Causes of Increases in Prison Populations
The United States has experienced an unprecedented increase in prison populations over the last decade, a trend that began in the 1980's. In just seven years during the last decade, prison populations rose by 58% -- from 1,726.000 to 1.1 million (SW, 1998). 1997 alone showed an increase of over 5% (SW, 1998).
Three factors play heavily into these facts: the war on drugs, longer sentences, and mandatory laws at the federal level and in many states requiring sterner sentences for repeat offenders. These changes in our approach to criminal prosecution have resulted in two significant changes in our prison system: a change in racial balance, and a prison population that now contains significantly more older prisoners than before these changes occurred.
Roach (2002) reported on years of research done by Angela Davis and others. He found persuasive evidence that Blacks receive harsher treatment from the United States Legal system than Whites, but that this does not account for all of the increase in Black populations in prisons. Black criminals actually commit more violent crimes in proportion to their population than others (Roach, 2002), so this does not represent bias. However, bias is very clear when drug offenses are examined: Blacks commit 13% of substance abuse violations, but make up 74% of those arrested under those laws.
Statistics from the Bureau of Justice Statistics...
Prison Inmates Should Be Paroled Early to Help Control the State's Budget Problems This paper argues that inmates at State prisons should be having premature releases from prisons so that the States can manage their budget problems. As the paper illustrates, despite criticisms on parole that it introduces unreformed culprits back in the society and that the program is unorganized, parole is a major contributor in reducing prison populations, which
Prison Reduction of Prison Population Current impact Population affected Government Policies. Effectiveness of Policies Efficacy of the strategies This paper highlights the prison system and relates multiple factors to it. It gives a brief background of the topic and then describes the U.S. crises of prison system. In addition to this, it highlights various factors related to the prison population of Indiana. After that, this paper focuses on the present situation of the prison system and then
The need for less restrictive parole policies could help relieve prison overcrowding (Kunselman & Johnson, 2004). According to Hughes (2007), "On any given day, a large number of the admissions to America's prisons come from individuals who have failed to comply with the conditions of their parole or probation supervision. For years, the revocation and incarceration rate of probationers and parolees has had a significant impact on the growth of
Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 Supreme Court has held that deliberate indifference to the substantial risk of sexual assault violates inmates' rights under the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the 8th Amendment to the Constitution. In response, the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 is designed to systematically study the incidence of offender-on-offender and staff-on-offender assault in correctional facilities throughout the United States and to propose standards for preventing
Overhaul of Our Prison System Needed Most people credit increased incarceration with reduced crime (5). Prison growth has skyrocketed (5). Prison costs have skyrocketed (1) Large numbers of mentally ill in U.S. prisons (3). overcrowding, failure to protect both adults and juveniles, has not reduced crime rate, increased recidivism. Overcrowding statistics on problem Three strikes and you're out rule Drug laws have caused increase in inmates increased sentence length Unrealistic expectations Political consequences if this pattern is challenged Affect areas of society
S. pp). This is partly due to high recidivism because within three years of their release, two of every three prisoners are back behind bars (U.S. pp). Criminologists attribute the prison population growth to "get tough on crime" policies that have subjected hundreds of thousands of nonviolent drug and property offenders to long mandatory sentences (U.S. pp). Malcolm Young of the Sentencing Project, says, "We have to be concerned about
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