Mass Incarceration Analysis

According to Drug Law, Mass Incarceration, and Public Health, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, higher than the most violent and oppressed countries in the world. In total, more than eight million people over the last thirty-five years have gone through the prison system. Even though we have seen a decrease in crime during the last fifteen years, there was been a dramatic increase of incarceration rates causing a current rate of more than 720 per 100,000 (Drucker 2013). Currently, there is still over 2.3 million people that are behind bars in prisons and jails, and another five million people on parole or probation (Bower 2010). This suggests that our criminal justice system is using a harsher method to clean …show more content…
The criminal justice system must be able to implement a reform and focus on a more community approach to help aid people who have gone through the system or people who are in danger of being caught up in a never ending cycle of imprisonment. We can reduce the high rates of incarceration by really addressing rather than avoiding the root of the problem. Investments must be made to help alleviate poverty such as rehabilitation centers and mental hospitals for people to seek help rather than spending time in prison and jails where they are not being treated. In the article Mass Incarceration: Causes, Consequences, and Exit Strageties, Carol S. Steiker states, “Make community corrections work to reduce crime better than our current failed system of mass incarceration which has become a social problem on the same level as crime itself” (Steiker, 2011, p. 4). The criminal justice system must focus on projects that are effective in crime reduction rather than using incarceration as the only means of deterrence. Mass incarceration can be drastically reduced if we acknowledge that the war on drugs is not effective in reducing crime. Also, Police should implement a plan to be able to interact with communities to ease the tension of discrimination. In addition, the vigorous law enforcement actions such as long mandatory prison sentences for nonviolent crimes should be changed and rather implement rehabilitation options rather than

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