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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Foster care down, homelessness down ... prisons up.

There are a few trend stories around philly.com this morning that are interesting to look at together:

In addition to the import of these things for the people involved, they all have budgetary implications. The DHS budget is in the neighborhood of $600 million; it's probably too soon to say this should come down as a result of this, but at least things are going in the right direction (in the child welfare world, foster care is generally more expensive than in-home oversight). The lower homelessness numbers -- though preliminary -- suggest that money being spent on things like permanent housing and overnight cafes isn't being thrown away.

As for the prison population increase, well, the Inquirer quotes Ram Cnaan, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy and Practice, saying that other states have reduced their prison populations "due to lawmakers working to save money ... This is the first time that we have alliances on the right and left on this issue, and it's the money that has forced the issue." Meanwhile Pennsylvania is taking the innovative step of spending lots of money to build more prisons.

Fortunately we have no budget problems in the Keystone state.

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Posted by Doron Taussig @ 1:21 PM  Permalink | 3 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:01 PM, 12/09/2009
    Kids, this is a result of other states having already done big spending on their prisons systems in response to the public outcry for three strikes and mandatory min sentencing. As a result, those states now have historic decreases in crime levels not seen since the 50s and 60s, so they don't need to spend so much on incarceration. It really is a remarkable phenom that deserves more attention, but the liberals outside of academia are not interested in facts that don't fit their preconceptions. In NY, the need for prison space is down in response to the decrease in crime from years of pioneering sentencing reform, from three strikes to mand mins, to Rockefeller drug laws. They put these guys in prison, and this had a profound effect on NOT creating the new generation of criminal, and those states are reaping the dividend. Now PA is saying we need to do this too. After the cop shootings by guys who were paroled for no reason, people are fed up even in the most liberal boroughs.
    — CleanupPhilly
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:03 PM, 12/09/2009
    Other state already reaped the dividends from incarcerating and treating addicts who would otherwise be bearing kids who have fetal alcohol effects and fetal drug exposure. PA sees what is happening in other states, and are ready to see big decreases in crime like all the other states around us. The era of romanticizing the criminal belongs in movies.
    — CleanupPhilly
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:34 AM, 12/10/2009
    For the current fiscal year that ends June 30, 2010, DHS will spend approximately $700 million not $600 million. Please review DHS's plan and budget submitted to DPW. This document includes all DHS expences including those paid by other city departments (Finance, Public Property). This is down from the almost $740 million spent last fiscal year. If you review this document you will note that DHS writes about reduced caseloads (-24%), decreases Intake/investigations (-19%), decreases in placements (-9%) and reduced demand for in-home services. What DHS does not address is a reduction in staff to reflect this decrease in work load. This is the document that you need to read. It provides significant data on all DHS programs and expenditures as well as projections and plans for the next 18-24 months. It also details DHS revenue sources and amounts - local, state, federal.
    — nebulus


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