Mass incarceration of nations
Nations are being imprisoned in large numbers.
The United States of America has the world’s highest incarceration rate. Approximately 2.3 million adults are now incarcerated. In the 1970s, the rate of mass incarceration began to climb. Nixon was the one who started the war on drugs. During the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the number of inmates more than doubled.
The incarceration rate in the United States is now 15 times that of Japan, nine times that of Germany, and five times that of the United Kingdom. The overall number of inmates in California exceeds that of France. The stringent policies put in place to govern crime and drug dealing have resulted in a high number of inmates in the United States.
In the United States, a large number of convicts have been arrested for drug trafficking or other crimes. Despite the fact that crime is on the decline, the number of people detained as a result of crimes continues to rise. This is owing to the belief that crime is a social problem that must be handled, as well as the media’s continuous fascination with reporting on crime.
Several punitive policies, such as President Bill Clinton’s 1994 crime bill, contributed significantly to the increase in prison populations. A ten-billion-dollar budget was included in the law for the expansion of jails and correctional facilities. People were heavily discriminated against in the criminal justice system because of their color. Seven of the eight people arrested were black Americans.
Executions and physical punishment are popular in countries like Russia and China as a means of addressing social problems. This alleviates the burden of providing food to overcrowded prisons. More money is spent on prisons in the United States than on education. A significant amount of money is directed to jails and correctional facilities by the criminal justice system. The taxpayer is burdened as a result of this.
The United States has recognized that mass incarceration is a financial and human resource burden on the country, as it requires not only money resources to operate prisons, but also personnel resources such as prison wardens to supervise and watch over the inmates. According to statistics, 40 percent of inmates suffer from mental problems. Instead of being imprisoned, such persons should be offered mental health treatment. The prison population has decreased by 10% in the recent decade. Harsh laws, such as the crime bill, that contributed to the rising jail population have been repealed. This approach has helped to reduce the number of prisoners, but it is under threat from current leaders like Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who are staunch opponents of these reforms.
References
Christopher Wildeman and Emily A. Wang. “In the United States, mass incarceration, public health, and rising inequality.” 1464-1474 in The Lancet 389.10077 (2017).
Marc Mauer. “A growing secondary consequence of mass incarceration is felon voting disenfranchisement.” 248 in Fed. Sent’g Rep. 12 (1999).
Katayoon, Majd. “Students from the nation of mass incarceration.” Howard LJ 54, no. 343 (2010).
References
Wildeman, Christopher, and Emily A. Wang. “Mass incarceration, public health, and widening inequality in the USA.” The Lancet 389.10077 (2017): 1464-1474.
Mauer, Marc. “Felon voting disenfranchisement: A growing collateral consequence of mass incarceration.” Fed. Sent’g Rep. 12 (1999): 248.
Majd, Katayoon. “Students of the mass incarceration nation.” Howard LJ 54 (2010): 343.
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