Crime Down But Incarceration Up In Tennessee
Despite a significant drop in reported violent crimes in Tennessee, the number of people incarcerated by the state Department of Corrections (DOC) has risen, according to data released by the United States Department of Justice on October 15, 2024.
That showed that by the end of 2022, the state held 23,735 prisoners—1,740 more than a year before. Yet statistics reported by the state Bureau of Investigation (TBI) showed that the number of reported murders fell that same year by 14.55%. Reported rapes fell by 10.61%. Reported kidnappings declined by 11.98%. But TBI did report a 3.13% increase in property crimes. See: Crime in Tenn. 2022, TBI (July 2023).
The DOC reversed several years of declines and vaulted ahead of all but a small number of states in the percentage increase in its state prison population. Only Colorado, Mississippi and Montana logged higher gains. That also pushed Tennessee’s incarceration rate from 314 to 344 per 100,000 residents. See: Prisoners in 2022, DOJ Bur. of Justice Stats. (Oct. 2024).
Besides hangover effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dawn Harrington, the head of the nonprofit prisoner advocacy group Free Hearts, blamed a new “truth-in-sentencing” law that stiffened state penalties for a range of crimes.
“Everything that we said was going to come true has come true,” she said.
Gov. Bill Lee (R) also opposed the law, saying that “[w]idespread evidence suggests that this policy will result in more victims, higher recidivism, increased crime and prison overcrowding, all with an increased cost to taxpayers.” However, he declined to issue a veto, perhaps expecting it would be overridden by state lawmakers like GOP House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who blithely vowed: “If we need to build more prisons, we can.”
Additional source: MLK50
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