Crime in Hawaii is on the rise, right? In reality, some crimes are up, some are down, some are about the same.
Seasons change and crime is cyclical in nature. What is sure is that more criminals are behind bars than ever before.
Hawaii’s incarceration rate is soaring, up 400-percent since 1980. Hawaii’s prisoners behind bars totaled 65 per 100,000 population in 1980, climbing to 345 per 100,000 in 2006.
What has happened?
Is the state simply more efficient at catching, prosecuting, and sentencing criminals? If so, it would be logical to assume that crime rates, for whatever categories, has gone down in the past 25 years. That hasn’t been the case. Everything is up, including the number of criminals who get caught and convited.
What’s the solution? A Nixonian approach would reduce the number of crimes and criminals. Back in the Nixon era, even Republicans could reduce poverty. How? By lowering the so-called poverty bar, the official level at which someone qualifies to be poor.
Hawaii could implement a Nixonian solution by lowering the criminal bar, changing laws in such a way that fewer crimes are committed. Criminals could still steal and abuse and use drugs, but it just wouldn’t be a crime anymore. The end result would be fewer crimes, and fewer criminals.
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