In a Jan. 7 column for Politico Magazine, billionaire Charles Koch said the United States is paying a “heavy price” for leading the world in incarceration, driving a large number of people into poverty and harming the national economy.

“Reversing overcriminalization and mass incarceration will improve societal well-being in many respects, most notably by decreasing poverty,” Koch wrote in the column co-authored with Koch Industries general counsel Mark Holden. “Fixing our criminal system could reduce the overall poverty rate as much as 30 percent, dramatically improving the quality of life throughout society — especially for the disadvantaged.”

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism’s reporting on criminal justice issues is supported by a grant from the Vital Projects Fund. The nonprofit Center (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, other news media and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

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Billionaire Charles Koch: ‘Reversing overcriminalization and mass incarceration will improve societal well-being’

by Dee J. Hall / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
August 23, 2015

<h1>Billionaire Charles Koch: ‘Reversing overcriminalization and mass incarceration will improve societal well-being’</h1> <p class="byline">by Dee J. Hall / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch <br />August 23, 2015</p> <div id="attachment_100489" class="wp-block-image wp-caption aligncenter"> <figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Charles-Koch.jpg"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Charles-Koch.jpg" alt="Charles Koch" class="wp-image-100489" height="279" width="460" /></a><figcaption>Charles Koch</figcaption></figure> </div> <p>In a <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/overcriminalization-of-america-113991.html#.Vc5IjixVikq">Jan. 7 column for Politico Magazine</a>, billionaire Charles Koch said the United States is paying a “heavy price” for leading the world in incarceration, driving a large number of people into poverty and harming the national economy.</p> <p>“Reversing overcriminalization and mass incarceration will improve societal well-being in many respects, most notably by decreasing poverty,” Koch wrote in the column co-authored with Koch Industries general counsel Mark Holden. “Fixing our criminal system could reduce the overall poverty rate as much as 30 percent, dramatically improving the quality of life throughout society — especially for the disadvantaged.”</p> <p><em>The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism’s reporting on criminal justice issues is supported by a grant from the Vital Projects Fund.</p> <p>The nonprofit Center (<a href="www.WisconsinWatch.org">www.WisconsinWatch.org</a>) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, other news media and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.</em></p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2015/08/billionaire-charles-koch-reversing-overcriminalization-and-mass-incarceration-will-improve-societal-well-being/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://wisconsinwatch.org">Wisconsin Watch</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cropped-WCIJ_IconOnly_FullColor_RGB-1.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;quality=100&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=100488&ga=UA-17896820-1" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p> Copy to Clipboard

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