The Cost of High Imprisonment Rates in the United States

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics there are currently 2.4 million people in federal and state prison in the United States, that equals out to 1 out of every 100 American adults. This places the United States at number one in the world for its incarceration rate. The US has 5% of the worlds population but 245% of the worlds prisoners. In addition to this there are 4.8 million adults on probation of parole and 70,792 juveniles in juvenile detention. In 2008 the breakdown for adults under correctional control was as follows: one out of 18 men, one in 89 women, one in 11 African-Americans (9.2 percent), one in 27 Latinos (3.7 percent), and one in 45 Caucasians (2.2 percent). Since 1980 the prison population has quadrupled in part due to the mandatory sentencing on drug convictions. The rate of non-violent crimes have been on the decline and only about 7.9 of federal inmates and in prison for violent crimes. The Bureau of Justice Statistics also repots in a 2002 study that out of 275,000 prisoner that were released in 1994 67.5% were rearrested within 3 years and 51.8% were back in prison.

With the growth of the prison population incarceration has become a multi-billion dollar industry. The money spent by taxpayer in addition to prison offering almost no rehabilitation greatly effects society and Americas economic system. How does incarceration create lasting barriers to economic gain? Bruce Weston a Princeton sociologist estimates that a prison record will reduce a man earnings by 30% to 40% through less work and lower pay, by age 48 formers inmates will have earned less almost $180,000 less than those who have not been incarcerated. Two – thrids of adult males sent to prison were employed at the time of their sente...

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...omprehsnive review of the correction system, legalizing some drugs, and reducing prison popuations. Most economists agrees that one way or another spending on corrections needs to be reigned in as our economy is becoming unable to adequately meet the demands.

Works Cited

http://www.pewstates.org/uploadedFiles/PCS_Assets/2010/Collateral_Costs(1).pdf

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/184253.pdf

http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412693-The-Growth-and-Increasing-Cost-of-the-Federal-Prison-System.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infectious_diseases_within_American_prisons

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tina-maschi/elderly-inmates_b_1372189.html

http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42

http://www.fnsa.org/v1n1/dieter.html

http://www.fnsa.org/v1n1/dieter.html

http://nicic.gov/library/024411

http://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/prison_and_the_economy/