10-year period have not been solved. This newspaper group’s intent is to foster new leads through community awareness so that far more of these cases can be solved. Shouldn’t we support those efforts as well as the efforts of the police to arrest burglars, carjackers and rapists? What about other “mass victimizers” who scam the elderly, push drugs and terrorize communities? Do we want law enforcement to be reticent about taking them off the streets for fear of being accused of “mass incarceration”?

In Los Angeles County, the jail population has decreased from a high of 22,000 inmates in 2008 down to the present population of 17,000. That decrease has occurred despite a shift of thousands of state prisoners to the county jail facilities. Today, county jails are filled with those awaiting trial, serving time for a serious offense or who are chronic repeat offenders. Vast numbers of arrestees are merely booked and released.

It is time to confront the reality that in Los Angeles there is no “mass incarceration.” Our jails are not filled with first-time drug offenders, pot smokers or shoplifters. The police are not “rounding up” the homeless. Increased enforcement leading to increased incarceration and prevention would improve the quality of life throughout the county, especially within low-income communities of color.

Incarceration should only decrease when serious criminality does, and this will take mass interventions in the lives of thousands of at-risk youth who need mentoring and guidance to live productive and jail-free lives.

Joseph Charney is a former Los Angeles County deputy district attorney.