Why Does Prison Population Grow In The United States

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Why Does Our Prison Population Continue to Grow in the United States? “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” (Lee). Why are the numbers so elevated? Compared to other countries, the United States has more prisoners per capita than even Russia or China. “An astonishing number of Americans—nearly one out of every one hundred adults—is behind bars in this country” (Ryan 149). Are there more crimes being committed in the United States? Increase in prison facilities and prison growth is astounding. People are being unrightfully imprisoned and it must be stopped. How far back in history does this problem exist? The …show more content…

Harsher punishments are being put on crimes to keep the body count up in the prisons. The more people private prisons have, the more money they get from the government and the more people they have for free labor. Theory number two is “the war on drugs”. Every drug related violation has aided in the increase of prisoners. Richard Nixon is the president that declared the war on drugs. The war on drugs had an opposite effect and led to mass incarceration. Our government took away the supply without removing demand, so drug prices increased substantially. There was still a demand for drugs no matter the cost. The change in laws prevented big drug producers from being able to sell, but many small dealers took their place. A.L.E.C. is a group that writes laws for legislation and gives them to people in government. These laws favor big business and make it harder for anyone with less money. Legislators have been caught with the A.L.E.C. leader head on their bills. People are not happy with a system that is rigged against them? If a person is rich, they can just pay their way out of any …show more content…

Demands are made for harsher punishments for crimes. Elected officials give promises of making the world a better place by increasing penalties for people who break the law. People who are put in charge of prisoners are designed to break their will in the first week. It would be more productive if there was a bigger focus on rehabilitation to give people a chance when they get out of prison. Legislators are now striving to find positive solutions to overpopulation in prisons. Second-look is one such proposal. “This “second-look sentencing” provision is thought to have a number of positive effects, such as reducing incarceration and consequently decreasing governmental spending on incarceration” (Ryan 150). Other ideas are: more education, job skills training, and safe places similar to a halfway house in between prison and the real world. The halfway house could be a place for them to find somewhere to live, get a job, and be a productive

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