If Prisons Aren't the Answer, What Is?

The title of Emily Bazelon’s thought-provoking Op-Ed in the Sunday Review (April 7), poses an intriguing question. Unfortunately, her article fails even to attempt an answer. The points Ms. Bazelon makes are all valid: poverty should not be prosecuted; offenders can be rehabilitated and released; there is a need for more drug addiction treatment, better and increased therapy for the mentally ill and job training and affordable housing to give released prisoners an improved ability to cope and avoid rearrest.
But what is an acceptable alternative to incarceration for persons who violate society’s strictures yet pose minimal risk to public safety? I suggest a program akin to the Civilian Conservation Corp and the Works Progress Administration which, in the depth of the Great Depression of the 1930’s, provided employment that ranged from manual labor to artistic creation. These programs gave structure, training and self-respect to millions of unemployed Americans, qualities essential to reformation of antisocial behavior, even as they provided much needed repair and rebuilding of the nation’s deteriorating infrastructure.