reduce alcohol consumption without prohibition? Probably the best answer to this question is to raise the price. With the increase in price of alcohol, consumption by youths will decline and thus so will alcohol related crimes. Another way to reduce the consumption of alcohol is to reduce the availability of alcohol. Our authors show the correlation between high crime areas and the number of alcohol outlets. The less the number of alcohol outlets the less the crime rates for the area. So a reduction in places to purchase alcohol will lead to less violent crimes. The next major point discussed in the book is the restraining and punishment of street criminals. We learn of some disturbing facts about our criminal justice system in America. There is a correlation between crimes punished and crimes committed. The harsher the sentencing of convicted criminals the less crime is committed. Is this to say that punishment is a deterrent of crime? Yes it is. Yet, we see more and more criminals sentenced to parole and probation, which is viewed as a token punishment. A large percentage of these criminals go back into society and commit more crimes. The people who are given parole and probation are violent criminals who already have been convicted on numerous charges. Another fact about the prison inmates is that almost half of them are spending time for crimes they committed while on parole and probation. This is not to say that we should eliminate parole and probation all together. It would be too costly and many offenders do not recidivate while in these programs. Still some serious reforms need to be made. The problem with these programs is that they are too lenient. The average amount of money spent on a probationer is around $200. In addition, probation officers are not to blame for the problem because their caseloads are too much for anyone to handle. What our authors say we need to do is keep offenders in prison longer and devote more resou...
