Washington, D.C. May Pay People Not To Commit Crimes

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Washington, D.C. May Pay People Not To Commit Crimes

March 14th, 2016

Awake Goy

Former prisoners in Washington, D.C. may get paid for good behavior.

The Washington, D.C. Council has approved a bill that includes a proposal to pay released criminals an annual stipend if they are not rearrested following release from prison or jail. According to Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie who wrote the legislation, the bill is meant to curb violent crime in the city and help reverse the previous year’s 54% increase in homicides.

Under the bill, city officials would identify up to 200 people a year who do not have criminal cases pending, but are considered at risk of either committing or becoming victims of violent crime. The selected individuals would be required to remain anonymous and to participate for approximately nine months in programs such as behavioral therapy, anger management, job training, and other life skills. They would be paid if they fulfilled those obligations and avoided criminal activity. The program would operate independently of the police department.

According to Washington, D.C.’s chief financial officer, the stipends would cost $460,000 a year for 200 people. Writing in the Washington Post, Petula Dvorak notes that every year about 8,000 persons return to the city after imprisonment and about half of them are re-incarcerated within three years. Incarceration costs $30,000 a year. Every gun homicide in the U.S. costs taxpayers $400,000. The annual stipend of $9,000 per participant – an amount that has been mentioned – is inexpensive compared to the alternate costs.

Although civic activist Dorothy Brizill spoke against the program saying, “These incentive programs don’t work,” a similar program in Richmond, CA, shows otherwise. Of the program’s participants, 79% have not been suspected of involvement in gun crimes since joining the program and 84% have not been injured by gunfire. Further, Richmond experienced a 77% drop in homicides between 2007, when the program started, and 2014.

McDuffie stated, “I want to prevent violent crime – particular gun violence – by addressing the root causes and creating opportunities for people, particularly those individuals who are at the highest risks of offending.”