Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Prisons, drug interdiction, and preschool programs: Alternative human capital investments

  • Articles
  • Published:
International Advances in Economic Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Public opinion surveys indicate that Americans list crime high in their priorities for government attention. Inevitably, public officials seeking office promise to reduce crime (the issue of crime is politicized). Simple solutions, without regard to their effectiveness, are politically popular and get votes for elected officials. The result is that social policy is made on the basis of popular solutions, followed by the spending of vast amounts of government revenue on ineffective measures. Not only is much of those funds wasted, a loss to society is further aggravated in that these resources could have been invested in programs that would yield the desired benefits. This paper examines two expensive crime-fighting measures that are failed policies and suggests one alternative type of human capital investment that is cost effective.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Brearly, M.; Hitchfield, E.A Guide to Reading Piaget, New York, NY: Schocken Books, 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, C. S. "Prison Overcrowding: Will Building More Prisons Cut the Crime Rate?,"CO Researcher, 4, 1994, pp. 99–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, Willie J. "Predicting Juvenile Delinquency: A Review of Correlates and a Confirmation by Recent Research Based on an Integrated Theoretical Model,"Justice Quarterly, 9, 4, 1992, pp. 553–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flavell, J.The Developmental Psychology of Jean Piaget, New York, NY: Van Nostrand, 1965.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, Peter W. "Three Strikes and You're Out: Estimated Benefits and Costs of California's New Mandatory Sentencing Law,"RAND Research Review, XIX, 1, October 1995 (reprinted inOvercrowded Times, 6, 5, October 1995, pp. 2–3.

  • Hunt, J. M.Intelligence and Experience, New York, NY: Ronald Press, 1961.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marvell, T. B. "Is Further Prison Expansion Worth the Cost?,"Federal Probation, 58, 1995, pp. 59–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Media Monitor. “Media Crime Wave” Continues—Crime Tops TV News for Second Year,"Overcrowed Times: Solving the Prison Problem, 6, 2, 1995, p. 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Methvin, E. H. "Doubling the Prison Population Will Break America's Crime Wave,"Corrections Today, 54, 1992, pp. 28–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauer, Marc. "Russia, United States World Leaders in Incarceration,"Overcrowed Times: Solving the Prison Problem, 5, 5, October 1994, pp. 1, 9–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, W. J. "Locked In,"National Journal, 26, 1994, pp. 1784–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget J.Six Psychological Studies, New York, NY: Random House, 1968.

    Google Scholar 

  • __.The Psychology of Intelligence, Totowa, NJ: Littlefield, Adams, 1960.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J.; Inhelder, B.The Psychology of the Child, New York, NY: Basic Books, 1969.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J.; Inhelder, B.; Szeminska, A.The Child's Perception of Geometry, New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 1964.

    Google Scholar 

  • Proband, Stan C. "Corrections Costs Lead State Budget Increases for 1995,"Overcrowed Times: Solving the Prison Problem, 6, 2, April 1995, pp. 1,8–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, David W.; Benson, Bruce L.The Economic Anatomy of a Drug War: Criminal Justice in the Commons, Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reuter, Peter; Kleiman, Mark. "The Dismal Economics of the War on Drugs," in Carl B. Klockers; Stephen D. Mastrofski, eds.,Thinking About Police: Contemporary Readings, 2nd ed., New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiraldi, Vincent. "Corrections and Higher Ed Compete for California Dollars: Corrections Winning,"Overcrowed Times: Solving the Prison Problem, 5, 3, June 1994, pp. 7–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schweinhart, Lawrence J.; Barnes, Helen V.; Weikart, David P.Significant Benefits: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 27, Ypsilanti, MI: High Scope Press, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smilansky, S.The Effects of Sociodramatic Play on Disadvantaged Preschool Children, New York, NY: John Wiley, 1968.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Vergil L.Dictionary of American Penology: A Revised and Expanded Edition, Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimring, Franklin. "The Voodoo Economics of California Crime,"Overcrowed Times: Solving the Prison Problem, 5, 5, October 1994, p. 3.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alabama, USA

    Vergil L. Williams & Velma A. Williams

Authors
  1. Vergil L. Williams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Velma A. Williams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Williams, V.L., Williams, V.A. Prisons, drug interdiction, and preschool programs: Alternative human capital investments. International Advances in Economic Research 3, 81–90 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02295003

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02295003

Keywords

Search

Navigation