Can you solve this "paradox"?

In the Financial Times, Richard Tomkins investigates a "paradox":

So, we come back to imprisonment. But now we have a paradox. Crime is falling, yet we are locking more people up. Why?

The answer, of course, is that for every year a criminal spends in prison is a year in which he is not committing crimes against innocent people. Since criminals reportedly commit an average of 140 crimes per year, increased imprisonment has a major effect on crime rates. The only question is why is it that liberals consider this obvious point to be a "paradox"?

PREVIOUSLY on the subject of crime and its causes:

Criminal Logic and

Group Guilt.

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