The Increased Prison Population and Improper Punishment System

In a fight to reduce overcrowding, improve public health and public safety, and reduce the costs of criminal justice and corrections, federal, state and local leaders are constantly looking for alternatives to incarceration. A number of strategies have been put in place to save public funds and improve public health by keeping low-risk, non-violent, possibly drug-involved offenders out of prison or jail while still holding them accountable and securing the safety of our comminutes. These programs have been put in place to help those who don’t necessarily need to be in jail, get their priorities straight while also holding them accountable for their actions. They have been put in place to help reduce incarceration rates, but also help those who may have mental health issues or substance abuse issues that have caused them to make bad decisions (Treatment Court Divisions).

The past quarter century has seen an enormous growth in the American incarceration rate. Importantly, some scholars have suggested that the rate of prison growth has little to do with the theme of crime itself, but it is the end result of particular U.S. policy choices. Clear (2007) posits that "these policy choices have had well-defined implications for the way prison populations have come to replicate a concentrated occurrence among specified subgroups in the United States population in particular young black men from deprived communities" (p. 49).

Rising prison populations could be a problem in society because of how much money it costs to have prisoners. It also could be a problem in society because when people hear the mass amounts of numbers of prisoners and people being arrested people could become disgusted and worry about what the government is really doing to stop all these

The number of prisoners in United States prisons has increased and are still growing day-by-day. The Sentencing Project, an organization that fights for a fair and effective U.S. justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing policy, addresses unjust racial disparities and practices in its article “Trends in U.S. Corrections.” They write, “The United States is the world's leader in incarceration with 2.2 million people currently in the nation's prisons and jails — a 500% increase over the last forty years ”(The Sentencing Project 1). According to The Sentencing Project statistics, the number of prisoners has dramatically increased in the past four decades,

High incarceration rates in the United States are astronomical. According to Williams (2014), there are more than twenty-four million people incarcerated between the state, federal, juvenile correctional facilities, jails, military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment center and prisons in the U.S. territories. The makes the United States to have the highest incarceration rate in the world. Texas prison system has grown faster than any other state and has been reported that one out of every twenty adults were in the corrections system under one form or another (Texas Tough, n.d.). The problem is that the crime rates do not account for the [prison] rates (Hartney, 2006). Thus, from the overcrowding, there are issues with

When we think of prison, we imagine it’s existence only for the good of our society, its purpose to lock up the “bad guys” and keeps the streets safe and people from harm. But what if, in the recent years, imprisonment has shown different results? While in the past couple of years, the rate of crime has declined, it seems as if the rate of incarceration has only gone up. Well, that’s because it has. Reports show that, “In 1974, 100 out of every 100,000 citizens of this country were in prison; today, there are roughly 700 people in prison or jail for every 100,000 Americans” (Madden 14). Despite these statistics, this rampant imprisonment of people, especially of color, has negatively impacted our society. By discussing the harmful effects of the large rate that men of

One major problem facing American prisons are the extremely high incarceration rates. According to a report released by the National Research Council, “The US rate of incarceration, with nearly 1 of every 100 adults in prison or jail, is 5-to 10-times higher than rates in Western Europe and other democracies.” (Zurcher, 2014, para. 3) Based on this report it is clearly illustrated that the incarceration rates are absurdly high in comparison to other major countries. Furthermore, strict sentencing laws and minor drug offences are a major contributor to America’s prison population. Miller writes, the US prison population grew by 700 percent due to an influx of drug arrests and tough sentencing laws. As of now 1.6 million people are behind bars in federal and state prison, leaving America with the largest prison population in the world (para. 11). With a 700 percent increase in prison population one question comes to mind. Does America have an increase in criminal activity compared to other countries? Despite the massive increase in incarcerations, crime has not increased significantly increased over the years, and prison doors are still clanking at an exorbitant rate.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) reports 2.2 million people are in our nation’s jails and prisons and another 4.5 million people are on probation or parole in the US, totaling 6.8 million people, one of every 35 adults. We are far and away the world leader in putting our own people in jail. (The Huffington Post)

“The United States makes up nearly 5% of the world’s population and almost 25% of the world’s prison population. Today, there are over 2.2 million people incarcerated in this country” (Barnett-Byrd). During the last forty years, up till 2015, there has been a 500% increase in the incarceration rate in the United States. Throughout the years, the prison rates keep accumulating. People are being locked up primarily for drug use and violence. In 2015, nearly 52.9% of convicts were sentenced for violence in the state prisons, and 49.5% of convicts were sentenced for drug related issues in federal prisons (Carson and Anderson 2). As the incarceration rates increase, the amount of drug use and violence in this country also increases, and as the

According to the Pew Research Center, African-American male's incarceration is predominantly concentrated among Black males aged between 20 and 34. A number of factors contribute to this alarming statistics. While focusing on incarceration, studies demonstrate that the population in national prisons has increased by more than 600% from 1970s (Robinson, 2009). This is a significantly large number compared to the 40% increase in the national population during the same period. Before the 70s, the judicial systems in America were viewed as the most liberal, progressive, and humane. In the 1980s, federal and state governments launched new correctional centers to support the inflow of prisoners (United States Department of Labor, Office of Policy Planning and Research, 1965). Across these correctional facilities, societal, cultural, and economic inequalities were the leading contributors of Black males' incarceration rates. This study examines the factors that led to this high incarceration rate among African-American males.

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.

In the United States, Imprisonment is one of the main forms of punishment for offenders who commit a felony offense. The United States has the highest number of offenders incarcerated in prion than any other country in the world. Both the federal and state prisons both have the same mission and that is to protect society by confining offenders in a controlled environment that are safe human, secure, cost efficient, and provide rehabilitation to offenders in self-improvement and educational opportunities and helping them become better law-abiding citizens. Prisons are operated at the Federal and State level and are operated at various different levels of security based on the offender’s crimes which can range from minimum security prisons to supermax facilities (De Maille, 2015)

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

Incarnation is a form of punishment, if not the main form of punishment we use to contain the deplorable of society. Prison was determined to be a more humane way of punishing people for their crimes. However, the system differs from country to country and works different for countries. The crimes that may be minor in the United States may be a major one in European and Asian countries and come with a heavier prison sentencing. Each other have their own way of correction programs for the prisoners; some works and other doesn’t.

Throughout time the United States correctional system has been used as a means to detain and punish criminals. The United States has the “largest prison system in the world” and houses criminals that are guilty of committing crimes anywhere from misdemeanors such as shoplifting and drug possession to felonies like rape and murder (O’Connor, 2014). Since the United States has the largest prison population and it is highly costly to both states and the government, state legislators have been working on cost-effective solutions to the correctional system (Schmalleger, 2015). Today the United States correctional system serves two main functions which are to house individuals that are guilty of committing crimes and ensuring they pay for their wrong doing and also to help rehabilitate the offender and prepare them to reenter society successfully.