Fewer Americans are going to prison. First, the cost of conserving a prison is high. The text states, “...is the associated cost of maintaining prisons and the recession in the U.S. from December 2007 to June 2009. Between 2011 and 2012, prisons in a number of states had to shut their doors, and many prison building projects were abandoned due to rising cost, notes the Times.” Second, the prisons are crammed full of people. For example, “California was ordered by the Supreme Court in 2012 to reduce its prison populations, and other states followed suit for fear of similar orders, including Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Alaska, and New York…” Finally, people weren’t committing that many crimes anymore. The author says, “Crime
