Criminal Justice Planning and the Lesson of Jurassic Park
Our preference for rational planning is a value that guides our writing and research. We are not so naïve, however, to believe that careful planning always produces successful outcomes. Even the most carefully crafted plans can have no effect, make problems worse, or create unintended effects. There are other times when energy and resources are wasted because planning processes are terminated prematurely. In general, subtle facets of the criminal justice system (see Chapter 2) can frustrate good planning. In real life, systems don’t always behave the way we want them to. In Jurassic Park, 1 Ian Malcolm, a mathematician (played in the 1993 film by Jeff Goldblum2 ), warns of the larger, more powerful natural rhythms of nature that can undermine what appear to be great scientific advancements. “My point is that life on earth can take care of itself,” he raves.” In the thinking of a human being, a hundred years is a long time. ... But to the earth, a hundred years is nothing. A million years is nothing. This planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale. We can’t imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and we haven’t got the humility to try. We have been residents here for the blink of an eye. If we are gone tomorrow, the earth will not miss us.” Eugene Doleschal3 sounded a similar warning, this one directed at criminal justice reform efforts. He argues that forces that continually shape the justice system should be allowed to interact naturally. When reforms are implemented, the results are often the opposite of those intended. For example, many efforts intended to reduce prison populations through the creation of community-based program have failed to do so. Instead, community programs have often extended supervision and control over less serious offenders. Other examples include policy changes intended to reduce discretion that only moved discretion to other, less visible decision points in the system. He likens these reforms to a program conducted in Alaska and Canada to protect herds of caribou from their natural predator, the wolf. By shooting the wolves, environmentalists hoped to increase the caribou population. Instead, old and sick caribou that previously were killed and eaten by the wolves faced death by starvation and disease. Rather than give up on planning, we can learn from these experiences. In many cases, failures become the means for discovering the nature and strengths of forces we are trying to change. Sometimes we may decide that our knowledge and resources are inadequate to the task, but in other cases we become better equipped to try again.