Crime in Prisons

The point about the displacement of crime into prisons has made been made before, but I've rarely seen the case made as powerfully as in this article.

The really depressing thing is that the most analyses I've seen suggest only a relatively small proportion of the 'crime drop' in the US can be attributed to the increase in imprisonment - other factors, such as change in drug consumption patterns, demographics, and cultural shifts seem to have been as or more important. As the author notes, it's entirely possible that crime hasn't fallen in the US at all, but has merely been shifted inside the prison walls.

This is probably overstating the case a bit. I think there has been, if nothing else, a shift in cultural attitudes toward crime that have made it less acceptable. And its hard to ignore the demographics (i.e. less young men as a proportion of the overall population). But its certainly an argument worth having.