Mass Incarceration Research Paper

African Americans comprise 31% of individuals arrested for drug violations. In eleven states, at least 1 in 20 black adults are in prison. Research shows that prosecutors are twice as likely to pursue a mandatory minimum sentence for black people as for white people charged with the same crime. One in nine black children and one in 38 Latino children have an incarcerated parent, compared to one in 57 white children. Higher rates of incarceration in minority communities have lead to the destruction of the family

In 2014 there were 215,000 people incarcerated in federal prisons, almost half were there for drug-related offenses with the enactment of mandatory minimum sentencing laws for drug offenses in the 1980s, increasing the population by more than 800 percent (Malcolm, 2014.) “Moreover, drug offenders make up the single largest category of incarcerated offenders in Tennessee, serving an average sentence of 9.7 years” (Malcolm, 2014, paragraph 21.) By limit sentencing, we can address the issues of high cost, by using probation and parole for more misdemeanor

Revising the US Senate... The US Senate is the least representative legislative and worst branch of a government body in the democratic world. An ever shrinking minority of voters has the power to obstruct policies favored by the majority of the American people. From the 18th century to the present, the ratio of large- to small-state populations has grown from 19-to-1 to 66-to-1. Today, half of the Senate can be elected by 15 percent of the American people—and the problem is only getting worse.

The War on Drugs and Mass Incarceration The United States incarcerates at a higher rate than any other country in the world. In fact, the U.S. alone is home to 25% of the world’s prison population; this, however, wasn’t always the case. The rapid growth of the U.S. prison population can be traced two decades back to the declaration of the War on Drugs by President Ronald Regan in the early eighties and previously mentioned by President Richard Nixon. In an effort to reassure White Americans’ of their elite positioning in the underlying racial caste system in a time where inner-city communities were facing major economic collapses, the Regan administration called for the reinforcement of the sale, distribution, and consumption of illicit drugs,

TITLE OR PURPOSE An effort to retroactivly change the current system of corrections in revielence to non-violent drug offenses. MAJOR AREAS TO BE AFFECTED The largest area to be affected is the present system of sentencing that has been set up for non-violent drug offenses by the Department of Justice and the Department of Corrections. JUSTIFICATION Today, the average federal prison is overcrowed by 36 percent. In 2013, the total federal prison system had a capacity rated to hold 132,221 inmates, yet there were 176,484 inmates behind federal bars that year. In some correctional institutions, the inmate population has been 50 percent over the rated capacity.

Illegal immigrants are a major part of the US labor force and have been an important source of low-skilled labor supply to the US economy for many decades. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that the number of unauthorized immigrants in the US labor force was 8.3 million in 2008, up from 6.3 million in 2003 but down slightly from the 2007 peak of 8.5 million. And there are currently 11.9 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, with an average of 500,000 new entrants arriving annually over the last decade. (Passel and Cohn, A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States, 2009).

The overcrowding of prisons in California and the rest of America is the result of “manufactured crime”. These are crimes which have no victim yet are considered felonies and follow the three strike law. Many people do not know that there are more incarcerated people in America than any other country on earth. According to the American Civil Liberties Union “America contains 5% of the world 's human population while also containing 25% of the world’s prison population. Since 1970, our prison population has risen by some 700% - an increase far outpacing rates of population growth and crime1”.

Elderly offenders One of the biggest problem facing the correctional is not the disease all but the population whit elderly offenders are, that the population is increasing and the prisons are not sure how to solve this problem. The most of the elderly have been in prison for most of their lives. And when they are in prison for most of their lives most of them don’t have family members to take care of them or they don’t have any type of education and they have a difficult time in the real world or most of them will end up homeless or death. Most of them come back again to prisons and keep repeating the same cycle Elderly offenders consist about four percent of arrest of the United States and by the time we are in 2020 the percent will increased about 15% and the population will included about people between 65 and older. And almost nine times male that female is arrested and that female elderly the percentage are lower than the male.

This statistic could steam from since 1980 to present the prison system has quadrupled in population from a half of million people to roughly 2.5 million people(NAACP,2015). Some would say that this is the reason for the downward trend of violent crimes in America, Because more of the people are locked up and not on the streets in order to commit crimes. Which may be the case, but the question still remains why is the statics of race in the prison system still a overwhelmingly different. For Example African Americans are locked up 6 times more than white offenders, As of 2008 the prison system is predominantly (58%) made up of African Americans and Latinos (NAACP,2015). From these statistics, it could possibly be assumed that the socioeconomic status from where a person is from could lead to a answer as to why this is happening all over

The issue of prison overcrowding has been an increasing in America. There are about 2.2 million Americans in jail or prison. The number of people in prison have gotten so large that about one in every 100 adults are behind bars. The increase in inmate population in the United States is a concern to me because some of these people have committed non-violent crimes or have drug related crimes. These people should be placed in rehabilitation centers or be counseled about drug distributing.

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).

Under the guise of public safety, law enforcement law and sentencing policies became stringent and tough on crime during the war on drug era. The results only served to increase incarceration rates. According to U.S. Prison Population Trends in 1972 there were roughly 330,000 people in prison and jail (2016) and according to Criminal Justice Facts by 2013 that number had mushroomed to 2.2 million people (n.d.). It was also noted that most of the growth in the prisoner population occurred in vulnerable populations and a disproportionate number of whom were black or Latino. Laws that created the punitive state we have today are enacted laws over 50 years old, which were in reaction to rising crime.

Correctional Health Care United States ranks the highest when it comes to the incarceration rate of its own citizens. The prevailing population of federal and state prisoners stands at more than 2.4 million or around 1 adult male to every 100. If you believe in a lesser sentencing for non-violent offenders, or support the idea of casting aside the key on every prisoner, we all can recognize that the bottom line of incarcerating prisoners is mind boggling. As it stands, the current cost of confinement per prisoner is approximately around $32,000 a year, this amount is also determined by the location, as well the prison being a state or federal facility. It is the responsibility of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC)