Getting tougher on crime is good, right? Not always.

 Not when the crime in question is already shrinking. Not if getting tougher will bust the state’s budget and take money away from other services. Not if the proposed toughness is cynical and clumsily written.

 Two ballot measures on the November ballot — 57 and 61 — aim to increase prison sentences for property crimes. Voters should reject them both.

 We’re not saying property crimes are unimportant. We’re not saying thieves, forgers and con artists shouldn’t be punished. Of course they should. Good and hard.

 We’re just saying these two ballot measures are lousy ways to do the job.

 Measure 61 is the work of Kevin Mannix, the conservative ex-legislator who gave us 1994’s Measure 11. That one set mandatory minimum sentences for violent crimes, and Oregon’s prison population has increased 80 percent since it passed.

 If you like supporting Measure 11’s inmates, you’ll love paying for the next wave of guests at Motel Mannix. Measure 61 is expected to bring in 4,000 to 6,000 new inmates — many of them women. Oregon would have to spend more than $1 billon building prisons, and as much as $800 million running them over the next five years.

 Yet the FBI says Oregon’s property crime rate fell 20 percent in the past two years. Thievery and related offenses are a problem in Oregon, but the problem is getting better, not worse.

 So, when our economy is already on the ropes, and when money for public services is already tight, why dump buckets of money into new prisons? You’d have to ask Kevin Mannix, because we can’t think a good reason.

 State lawmakers thought Mannix’s initiative was so bad, they wrote their own ballot measure to compete with it. They hope Oregonians who want tougher sentencing will settle for something saner than Mannix’s idea.

 So Measure 57 is less draconian than Measure 61, and therefore less expensive. But 57 shares some of 61’s basic flaws, including a failure to pay for itself. Neither measure specifies tax increases or budget cuts to pay for all these new prisons. Unless there’s a Prison Fairy willing to pick up the tab, Oregon will have a hard time covering these new expenses. 

 If we’re going to raise taxes, wouldn’t we rather spend the money on schools, health care and programs that prevent crime, rather than merely punishing it?

 If both of these measures pass, the one that receives the most votes trumps the other. So, if you feel a passionate urge to get tough on crime this year, please choose the cheaper one, Measure 57. The best choice, though, is to vote no on both.