incarceration

incarceration


Incarceration Rates
The United States currently has the largest incarceration rate in the world. The United States prison population is some 738 per 100,000 of the national population (DWF). This puts the U.S. in the lead, beating countries such as Russia, Cuba, Bahamas, and Bermuda. As of June 30, 2007, 2,299,116 prisoners were held in federal or state prisons or in local jails, an increase of 1.8% from yearend 2006. Federal government spend around $74 billion a year on correction, and over 800,000 people work in the industry. Why is the U.S. incarceration rate the highest in the world? The causes can vary, but I believe the main three causes are mandatory minimum sentencing, lengthier drug sentences, and the hysteria and targeting of specific groups.
One cause that I believe that the U.S. incarceration rate is so outstanding, is because of mandatory minimum sentencing laws. New York was the first state to introduce mandatory minimum sentences in 1973(MS). Mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years to life incarceration for anyone who had four or more ounces of a hard drug were given in New York. California later gave mandatory minimum sentencing as well, which is the “3 strikes law.” On November of 2012, the “3 Strike Law” was changed and approved due to a significant majority of California voters, passing by the wide margin of 68.6 percent to 31.4 percent. Before the revised law was put in effect, the state law allowed the impositions of a life sentence on an individual’s third felony conviction. The revised law would require that the third offense be of a serious or violent nature. For example, if a man has two strikes already and he gets caught stealing a pizza, he would not have to do life in prison. It is not anymore like the criminal is a baseball player and the judge is the empire, three strikes and you are out. We now spend a large percentage of the government’s budget on prisons than on a higher education. Estimates have Prop 36, also...

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