In 2008, five years into a long and expensive conflict, economists Joseph Stiglitz and Laura Bilmes surprised even the Iraq War’s critics with their estimation of its true cost. The calculations in their book The Three Trillion Dollar War factored in not only the typical expenditures for manpower and machinery, but more abstract aspects as well, such as the opportunity costs of the war, and the future spending that would be necessary for the care of wounded veterans and bereaved families.
Sometimes, in the midst of complicated policy discussions about complex problems, it takes a big number to make a big point.
That’s what the Justice Policy Institute has done, too, with a report it released this week on what the organization says is “the full price tag” of juvenile incarceration. The title of the report is “Sticker Shock,” for good reason: The group calculated that the average costs of the most expensive confinement option throughout the 46 states it surveyed is $407 a day, or $148,767 per year—per person.
[For more of this story, written by Lauren Kirchner, go to http://www.psmag.com/navigatio...incarceration-96258/]
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