Retributive seems pointless. It's "justice" without a goal. So much conservative protest over wasted dollars and no real effort to give incarcerating someone a long term benefit to society (or at least less of a cost to society). Our current system often makes people more effective predators rather then better citizens. I have no idea of the total costs, but spent a bit of time looking at the cost savings of treatment, counseling and harm reduction programs in Washington State for a CBA class, the savings from diverting certain prisoners from the retributive system were huge, more then paying for the new programs cost. The benefits presumably go much further then the tax dollars spent on crime. People who aren't in jail hold down jobs, probably have better health care, give better care to their children and lots of other things. Too bad every politician lies in wait for a Willie Horton to coup de grass an election, insures that we will never have real reform.