America has the highest rate of incarceration per capita of any other industrialized nation. That is an amazing fact. Don’t believe it? Then do some research. The World Prison Brief, a database hosted by the International Centre for Prison Studies, provides an online table* that list the world’s prison population broken down by nation. With a total population of over 320 million, the U.S. ranks at 698 prisoners per 100,000 people. That beats just about every nation in the world, including China and Russia combined.
One nation, however, beats the U.S.—the Republic of Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 Islands lying off the coast of East Africa in the Indian Ocean. Not known as an industrial powerhouse or technology giant, Seychelles still manages to rank at 799 prisoners per 100,000 citizens. That is quite an accomplishment for a nation lacking state-of-the-art technology, especially with a total population of less than 100,000.
By U.S. standards, that’s merely a small city, such as South Bend or Evansville (though both of those cities boast a larger population). But imagine a small city like South Bend having an arrest rate of that magnitude. That would require some serious effort by law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Busy, busy, busy!
It would also probably garner unflattering headlines and generate accusations of “over policing”. But wait a minute. The U.S. actually has a rate competitive with that of Seychelles. And though we are only
As per the data in 2013, 698 people out of 100,000 are incarcerated and this data in on the rise. 22 percent of the world prisoners are in the USA. In Germany, 76 per 100,000 are incarcerated. Sweden has only 60 per 100,000 people in jails. Among the other developed countries, Canada's incarceration rate in 106 per 100,000, Netherlands is only 75 per 100,000 and Japan is only 49 per 100,000. Larceny- theft, burglary, motor vehicle theft, aggravated assault, and robbery are among the most common crimes in the united states. Compared to other countries, the sentencing for crimes is longer in the United States. This data is alarming and there is a need for some change in the criminal justice system in the united
300,000 Americans in prison, more than half of that number were minorities" ( Michelle 44 ) . The United states has the highest ratc of incarceration in the world mostly duc to drug and murder convictions. For many decades
Predictably, the United Stated states leads the world in number of prisoners, housing around 2.3 million criminals. Individuals are put in prison for several crimes ranging from burglaries to drug use. Additionally, the United States incarcerates prisoners much longer than other countries. Criminologists and legal experts research that America’s high incarceration rate is due to higher levels of violent crime, potentially stemming from the availability of guns, harsher sentencing laws, racial turbulence, enthusiasm for battling illicit drugs, American temper, and minimal public safety. Furthermore, democracy stimulates it, as many elected judges desire harsh justice. This is due to America having a criminal justice system that is highly politicized. Compared to other nations, the United States has harsher prison sentences, keeping criminals in prison longer, adding to the number of inmates in confinement. Though the assault rate in New York City and London are comparable, the murder rate is much higher due to the easy access of firearms. Despite the decline of murder in the United States, it is still about four times higher than most countries in Western
The United States is one of the largest countries in the world so high incarceration rates are expected. However, this rate has drastically increased in the past forty years, surpassing those of countries such as China, which has a population four times larger than the United States
In the U.S. there has been a rise in incarcerations, the numbers today are much higher than they were 30, 40 years ago despite the fact that crime is at historic lows. So what are we to make of the leap in time typically served for crimes in America’s society? Either the justice system was too lenient in the past, or the justice system is too strict now. Have we just now realized the real gravity of murder, or are we now overreacting? Those who have served a proportional sentence, and have proven themselves worthy, deserve to be restored to public life. Locking away large numbers of people for long periods of time has little effect on public safety. Given how high America’s incarceration rate is, it
From the article titled “The Punishment Imperative : The Rise and Failure of Mass Incarceration in America” by Todd Clear, and Natasha Frost, it goes into full detail on why the incarceration rate is failing. America incarcerates way more people that far exceeds the rate of our top allies. “With just under ten million people incarcerated in prisons and jails worldwide, America incarcerated more than one-fifth of the world’s total prison population.” (The Punishment Imperative: The Rise and Failure of Mass Incarceration in America, Page 17) The United States now is in the lead in the world of incarceration, that beats countries like Russia, Rwanda, St. Kitts & Nevis, and Cuba, and the country has four times the rate of European nations. Maintaining the prisons came with a staggering price. In 2006, jurisdictions would spend around $68 billion on correctional supervision. They went from spending from $9 billion in 1982 to an 660 percent increase of $68 billion in 2006. Around the same time period, direct judicial expenditures has increased by 503 percent and the policing expenditures increased by 420 percent. The huge majority of the correctional dollars, with was around 90 percent, went to stabilize mass incarceration. “With a national average annual price tag of almost $29,000 per person per year of incarceration, it cost taxpayers at least ten times more to incarcerate a person than it would have cost to maintain him or her under supervision in the community.” (The Punishment Imperative: The Rise and Failure of Mass Incarceration in America, Page 21) In general, this is an issue because the taxpayers are forced to pay a lot of money to maintain a person in prison. Locking up a serious violent offender is justified, however, for thousands of lower-level inmates, it costs taxpayers more than preventing
The U.S. has more people behind bars – 2.3 million - than any country in the world.
Once upon a time, Americans could proudly say that America was the land of freedom and opportunity. As the Pledge of Allegiance states, “One nation under God, Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” However, under the current criminal justice system, more and more people lose their liberties because of the crimes they have committed. According to Roy Walmsley, a consultant of the United Nations and Associate of the International Center for prison studies, “In October 2013, the incarceration rate of the United States of America was the highest in the world, at 716 per 100,000 of the national population. While the United States represent about 4.4 percent of the world 's population, it houses
The United States is five percent of the world’s population and has twenty five percent of the world’s people incarcerated. This is the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Mass incarceration has been a problem in this country for decades. The war on drugs has increased the odds of incarceration and the length of sentences for non-violent offenders. Ninety five percent of prisoners have plead guilty and one out of five are serving sentences for drug related charges (REF).
There are over 2million people incarcerated today in the United States and Statistics show that the rates every
There are a lot of important issues that Americans face today. But one of the most important is mass incarceration. This problem is affecting the economy, the government spends billions of dollars to keep people in prison. Private own prison are getting a lot of money just to house prisoners. Prison is one of the biggest businesses in America. These prisons are profiting from minorities and by holding undocumented immigrants. A lot of people that are incarcerated didn’t commit serious crimes. Some people are in prison on nonviolent drug charges. Does America Needs a Alternatives to Incarceration, maybe the government should try to rehabilitate nonviolent offenders.By population china is the most populous country on earth. And yet America a country with four times less the population has more prisoners. This is happening in a country that advocates freedom and democracy. A country sometimes called the free world .Is this happening because America has the most violent criminals in the world? What are the causes for the unusually high incarceration rate in America? Because of government continuously implying new strict laws America has become the country with the highest incarcerated.
The figure above compares the U.S incarceration rate with the rates of countries such as Canada, Australia, and European countries. The Western European democracies possess a rate of incarceration that taken together is only one-seventh the rate of the United States. Moreover, the rate imprisonment of Russia is only two-thirds of the U.S. rate. For instance, there is a reason why the rate of incarceration is significantly high compared to the rest of the world, profit. The bigger the number of people incarcerated, the bigger the pool of workers in correctional institutions.
When the word America is mentioned many people get a vision. Majority of people see it as the land of the free and where many opportunities await. In many eyes, our nation (America) is viewed as being number one, all around the board. That, I can say is true but when it comes to the incarceration of its citizens, it’s not so free after all. According to Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia (2009), “the United States has the highest documented incarceration rate, and total documented prison population in the world. As of year-end 2007, a record 7.2 million people were behind bars, on probation, or on parole. Of the total, 2.3 million were incarcerated. More than 1 in 100 American adults were incarcerated at the start of 2008. The People’s Republic of China ranks second with 1.5 million, while having four times the population, thus having only about 18% per the U.S. incarceration rate.” (1) Also, “in 2002, 93.2% of the prisoners were male. About 10.4% of all black males in the United States between the ages 25 and 29 were sentenced and in prison, compared to 2.4% of Hispanic males, and 1.3% of white males.” (2) When reading theses statistics, I didn’t know if I was mad, or if I was just really in awe.
Currently, the United States holds a record for imprisoning more people than any other nation in the world. This is action is largely related to the war on drugs. Also, in the United States, arrests for marijuana possession surpasses the number of arrests for violent crime. Below is a chart of arrests for violent crime and marijuana possession from 2008 to 2010.
The United States is widely known for being the country with the largest prison population (about 6,899,000 or 1 in every 35 adults was under some form of correctional supervision at the end of 2013), which is