Incarceration In America

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Compared to the rest of the world America has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. America’s incarceration rate is not due to crime rates rising, but can be pinpointed down to things such as America’s “War on Drugs” and jailing up people for nonviolent, petty crimes. It is evident that America’s biggest answer to crime either serious or petty is incarceration, and this answer causes a multitude of problems both for the country and it's people. The flaws in the Justice System affect all American citizens rich or poor, black or white. The flaws in the system must be fixed because currently it is racially discriminatory, economically discriminatory and also self harming to the country economically.
First and foremost, a huge problem …show more content…
If a person has money than they are basically immune to punishment from the government no matter how heinous the crime. To those not so fortunate to be wealthy, which is most of America, seem to be screwed. The first reason the poor are more undermined by the government is the bail system. This is a system set in place to make sure you show up to your trial date, it forces you to either pay a certain amount of money set by the judge, or sit in jail until your trial. In an article by Nick Wing, he says “There are nearly half a million inmates in jail who haven’t been convicted, according to the most recent federal data”(Justice Policy Institute). It's unfair that some people must put their life on pause because they are not able to post bail and sometime it's not even a crime that they committed. Besides bail people need to worry about getting a lawyer to defend them in the courtroom. The rich and wealthy are able to buy the best lawyers who are motivated by money to take their client's case seriously, no matter if they are in the wrong. The lawyers that are appointed to a person by the government know as a public defender are still lawyers, but are less motivated to actually take a case seriously because they are overworked and underpaid. The wealthy are also able to buy people to pull strings to help them out in court. There are countless stories about rich people getting away with crimes just because they have to money to buy people out. Why is a person able to be immune to punishment from the legal system just because they have money? Other than being harming to it's people the justice system is also harming to itself
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