In about a minute. From the American perspective, our crime rates are shaped by a number of complex issues, and they are historically linked to post-war development and evaporation of economic opportunity in urban cities. Frequently what has been left in a lot of urban areas is essentially vast wasteland, where the only two institutions that remain are churches and liquor stores. These are predominately populated by low-income communities of colour.
The short, one-minute answer is that the problems in the criminal justice system, the problems with crime, result from failure--in the American case, and I believe it's portable elsewhere—to provide adequate social services. In the case of the United States, we have documented failures in addressing poverty, education, health care, child development, and drug abuse. In every one of these factors we have documented ways in which we can address them. We know drug treatment works. We know early headstart and childhood programs work. We have ways to bring about economic revitalization in communities, and we've done it. We do have ways.
I think we need to address a lot of the problems in the other social spheres, because the criminal justice system, the correctional system, serves largely as a catch basin where individuals who have fallen through the gaps are eventually gathered and left to spend large portions of their adult life.