To achieve law and order, people must be changed.

Summary

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Speech by Carol Vance - Transcript

Texas criminal justice expert Carol Vance calls for a dual approach to criminal justice, one that stresses both incarceration and rehabilitation. According to Vance, to improve the effectiveness of their incarceration system, state governments need to ensure that prison capacity is expanded to meet the increase in the number of people being jailed. Moreover, as Vance notes, rehabilitation programs need greater support and stronger funding.

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Extract

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To achieve law and order, people must be changed.

Editor's note: The following is an edited version of the closing address Carol Vance, chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, delivered at the conference's Closing Breakfast on Jan. 18.

In today's climate, more and more people are asking: Why don't we lock these criminals up and throw away the key? In view of our fear of criminal violence, this is not a surprising reaction. However, there is a second question the public should be asking with equal passion: What are you doing with those you have locked up so they won't victimize us any more?

The second question should be important to any law-abiding citizen, because the shocking truth is that 94 percent of all incarcerated in the United States will be released within four years. This means 94 percent of our 1.2 million inmates and many more in jail are coming out soon.

I find people generally fall into one of two camps. There are those who only want to "lock 'em up," and the second group that likes "rehabilitation" and believes incarceration is ineffective. This is not an either/or question. We need both.

First, we must ...

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