What Are The Pros And Cons Of Private Prisons

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In recent decades, violent crimes have been on a steady decline however, the number of americans dealing with the americans justice system keeps getting higher. The incarceration rates in the united states has skyrocketed in the last thirty years. In a speech on criminal justice at Columbia University, Hillary Clinton says that, “It’s a stark fact that the United States has less than five percent of the world’s population, yet we have almost 25 percent of the world’s total prison population. The numbers today are much higher than they were 30, 40 years ago despite the fact that crime is at historic lows.” (washington post) How could this be? Are americans more prone to criminal activity than the rest of the world? That’s one possible explanation, …show more content…

In fact private prison were primarily used as a tool for decreasing the amount of prisoners in prisons operated by the government.The privatization of prison can really be traced all the way back to the declaration on the “war on drugs” in the 1970s and “tougher sentencing platform in the 1980s.” (Lilly) This led to a massive spike in the number of people getting incarcerated. Government maintained facility could not keep up with the increasing number of inmates therefore, in 1984 the Government hired the Corrections Corporation of America to oversee its first facility in Hamilton County, Tenn. …show more content…

How does the government know that there will be enough inmates to fill their requirement you ask. Well the government will just make it harder for an american to be a free citizen. According to the naacp criminal fact sheet, “ Combining the number of people in prison and jail with those under parole or probation supervision, 1 in every 31 adults … is under some form of correctional control.”The government influenced by lobbyist make laws explicitly made for keeping existing people in jail and adding new ones to the system. Among the laws aimed at expanding the prison population and increasing the profits of special interest corporations are “three-strike laws (mandating sentences of 25 years to life for multiple felony convictions) and “truth-in-sentencing” legislation (mandating that those sentenced to prison serve most or all of their time).” (Whitehead) Basically, Since the government is now required to maintain the prison population high they started to introduce laws to more severely punish nonviolent offenders. Nonviolent crimes are defined as property, drug, and public order offenses which do not involve a threat of harm or an actual attack upon a victim. Typically, the most common nonviolent crimes are drug trafficking, drug possession, burglary, and larceny. thus the war on drugs continues. (Department of Justice) The modern war on drug is a perfect

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