Saturday, October 25, 2008

Scary numbers

... from the NYT
Cost to analyse a DNA sample: $1500

And guess what % of its budget CA spends on the state corrections system? No wonder they's broke!

2 comments:

buzoncrime said...

And in the same issue of today's New York Times talking about California's prison problems, we learn that Los Angeles has the largest known backlog of DNA needing testing. And that jurisdiction isn't alone.

Police work doesn't just only involve cops and their deployment; it also involves attention to administration and things which happen after the arrest (or before an arrest is or can be made).

Mike G said...

Well it's a Catch 22 though, and here's why: sure, locking up more criminals for longer is expensive, but the thing is, it works. Violent crime has been falling across the country since the early 90s. Check out the annual FBI UCR crime rates.

So yes, prisons are expensive. They also work at reducing crime. It's a tough problem with no easy answer.