Mass Incarceration In Jails

It seems that our nation has a difficult challenge; at least, not at this particular moment. The most up to date information disclose that inmates who are in prison for drug-related charges experience the utmost return rates of all criminal offenders. This data conveys that making drug offenses a criminal problem isn’t working for individuals who are caught up in the justice system. Instead, the 50 states need to approach America’s growing drug problem by allocating resources to drug courts or centers that focus on treatment and prevention rather waste taxpayer money on new

Many people believe that the crime rates increased during the Great Depression. James V. Bennett, the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, states that institutions like Alcatraz were necessary to control the security issues of gangster era criminals. According to Donna Raaphorst, author of Alcatraz- the History of an Island Prison, Raaphorst states, “Bennett and Homer Cummings agreed Alcatraz would alleviate the stress in the rest of the system. Confining the escape artists and the real troublemakers on the Island would result in less regimentation and a freer atmosphere in the other prisons and in American societies” (139). Bennett also claims that existing federal prisons were overcrowded due to the

Over the years budget crises have forced many states to re-examine budgets, starting with the cost of maintaining their prison and jail systems. The United States has the largest prison population with about two million prisoners. To try and make a plan for the large population and some budget cuts, politicians want to change some of the parole policies and are trying to get some of the criminal laws revised for some drug offenders and white collar criminals. Due to the fact that the politicians are undecided the have put work release programs and strict parole release into effect. Prison is a place for people who break the law should be detained, but if the prisoner has twelve months or less until their release date, and show that they have been

So forty years after the drug war was first declared, it still goes on, normalized by the commentary in media, and stereotypes assigned to those who serve time in correctional facilities. Though the argument here isn’t whether or not drug offenses should be punish, but if long prison sentencing for small amounts of drugs is the correct way to fight this war. Clearly, even after all these years, our society is a long shot from the drug free America Regan envisioned, but the disparities proves that the drug laws punish based on class and status. It would seem that the correct way to fight would be mass rehabilitation, rather than incarceration. Rather than spending trillions to round up drug offenders, and punish them alongside criminals convicted for more violent crimes,

In 2012, almost seven thousand inmates were serving life sentences for crimes they committed as juveniles (603). Sentencing and correctional facilities were not insusceptible to the confusion of the times, but also faced additional inconvenience. Sentencing research uncovered major discretion and something unlike anything they have ever seen before, resulting in negative punishments for minorities. The conditions in prisons led to fights and the death/injury of inmates and staff. Crime rates rising, social disobedience, and drug use increasing has alarmed many people (Mackenzie 2013 4).

If someone had some important evidence on their phone to help solve an investigation wouldn 't someone want the authorities to be able to look at the phone? There have been situations over the past year where authorities may have thought there was some evidence on a phone that would help them solve a case. Some may say if the police will just get the phones they will know the information right away and help criminal activity to drop. Many people may make an argument to say if the police officers are allowed to look at these phones crimes this still wouldn 't help the criminal investigations. The reason for this is because people don 't like it because it violates privacy.

It is much harder to obtain drugs and alcohol in prison then in society. Thus an assumption can be made that incarceration by itself is a rehabilitative method. While this is true in many ways, going cold turkey off of drugs does nothing to treat their minds, and habits when free. By having these programs available to all prisoners it will allow them to work out their problems

However, is incarceration the answer to who society deems a menace, absolutely not. The overrepresentation of men and women of color, and people incarcerated for drug offenses are the effect of some changes that were made in the list forty years. Most of the people who are in prison are in prison for a reason, and that reason is because of sentencing policy. It is worth mentioning the jail and prison is sometimes the answer, however it should not be the answer for some low-level offenders. The recent laws and policy are the reasons why the prison and jail population have increased, and why people stay for longer.

Beside restorative justice, mass incarceration acts as another solution to decrease the amount of crime, yet it should be limited. There has been a longstanding debate over the effectiveness of correctional institutions. Some argue that incarceration deters offenders while others argue that the experience of being incarcerated causes individuals to continue in their life of crime. According to Bruce Western, a professor of sociology and director of the Malcolm Wiener Center, the drastically increase amount of incarceration resulted from problems such as harming prisoners, families, and social groups. He indicates, “Black are seven times more likely to be incarcerated than whites, and large racial disparities can be seen for all age groups and

There are more than 600,000 registered sexual offenders in the United States. The high majority of these sex criminals will be released back into the community and the recidivism rate for these individuals remain high. One in four will eventually recidivate within 15 years. Zott (2007) found “It costs about $22,000 per year, excluding treatment, to incarcerate an offender. Community supervision and treatment can cost between $5,000 and $15,000 per year” (pg.