Jailing Nation: How Did Our Prison System Become Such a Nightmare?

Question

The proportion of the US population languishing in jail now stands at 737 per 100,000, the highest rate on earth and some five to twelve times that of Britain, France and other Western European countries or Japan. With 5 percent of the world's population, the United States has close to a quarter of the world's prisoners, which, curiously enough, is the same as its annual contribution to global warming.
With 2.2 million people behind bars and another 5 million on probation or parole, it has approximately 3.2 percent of the adult population under some form of criminal-justice supervision, which is to say one person in thirty-two. For African-Americans, the numbers are even more astonishing. By the mid-1990s, 7 percent of black males were behind bars, while the rate of imprisonment for black males between the ages of 25 and 29 now stands at one in eight.

While conservatives have spent the past three or four decades bemoaning the growth of single-parent families, there is a very simple reason some 1.5 million American children are fatherless or (less often) motherless: Their parents are locked up. Because they are confined for the most part in distant rural prisons, moreover, only about one child in five gets to visit them as often as once a month.
What's that you say? Who cares whether a bunch of "rapists, murderers, robbers, and even terrorists and spies," as Republican Senator Mitch McConnell once characterized America's prison population, get to see their kids? In fact, surprisingly few denizens of the American gulag have been sent away for violent crimes. In 2002 just 19 percent of the felony sentences handed down at the state level were for violent offenses, and of those only about 5 percent were for murder.

Moralism of this sort is neither rational nor democratic, and the fact that it has triumphed so completely is an indication of how deeply the United States has sunk into authoritarianism since the 1980s. With the prison population continuing to rise at a 2.7 percent annual clip, there is no reason to think there will be a turnaround soon.

Thank you, Steve.

And thank you, Bender.

Answer 1

The biggest factor contributing to such a high prison population is the failing "war on drugs." The reason why black males have a disproportionate share of those in the criminal justice system is because they are most affected by drug-related offenses as illegal drugs are most prevalent in predominately black inner-city neighborhoods.

Another reason for such a relatively high prison rate is the US preoccupation towards punishment rather than rehabiliation whereas Western Europe and Japan have taken the opposite approach in reducing crime. It's obvious which benefitted the most. As a result, this policy has led to overcrowding and escalating violence in prisons, endangering inmates as well as personel. Lack of funding for prison reform is also a major setback (not to mention lousy pay for prison guards), helping to foster such an environment. Also, there is a ridiculous high rate of recidivism as freed convicts have nowhere to turn to once they are released. There are few, if any, programs to help parolees and ex-cons to reintegrate into society as there is little funding from state governments. Thus, these ex-cons are highly likely to revert to their past criminal behavior.

It's a sad reality that supposedly "law and order" conservatives would rather just "sweep the dirt under the carpet" rather than take care of the root causes that lead to crime to begin with.

Answer 2

The high rate of imprisonment (0.74% according to the stat you posted) is due primarily to the prohibition of certain drugs, and the agressive enforcemetn of that prohibition - the ill-concieved 'War on Drugs.'

(If you're wondering why I chose 'prohibition' rather than 'banning' or some other synonym, it's just an allusion to Prohibition - a lesson our country should only have had to learn once.)

'Three Strikes' laws and illegal immigration have also added to the prison population.

And, finally, America favors long prison sentences over capital punishment (which is almost always preceded by a long time in 'death row'). Obviously, if you have short prison sentences or make liberal use of capital punishment, you'll have fewer people in jail, even if you have plenty of criminals and manage to catch and convict many of them...

Answer 3

It is a nightmare. The amount of money it cost to to house prisoners is outrageous. Granted, prisons are necessary and I want the bad guy put away, just like most people want, I just think that there's a better way. How about rehabilitation? What about drug treatment centers? The majority of crimes committed are drug related, so why can't we at least attempt to rehabilitate (we all know addicts who have turned their lives around) and return these people to society? It would cost less money because the recidivism rate wouldn't be as high as it is now.

Answer 4

These statistics are really sad. I suspect that one of the major problems we have is because we're too easy on criminals. Seriously, compared to most countries, our prison system is really decent. Our prisoners get good food, housing, exercise, and many other privileges that don't exist elsewhere.

If we toughened up, the fear alone, of going to prison would probably end a major portion of the problems we face with overcrowding.

Answer 5

all human beings understand and agree that our legislators are taking part in a fools interest and taking our us of a nowhere. all human beings attempt to throw our frustration on our legislators via what ever medium that we get. yet in rather fact, we a number of forget approximately the undeniable fact that the actual thank you to coach that's the polling. We refrain ourselves from polling. If all and sundry human beings take an oath to artwork for exchange. all and sundry human beings attempt to impact atleast one hundred human beings and get them to vote for the occasion that we've got confidence can that supply the only right to INDIA, we could easily see a quantum bounce in progression.

Answer 6

Top 2 reasons:

1. The disparity of wealth in our country

2. The "War on Drugs."

Answer 7

It goes all the way back to America's roots as a slaveholding state and bible-thumping backwater.

America has always been entranced with the notion of locking up black people just for the hell of it.

Answer 8

We privatized the system, which resulted in private industry having a profit motive to lobby for longer sentences for smaller crimes.

Related to this is the mandatory sentencing, which has resulted in small-time marijuana users getting life sentences.

Answer 9

No one forces the crooks to break the law.

"Don't break the law, then you won't go to jail."

By the way, most violent crime by blacks is against blacks. Maybe someone is trying to stick up for black victims. That sounds praiseworthy.

Answer 10

It is probably a result of the welfare system breaking up the family and too many people that make excuses for criminals until we have no choice but locking them up..