Another reason that the system needs to be reformed is due to its high incarceration rates towards Blacks and Latinos. In America alone, there has been an increase in incarcerated people from 1980 to 2008. There were only 500,000 people behind bars, but it skyrocketed to 2.3 million in just 28 years. That has nearly quadrupled from 1980. Not only that, but the United States accounts for only 5 percent of the population, but also accounts for 25 percent of the overall world prisoners (Criminal Justice Fact Sheet). This clearly represents America’s tendency to lock people up and demonstrates where the majority of our money goes to. What is even more shocking is that out of those 2.3 million prisoners in 2008, about 1 million were African American.
