The use of incarceration in the United States (original) (raw)
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Mass Incarceration- A Major American Issue
The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, and yet leads in the number of individuals who are imprisoned. Over a quarter of those in prison in the world reside within the United States prison system (Gottschalk, 2006). Over the past 50 years, the penal system in America has grown from a just, balanced system into an unchecked, wildly biased monster. This push towards mass incarceration has yielded among inmates increased chances of reoffending, homelessness, reliance on welfare, drug and alcohol abuse, and generational poverty. In order to cut the incredibly taxing cost of our current prison system and enable our citizens to lead better lives, alternative methods must be utilized for misdemeanors and nonviolent crimes. Keywords: incarceration, imprisonment, penal system, alternatives to incarceration, crime, reoffenders, poverty
Reflections on the NAS Report: What Are the Prospects For Reducing the US Prison Population?
2015
Law. The list of scholars who have stood at this podium is impressive and, frankly somewhat intimidating. I am humbled to be in their company. Our topic tonight is the phenomenon of "mass incarceration"-the reality that our country has increased the rate of incarceration more than four-fold over the past generation. The topic of mass incarceration is a scholar's delight. Historians, political scientists and legal scholars are deeply engaged in shedding light on how we got here. Economists, sociologists, and public health academics are helping us understand the realities of this unprecedented level of imprisonment of our fellow citizens. Criminologists, economists and philosophers are assessing the impact of this level of imprisonment on public safety, the national economy and civic participation. Yet before we dive in, I must confess that maintaining scholarly objectivity is difficult for me. I think this is one of the most important moral challenges facing our democracy. Stated bluntly, if this level of incarceration, or anything close to it, becomes our new normal, I am concerned for the future of our democratic experiment, our notion of limited government, and our pursuit of racial justice. A second admission: although I am an optimist by nature, I am not optimistic that we can figure this out. I fear that the dynamics that led us to this moment are so deeply ingrained in the American psyche, so embedded in our political realities and so central to our discourse on crime, punishment, and race that it is hard for me to imagine an exit strategy. I come to this conclusion in full recognition of the remarkable political consensus, including miraculous rightleft coalitions, that we must reduce our reliance on prison as a response to crime. I also come to this with profound respect for the many individuals, advocacy organizations and foundations that are committed to that goal. Stated differently, and bluntly, I believe that reversing course will require something much more profound than our current reform strategies. What is required is a deep cultural change. Tonight I will sketch the outlines of the transformation in our culture that I think will be required.
Debating Mass Incarceration in the USA
2015
The U.S. imprisonment trend also looks like a hockey stick. Stable and modest growth occurred throughout the early twentieth century. Then in the 1970s, the line shot up, quintupling by the 2000s. Aside from dampening economic optimism, this trend evokes a similar visceral reaction to McCloskey’s. The change in U.S. inmate population has been so big and its accumulation so fast that it can’t be ignored.
Victims & Offenders, 2010
The disproportionate number of people incarcerated is one exceptional feature of criminal justice in the United States. Comparisons among the United States and other Western democracies on several social, political, and economic factors fail to provide a justification for the high incarceration rates in the United States. The more than 2.3 million people incarcerated in this nation largely reflect policy choices that have been made at all levels of government in the United States. While these policy choices have created unprecedented imprisonment rates, abnormally large incarceration rates are not entirely unknown in other nations. In the 1950s, Finland had an incarceration rate more than three times greater than that of its Nordic neighbors. More than 50 years later, Finland was able to reduce its use of incarceration to a rate comparable to its neighbors. Germany is another country that has worked to reduce its reliance on incarceration. A focus on how other Western democracies have reduced their incarceration rates can provide the United States with blueprints for how effective crime control can be achieved without a heavy reliance on incarceration.
Contributing Factors to Mass Incarceration and Recidivism
Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science, 2018
The United States has been historically known for having the most incarcerated individuals in its country. Approximately 2.3 million adults can be found under some type of penal control. Since the 1960s, the number of incarcerated individuals can be attributed to decades of tough on crime policies, controversial police practices, and racism. Mass incarceration has raised significant social justice issues, especially since it has been heavily concentrated on poor, uneducated African American men. Moreover, recidivism rates in the United States are at an all time high with over 76.6% of offenders reoffending and returning to prison (National Institute of Justice, 2014). Many of these ex-offenders find themselves unemployed and uneducated, putting them higher at risk for recidivism. This paper will show how contributing factors like race and socioeconomic disparities contribute to mass incarceration and recidivism rates. Additionally, this paper will present an alternative program that aims to reduce overall recidivism rates across prisons and communities.