Criminal Justice Cost Analysis

Decent Essays
Costs of Criminal Justice
Most of the criminal justice agencies in the United States run on a very tight budget with very limited resources. That means that most of the time they don’t have the things they need. In between 1962 and 2014 the F.B.I alone spent $178.3 billion mostly because they fought with other agencies for control of the war on drugs until the infamous day of September 11, 2001. That’s when they took the lead on the counter terrorism unit. Most of the money spent by the U.S marshals and Attorneys,however, were to pay the salary of all their employees. Just the prisons alone cost more than $39 billion dollars. That means that holding the inmates cost about $31,286 per inmate.
To process a murder case it costs $4.4 million to

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    The United States incarcerates more of its citizens than any other nation in the world. In 1972, jail and prison populations were less than 200,000 increasing to 2.2 million today which has led to prison overcrowding and has substantial strains on state budgets across the country. Mass incarceration came after a series of law enforcement and sentencing policy changes on the “tough of crime” era and the official beginning of the War on Drugs. Today, there are more people behind bars for a drug offense than the number of people who were in prison or jail for any crime in…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Clinton Correctional Facility (a maximum security prison) in New York, two inmates escaped. On June 6th of 2015, inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat were reported to have escaped the prison. After twenty three days Sweat was captured and in the custody of FBI, his other fellow inmate Matt was shot and killed by authorities. The investigation of the escapees showed underlying problems and corrections in the facilities itself. Corruption such as; heroin dealing from inmates to inmates, relationships between inmates and the guards, and lastly the reason for such a security lapse allowing for the convicts to escape.…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Does it cost more to incarcerate or treat an addict? The incarcerated cost is more than treating an addict. The annual cost of one inmate is $31,286 dollar, while the drug addict methadone treatment annual cost is $4700. There are 337,405 drug prisoners in the US in 2009.…

    • 89 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It therefore seems that the costs of handling inmate is pushed to the inmate themselves, and not to the government. Private prisons handle prisoners, charge fees and levies on the very prisoners, and are therefore act like an investment in most countries which authorize privatization of prisons. Being like business ventures, they make profits, and the very profits are have taxes levied on them by the state governments, who in turn reports to the federal government. Taxes that are charged on investments are used as revenues for funding state projects and activities, and private prisons contribute a lot towards state…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To keep one prisoner on the death row costs $90,000 for the United States taxpayers. Cases without capital punishment involved cost up to $740,000, while $1.26 million is spent in cases where the death penalty is present. It not only for a moral cause, but also for the costs it takes to go through the death penalty process. It is understandable that governments find this sort of punishments a way to maintain the safety of their population, it has not been as effective as it should…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Private Prison Case Study

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Private prisons lobby for harsh criminal laws to increase profit at the cost of inmates’ wellbeing. In 1998 election cycle, private prisons contributed $540,000 to 361 politicians (Anderson, 2009). Bribes were also used as method to encourage private prisons. In 2009, two Pennsylvania judges received $2.6 million to oppose alternative and lenient sentences for juveniles (Anderson, 2009) Incarceration negatively affects recidivism rates (Anderson, 2009).…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A plan of action intended to address an issue can initially appear to be absolute. It may be feasible, based on pertinent research, and conform to the objectives of the organization. However, even a seemingly “model” plan can prove to be deficient once it is implemented. Some of the activities of the criminal justice system are indicative of the reality that a solid idea cannot only be ineffective upon application, but it can potentially exacerbate a problem. For example, with a growing crime rate and the heightened prevalence rate of drugs, it was determined that a “get-tough” approach to crime was needed to control the situation.…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many of the criminal justice services/system are privatized due to the fact that the government lacking the means to carry them out. Here is an example,…

    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Death Penalty In Texas

    • 1569 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In Texas alone, housing a death inmate costs tax payers 2.3 million each year, which is “about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years” (Hoppe). This is just a study made in 1992, which only means, 23 years, it may cost a whole lot more. According to the information provided but the Death Penalty information center, the average cost to house an inmate is $47.50 per day. “Thus it would cost about $17,340 to house an inmate for a year and $693,500 for 40 years, far less than even part of the death penalty costs” (Carver). Gray County, located in Pampa, Texas, itself spent just one million on one inmate.…

    • 1569 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With recent talks on Capitol Hill of an upcoming criminal justice reform, it is not surprising to see topics on sentencing structure, police ethics and practices, and the future of the criminal justice system in the news headlines. One of the biggest topics is the overwhelming prison population in state and federal prisons. This has been a prominent topic for some time now. While some want to curtail the prison community others seem to think there is not a visible complication. Those who sense the prison population or the amount of people under supervision of the criminal justice system is of no concern, more than likely do not understand the impact the population has on criminal justice professionals or where the funding for these institutions…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Also in addition to the people in prison there are also almost 5 million more people on parole probation. These numbers are insane but not to mention the amount of money all those people cost taxpayers. Just based on the previously given figures from 2011, lets make a low estimate and say the average cost per inmate was 26 thousand dollars…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    However, it is necessary to differentiate “governing through crime” from “governing crime”. “Governing crime” is essentially an obligation for the state and institutions – to respond to necessary situations if a threat arises (Simon, 2007, p.5). Criminal justice institutions have roles to play in developing necessary strategies to intervene and ensure that the country is safe from threats. However, if the state or institutions develop counter-measures that are disproportionate to the threat posed, such strategies can be deemed as “governing through crime” (Simon, 2007). Such distinctions are vital when identifying whether the state is truly threatened by crime, or merely using crime to advance strategies of governance.…

    • 229 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Death Penalty In Texas

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Keeping an adult inmate in prison for life costs about $1 million (although there is considerable variance here). Prosecuting a death penalty case from trial to exhaustion of all appeals and execution costs typically $5 million, as the government is paying the costs for both sides in the case. An appeals process is especially critical in capital cases, as there is no way to go back and make an executed prisoner whole again. With the possible exception of Texas, the death penalty is seldom used.…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For Profit Prison Essay

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Problem with For-Profit Prison Private or for profit prisons are facilities that are contracted with the local, state or federal government to operate correctional facilities. In the 1980’s President Reagan said that government was the problem and proposed privatizing many institutions (Selman & Leighton, 2010). According to the American Civil Liberties Union, currently about 6% of state prisoners and 16% of federal inmates are in a privatized institutions. The most common argument in favor of for-profit prisons is that private industry is far more efficient than government and thus can operate facilities more more cheaply than the government.…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Because of this, each year the cost is about ten thousands of dollars and the number of inmates are increasing. Most inmates are despondent because some stay in prison their whole life. Even though some of the inmates get parole, they still commit serious crimes, and they end up going back to jail. Some evade prison and go to the real world, but they can’t really do much since their old and not social. It’s rare when they get parole because of the crime they committed.…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays