Mass Incarceration Rate In America

The United States spends nearly $81 billion per year on corrections, but where is this money coming from, where is it going, and is it actually reducing crime rates? Crime rates in the United States have fallen since 1991 and murder rates have also fallen by half in last 25 years, however the prison population has increased by 500% in the last 40 years. Increase in the number of incarcerated citizens also lead to an increase in new prisons around the country and also the crippling of the american justice system. As the author of Wages of Rebellion describes, the prison-industrial-system as the most

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

Mass Incarceration is a huge problem in United States culture. No other country in the world incarcerates its population the way that America does. “The U.S. incarcerates more people than any country in the world – both per capita and in terms of total people behind bars. The U.S. has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, yet it has almost 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated population.” Worse yet the majority of the incarcerated individuals belong to a minority group despite not participating in illegal activity any more frequently than their white counterparts. Is the United States criminal justice system racist and if so what is the cause behind this racism. After the end of slavery, many southern black Americans traveled to the north to escape endless violence and discrimination. In the south they could only find low paying field jobs whereas in the northern cities there were steady factory jobs promised as well as the hope that discrimination could be escaped. The northerners while against slavery were not egalitarian and were not in favor of hoards of black Americans surging into their cities and taking jobs away from the white working poor. The need for social control by white Americans only grew with the population of black Americans living in the cities and working in the factories. The rhetoric of “law and order” first came about in the late 1950s as white opposition to the Civil Rights Movement was encouraged by southern governors and law enforcement.

The United States of America is phrased by many, as being “the land of the free.” Yet, the Unites States currently has the highest per capita prison population than any other country. The United States makes up only 5% of the world’s population and of that 5%, 25% of our overall nation’s population is currently incarcerated. A few factors that attribute to our high rates of incarceration include, sentencing laws: such as mandatory- minimum sentencing, lack of initial deterrence from crime, the war on drugs and the presence of recidivism. With our ever growing incarceration rates and the cost of housing individual offenders averaging $22,000 a criminal justice agenda. Recidivism refers to a person 's relapse into criminal behavior resulting in rearrests, reconviction or return to prison with or without a new sentence during a three-year period following the prisoner 's release (National Institute of Justice.) Many programs have been implemented in our prison system to help reduce the recidivism rates. Programs such as educational/ vocational programming, reentry programs, substance abuse programs and subsidized employment are among many programs in which have been proven effective. Yet, due to costs deficits, the clock is ticking to find evidence based programs to invest in. So, the question currently being sought after is, which method is most effective in reducing recidivism rates?

Mass incarceration has recently become a major problem within the United States. Although crime rates have dropped since the 1990s, incarceration rates have soared. This trend is largely associated with increased enforcement of drug-related crimes. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, this problem involves racial discrepancies when regarding these mass incarcerations. Incarcerations appear to be the most prominent throughout urban areas and the south, which happen to be the areas where African American males often reside or where racial politics are known to be apparent. In turn, this leads to disproportionate imprisonments. This problem requires immediate attention, but aspects of state and local politics have intensified incarcerations due a variety of factors, which include the state’s focus on the financial incentives that the federal war on drugs has created, the “tough on crime” stance that many politicians posses (largely republican), and the lack of rehabilitation services.

While it’s cheap to put someone on probation or parole, it is expensive to incarcerate a person for a year. It costs $45,000 to house and feed an inmate for one year. “There are approximately 1,325 state prisons and 84 federal prisons in operation across the country today”. (Schmalleger pg 390) If you have 2000 inmates in one prison then that will cost roughly $90,000,000 to support those prisoners for just one year and that is only for one prison. From 1991 to 2007, there was a 37% decrease in the national crime rate and a 62% increase in the rate of imprisonment. The Public Safety Performance Project released a report that predicts the nation’s prison population will rise to more than

Mass incarceration is a term that is used to define the “substantial increase in the number of incarcerated people in the United States’ prisons over the past forty years.” (The Atlantic, 2017) Although America contains about 5% of the world’s population, it holds 25% of the world’s prisoners. When compared to America, the prison populations of oppressive countries, like Russia, are basically nothing. The politics of this “land of the free” in the 80s and 90s led to the dramatic increase in incarceration rates and, by the end of 2010, more than two million people were imprisoned. The US seems to focus more on getting people into prison than on keeping them out.

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.

In the past four decades, there has been a staggering increase in the United States prison population at the local and state level. Currently there are 2.2 million people in the nation’s prisons and jails that has added up to a 500% increase over 40 years (The sentencing project). The cause of this prison growth is a variety of laws and punitive sentencing policies that were initiated starting in the early 1970’s. Policies such as harsh drug penalties for non-violent crimes, Mandatory Minimum Maximum sentences and the Three Strikes law have all contributed to America’s current problem of mass incarceration.

From discrimination to prejudice, from explicit bias to implicit bias, from Jim Crow laws to the current American criminal justice system, there have been many changes, but the outcome has essentially remained the same: racial discrimination. Racial discrimination is treating someone differently only due to one’s race. Although it is said to be illegal in current times,it is still implemented through new techniques such as the modern criminal justice systems. Michelle Alexander discusses in her book, The New Jim Crow, how the current criminal justice system and mass incarceration are a viable analogy to “Jim Crow.” The analogy is apparent through the laws, historical examples, and current affairs as well.

The main argument within this article was that America has a poor approach to incarceration and is ultimately an expensive failure. However, the article provided many points on how our justice system could be improved upon. For example, they could change the harsh sentencing rules, crimes that are currently felonies (drugs), and the rehabilitation programs. All of these things would help to lower the incarceration rate which would ultimately lower overcrowding within our jails and prisons. Though these tools may take time to be put in place they would have highly beneficial outcomes.

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.

The American Civil Liberties Union an organization for protection of liberties of the common American said “The United States incarcerates almost 25 percent of the prisoners in the entire world despite having only 5 percent of the world’s population. Hundreds of thousands of people are locked up not because of any dangerous behavior, but because they could not pay off a fine or were convicted of a nonviolent drug or property crime” (”Mass Incarceration”). This is unacceptable for a world power. America’s core values are centered around liberty and freedom and we have such a high incarceration rate. There are many different factors for the creation of mass incarceration. Thor Benson from Attn.com and writer of “The 4 Biggest Reasons So Many Americans are Behind Bars” stated that long sentences, excessive punishment of non-violent crime, and the war on drugs as being major contributors to mass incarceration. All of these help keep prisoners in the system instead of becoming healthy productive

The mass incarceration of part of the U.S population is propelled mainly by the practices of politicians with regards to business. This is justified as legal by politicians stating they are trying to do what is best for the people by being “tough on crime”. By making the statement that they are being tough on crime, politicians typically earn public support while supporting private companies in terms of detention. Another justification that is used is the statement of leading the war on drugs by creating harsh punishments for drug offenders. One fact that shows how irrational harsh punishment for everyone is that only 10 percent percent of federal drug offenders are classified as high-level offenders, but all face the same harsh minimum punishments (Battaglia, drugpolicy.org). The problem with this policy is that most drug offenders are nonviolent, and end up getting sucked into a cycle of violent behavior due to the long terms they are being forced to serve due to laws. By shifting towards private contracting the focus is truly on profits, so corners are cut and the focus on rehabilitation is lost, punishing both the imprisoned and the public which could be benefitting from individuals saved through the justice

According to Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie , “The American criminal justice system holds more than 2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 901 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,163 local jails, and 76 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, and prisons in the U.S. territories.” Changes in law and policy have caused an increase of incarcerations over the years. The Anti-Drug Act began in 1986, which allowed more funds for new prisons, treatment, and drug education, but mainly to create minimum sentencing. At that point in time, people believed that the primary task for prisons was to punish criminals, not rehabilitate them. Nobody truly realizes what happens behind closed doors. Can you imagine living with a minimum 75 people in an open dorm? How about a minimum six people living in a space smaller than your living room? The implements of the jails/prison are not geared towards success for