by NKECHI TAIFA and CATHERINE BEANE

Over two million people are currently incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails. This number is not only staggering but unprecedented—both in the United States and among industrialized nations across the world. Over the past thirty years, policymakers have increasingly shifted toward incarceration as the primary strategy for addressing crime in America, despite the fiscal demands this places on limited public resources, and despite growing evidence that such massive incarceration has resulted in diminished public safety returns. This “lock ’em up,” “tough on crime” approach has evolved in a broader social context permeated by poverty, rampant unemployment, poor housing, inadequate education, harmful health outcomes, and diminished life opportunities—interrelated social issues that fuel a cycle of incarceration, particularly among the poor and communities of color. Skewed policies that emphasize punishment over prevention and devalue investments in people exacerbate the devastating impact of incarceration on individuals and communities. And because all too often one’s life opportunities after imprisonment are abysmally limited, recidivism becomes inevitable.

The most effective way to confront these root causes of crime and stop the cycle of incarceration before it begins is through an integrative approach to justice—a multidisciplinary approach that recognizes the relationship among inadequately addressed social issues and crime, and that uses evidence-
based strategies to respond to those issues. Criminal conduct often stems from the complex interaction of risk factors that implicate the concerns of multiple academic disciplines and government  institutions. Just as the factors that contribute to crime are interrelated, so too are the solutions:
Crime cannot be effectively prevented by an isolated policy change or a singularly-focused intervention devoid of an understanding of the broader context. An integrative approach to justice reform implicitly recognizes this complexity and calls for a comprehensive criminal justice strategy that addresses the underlying, interrelated social issues that fuel the cycle of incarceration.