Despite a strict approach to incarceration through mandatory minimum sentencing and a “Three Strikes” law that has filled Tennessee prisons to the brim, the Volunteer State has not reduced its violent crime rate. Criminal justice reform and evidence-based rehabilitation modalities are needed to reduce recidivism and lower Tennessee’s crime.

What’s Going on in Tennessee?

A comprehensive crime report published in 2020 by USA Today revealed Tennessee has the 3rd highest violent crime rate in the U.S., recording 623 violent crimes for every 100,000 people living there. According to the data, Tennessee has the highest violent crime rate of any state in the South and the third highest nationwide, with more than double the number of violent crimes reported than in neighboring Virginia, even though Virginia has 1.5 million more residents than Tennessee. Tennessee has the 13th-highest murder rate in the nation (around 500 murders annually) and the 23rd-highest incarceration rate.¹

According to the state’s report for crime in 2021 (the most recent year data is available):²

• A total of 502,706 criminal offenses were reported in 2021.
• The overall crime rate per 100,000 was 7,207 (including non-violent crime).
• A total of 132,253 arrests were made in 2021, about 7% of which were juveniles.
• Tennessee recorded 18,757 DUI arrests in 2021, an increase of 3.03% from the previous year.
• A total of 15,934 weapon law violations were reported in 2021, reflecting a 21.51% increase from 2020.
• Juvenile arrests for violent and non-violent offenses totaled 10,117 in 2021, increasing by 7.54% from 2019.

To address the problem, Tennessee has implemented strict punishments for lawbreakers. For example, between 1981 and 2013, Tennessee’s imprisonment rate increased by 256%, an increase in incarceration that triggered a $200 million spike in corrections spending between 2009 and 2013. Despite the surge in incarcerations and prison spending, crime continues to rise in Tennessee.³

Crime and incarceration are complicated subjects, but it seems there are three obvious reasons Tennessee struggles with a high crime rate, despite the state’s efforts to lock up offenders and discourage criminal activity.

Photo by Devin Koob/Shutterstock.com

1. Tennessee Overwhelmingly Incarcerates Low-Level Drug Offenders

Much of the spending and incarceration in Tennessee has been directed to jailing low-level drug offenders. Most of those locked up in Tennessee are non-violent offenders whose only crime was personal-use drug possession, likely from addiction. Such offenders serve nine-year terms on average. The Nolan Center for Justice wrote a report on Tennessee crime and incarceration and states, “A state with overcrowded prisons and excessive prison spending should focus its resources and assets on violent offenders, not on low-level, non-violent drug offenders.” That report also noted Tennessee implemented a controversial “Three-Strikes Law,” which administers harsh punishments, even life sentences, for three-time offenders. Tennessee also utilizes mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

Rather than focusing most of its criminal justice resources on low-level offenders, Tennessee should be directing its resources to provide evidence-based rehabilitation programs for violent offenders and serial recidivists.

2. Recidivism a Leading Problem in Tennessee

Speaking of recidivism, one of the reasons why the crime rate is so high in Tennessee isn’t entirely because new people commit crimes but because people who have committed crimes and served time in the past continue to commit new crimes and become re-incarcerated. Tennessee has a 47.1% recidivism rate, one of the highest in the nation. A high recidivism rate suggests the criminal justice system is not providing effective rehabilitative services to incarcerated offenders.⁴

3. Poverty Also Plays a Role

Photo by Stan Reese/Shutterstock.com

There is a direct connection between poverty and crime. As poverty increases and income inequality puts increasingly high percentages of the population in dire straits, individuals in poverty may see crime as their only way to meet their needs. In Tennessee, which records 623 violent crimes per 100,000 people annually, the poverty rate is 15.3%, the 9th highest in the nation. Compare that to neighboring Virginia, which reports the 12th lowest poverty rate in the nation (10.7%). Virginia’s violent crime rate is just 200 per 100,000 people, less than one-third of Tennessee’s violent crime rate.⁵

Tennessee could divert some of its criminal justice spending from incarcerating low-level, non-violent drug offenders to addressing poverty in the state. Reducing poverty and ensuring Tennesseans have access to food, water, housing, and job opportunities would likely reduce crime, decrease recidivism, and reduce the need for such high prison spending.

Providing True Reform for Offenders Could Reduce Recidivism and Crime

In addition to shifting away from heavy-handed criminalization and incarceration of low-level offenders, policymakers in Tennessee should utilize educational programs inside prisons in Tennessee, especially for those who have committed violent crimes and those who are repeat offenders.

Increasingly, criminal behavior can be traced back to critical life hardships and difficult situations one could not find lawful ways of coping with. However, when an inmate is provided the tools they need to get to the bottom of why and how they opted for criminal activity as a “solution” to life’s challenges, they’re more likely to build the skills and healthy coping strategies they need to avoid committing crimes in the future.

Sources:

1. USAToday. “Dangerous states: Which states have the highest rates of violent crime and most murders?” USA Today, 2020. usatoday.com
2. TBOI. “2021: Crime in Tennessee.” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, 2021. tn.gov
3. NCJ. “Criminal Justice Reform in Tennessee.” Nolan Center for Justice, 2023. conservativejusticereform.org
4. TNDOC. “Tennessee Recidivism Rate Shows Promising Decrease.” Tennessee Department of Correction, 2017. tn.gov
5. B.U. “The Relationship Between Poverty and Crime: A Cross Section Analysis.” Bryant University, 2023. digitalcommons.bryant.edu