--- title: Crime and Punishment in America: What We Are Doing Wrong description: This article originally appeared on Patheos. 10.2 million people sit in prison cells today around the world– and almost half of them are right here,... canonical: https://time.com/3619003/crime-punishment-america-wrong/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-04T23:08:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:48.733Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Crime and Punishment in America: What We Are Doing Wrong og:description: This article originally appeared on Patheos. 10.2 million people sit in prison cells today around the world– and almost half of them are right here,... og:url: https://time.com/3619003/crime-punishment-america-wrong/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd747a6750038b734/69876cc6f887dc7087e88d03/fence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4850 og:image:height: 2728 og:image:alt: Chain link fence with barbed wire and razor wire og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Crime and Punishment in America: What We Are Doing Wrong twitter:description: This article originally appeared on Patheos. 10.2 million people sit in prison cells today around the world– and almost half of them are right here,... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd747a6750038b734/69876cc6f887dc7087e88d03/fence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Crime and Punishment in America: What We Are Doing Wrong > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=15a1caf8-8501-4c48-8392-8396e1fa73ef&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [Patheos](https://time.com/author/patheos/) ## Patheos Contributor Dec 4, 2014 11:08 PM UTC  Chain link fence with barbed wire and razor wire. Chain link fence with barbed wire and razor wire. Getty Images by [Patheos](https://time.com/author/patheos/) ## Patheos Contributor Dec 4, 2014 11:08 PM UTC  _This_ [_article_](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/crime-punishment-in-america-maybe-were-doing-it-wrong/) _originally appeared on_ [_Patheos_](http://www.patheos.com/)_._ 10.2 million people sit in prison cells today around the world– and almost [_half of them_](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/wppl%5F10.pdf) are right here, in the United States. While in the US we like to boast about being “#1″ we forget that we’re actually #1 at a lot of things that we probably shouldn’t be proud of – and having the highest incarceration rate in the world is one of them. And, it’s not just our incarceration numbers that should be a shock to our system, but the recidivism rate that we should find most concerning. In a study from 2005-2010, researchers found that [3 out of 4 former prisoners are re-arrested within 5 years](http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4987) after being released from prison. Simply put, **the way we approach crime and punishment** **_doesn’t work_** **.** I remember back to my days listening to talk radio and the initial chatter of prison overcrowding once we started to realize that our prisons were beginning to bulge at the seams. I distinctly remember the solution one commentator had: build more prisons. Unfortunately, the approach of building more prisons and punishing more harshly (aka, mandatory sentencing, three strikes laws, the war on drugs) hasn’t worked and has only led to more of the same. In fact, some of our harsh approach to crime and punishment has actually led to more crime as nonviolent offenders (such as folks going to jail for marijuana offenses), come out on the other side of prison more “hardened” than they were to begin with. Throw into the mix the huge vocational barriers someone with a criminal record faces, and our situation is ripe for failure– one that actively produces more crime and brokenness, not less. Actually, it’s beyond ripe for failure – it _has_ failed. Past tense. **The traditional American approach to crime and punishment doesn’t work.** This past week I’ve been reading a great new book by Derek Flood called [Disarming Scripture: Cherry-Picking Liberals, Violence-Loving Conservatives](http://www.amazon.com/Disarming-Scripture-Cherry-Picking-Violence-Loving-Conservatives/dp/0692307265/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417534904&sr=8-1&keywords=disarming+scripture), and really connected with his thoughts in a section called A Practical Guide To Enemy-Love. In regards to our failed approach to crime and punishment he writes: --- > “” --- I’ve certainly spoken of this difference between restorative justice and punitive justice both here on the blog and in my book, [Undiluted](http://www.amazon.com/Undiluted-Rediscovering-Radical-Message-Jesus/dp/0768488907/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417535965&sr=8-1&keywords=undiluted), but Flood brings up some really good additional thoughts on the matter. He goes on to say: --- > “” --- In the book, Flood cites a successful program that clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of a restorative justice approach over a punitive approach: the RSVP program run by the San Francisco’s Sheriff’s Department. In this alternative program, they took some of their most violent offenders and tried a restorative approach instead of just locking them up and throwing away the key. This program that taught them communal living, personal dignity, development of empathy for others, and how to manage their own emotions, had some results many might find surprising: an 80% reduction in violent recidivism, and the total elimination of assault on prison officials (pg. 185). The effectiveness of restorative justice compared to punitive justice is simply amazing. But, that really shouldn’t be a shock to us. Why _wouldn’t_ restoring a life work better than simply subjecting it to punishment? The American approach to crime and punishment needs some re-framing because the old way simply doesn’t work. A punitive focused approach results in over populated prisons filled to the brim– both with some folks who justly should be there, and some who probably should not. All however, are forced to acclimate to a violent prison life that simply turns them into “hardened criminals” even if they didn’t arrive as one. When they are released, they face so many barriers to reintegration into society that the violent survival mechanisms the prison system taught them quickly become one of their only tools to move forward in life. We cannot continue a system with this philosophical approach and think that we’re actually doing justice– we’re not. Justice, as I write in Undiluted, is about “making the world a little less broken and a little more right,” and as Flood points out in Disarming Scripture, our current system does anything _but_ that. The solution? **We must become people who long to see a life restored instead of a life destroyed**, and we must become willing to do whatever it takes to make the former happen, while resisting the easier path of doing the latter. Together, we can begin to influence culture in such a way that we reform our penal system to become something that sees justice as a life restored instead of punishment given. _Benjamin L. Corey, is an Anabaptist author, speaker, and blogger. His first book,_ [Undiluted: Rediscovering the Radical Message of Jesus](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/my-upcoming-book/)_, is available now at your local bookstore._ _Read more from Patheos:_ * [New Disturbing Document Reveals How Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi Was Punished for Questioning Islam and Saudi Government](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/12/02/new-disturbing-document-details-how-raif-badawi-was-punished-for-questioning-islam-and-the-saudi-government/) * [A Fundamental Belief of Capitalism Is that Nature Is for the Rich](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/shekhinahcalling/2014/12/02/nature-is-for-the-rich/) * [Why Church? Why Not Just Go to the Mountains to Experience God?](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2014/12/01/why-church-by-jeff-cook/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3619003/crime-punishment-america-wrong/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3619003/crime-punishment-america-wrong/"},"headline":"Crime and Punishment in America: What We Are Doing Wrong","datePublished":"2014-12-04T23:08:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:48.733Z","description":"This article originally appeared on Patheos. 10.2 million people sit in prison cells today around the world– and almost half of them are right here,...","url":"https://time.com/3619003/crime-punishment-america-wrong/","keywords":["politics","society","Crime","Government","America"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd747a6750038b734/69876cc6f887dc7087e88d03/fence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Patheos","jobTitle":"Contributor","url":"https://time.com/author/patheos/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd747a6750038b734/69876cc6f887dc7087e88d03/fence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Chain link fence with barbed wire and razor wire","caption":"Chain link fence with barbed wire and razor wire","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3619003/crime-punishment-america-wrong/","name":"Crime and Punishment in America: What We Are Doing Wrong"}}]}] ```