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    The document discusses issues with mass incarceration in the United States. It notes that the US spends significantly more per prisoner, $27k on average, than per student. The US also has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 2.2 million people in prisons, despite relatively stable crime rates. One solution proposed is reducing imprisonment for lower-level crimes and implementing alternative punishments, in order to lower incarceration costs and rates. Another is shortening prison terms, as research shows longer sentences do not necessarily reduce recidivism and may sometimes increase it. Overall the document examines the problems with the US criminal justice system and over-incarceration.

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    Document39 Copy 1

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    The document discusses issues with mass incarceration in the United States. It notes that the US spends significantly more per prisoner, $27k on average, than per student. The US also has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 2.2 million people in prisons, despite relatively stable crime rates. One solution proposed is reducing imprisonment for lower-level crimes and implementing alternative punishments, in order to lower incarceration costs and rates. Another is shortening prison terms, as research shows longer sentences do not necessarily reduce recidivism and may sometimes increase it. Overall the document examines the problems with the US criminal justice system and over-incarceration.

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    The document discusses issues with mass incarceration in the United States. It notes that the US spends significantly more per prisoner, $27k on average, than per student. The US also has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 2.2 million people in prisons, despite relatively stable crime rates. One solution proposed is reducing imprisonment for lower-level crimes and implementing alternative punishments, in order to lower incarceration costs and rates. Another is shortening prison terms, as research shows longer sentences do not necessarily reduce recidivism and may sometimes increase it. Overall the document examines the problems with the US criminal justice system and over-incarceration.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    123 views4 pages

    Document39 Copy 1

    Uploaded by

    api-495403987
    The document discusses issues with mass incarceration in the United States. It notes that the US spends significantly more per prisoner, $27k on average, than per student. The US also has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 2.2 million people in prisons, despite relatively stable crime rates. One solution proposed is reducing imprisonment for lower-level crimes and implementing alternative punishments, in order to lower incarceration costs and rates. Another is shortening prison terms, as research shows longer sentences do not necessarily reduce recidivism and may sometimes increase it. Overall the document examines the problems with the US criminal justice system and over-incarceration.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 4

    Nick VanHorne

    Mrs. Duda

    10 Literature and composition

    15 December 2019

    Stupid Sentence

    Have you ever wondered why the U.S. spends more money per inmate then they do per

    student? Well, you might want to know that on average, the U.S.spends $27k more per

    prisoner than it does per student. Out of all 50 states, New York has the highest difference at

    $46,989. Jails in America are getting fuller. Gonchar, writer at the New York Times says, “The

    report, by the Vera Institute of Justice, comes at a time of increased attention to mass

    incarceration policies that have swelled prison and jail populations around the country.”

    (Gonchar) Also the U.S only has less than five percent of the world’s population but more than

    25% of the worlds prisoners. According to new york times, 68% of jail inmates have a history of

    drug abuse before getting into jail “they are too ill with mental health or drug problems to

    adequately care for themselves” (Gonchar). This means most of the people have an issue that

    they all share.

    The United States of America has the most people incarcerated out of the entire world,

    prisons are overcrowded now, they have 2.2 million people in the jail/prison system. In the past

    there has been a lot more people sentenced but no change in how many people commit

    crimes, and it just keeps going up. The amount of people in state prisons, federal prisons and
    jails has went up drastically since 1980. but our population has not, this would, mean one of

    two things, crime rate increased or laws got stricter right? Well, no. Not many laws changed,

    and crime rates did not raise significantly.

    One often spoken about solution to mass incarnation is to take out imprisonment as a

    punishment for lower level crimes. “Prison costs $31,000 a year per prisoner, and often does

    little to prevent re-offense for these crimes.”(Cullen) so if we took out prison as a punishment

    for non deadly or harmful crimes, it could possibly lower taxes and even reduce our national

    debt. In order for this to happen state legislators would have to make alternative punishments

    to imprisonment. Many people believe the solution to repeated drug busts are facilities to help

    people, but when the people have no money and their brain is neurologically wired to drugs. It

    is not as easy as it sounds.

    This relates to a lot of dystopia books in many ways. Many of them are about government

    control rigged and far too many people and far too much money is spent on it and by

    government trying to take control over it is making it much worse.

    Another solution we could use towards ending mass incarceration is basically shortening

    terms or minimum term length, “research indicates that longer stays in prison do not lead to

    lower recidivism. Sometimes, longer stays can even increase recidivism” (Cullen). This would

    mean that if inmates behaved well during their stay, they can be let out earlier. “aggravated

    assault, drug trafficking, murder, non-violent weapons offenses, robbery and serious burglar
    that make up the bulk of the nation’s current prison population(Cullen)” It is common for

    prisoners to realize their wrong doings for non drug related crimes within 5 years of jail time.

    Some people spend more time in jail for fraud then they do for taking another human’s life

    away.
    Works Cited

    “Do We Incarcerate Too Many People?: Department of Criminology.” Do We Incarcerate Too

    Many People? | Department of Criminology, web 12/16/19.

    “Four Things We Can Do to End Mass Incarceration.” Brennan Center for Justice, 1/11/20.

    Gonchar, Michael. “What Should Be the Purpose of Prison?” The New York Times, The New

    York Times, 27 Feb. 2015, web 12/16/19.

    “Trends in U.S Corrections.” Sentencing Project, web 12/16/19.

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