Mass Incarceration
Mass incarceration is very unique problem to the United States that has been around for several years and seems to continue to grow by the years. In the book Mass Incarceration on Trial it is stated that, “The term mass incarceration was first used by specialists in the field of punishment and society to describe the tremendous changes in the scale of incarceration that began in the late 1970s…” (Simon 3). The fact that this term has been getting attention for almost forty six years comes to show how urgently this issue needs to be addressed. Mass incarceration is not only negatively impacting the prisoner himself, the prisoner’s family, but society as well.
Mass incarceration is doing the opposite of what the eight amendment …show more content…
In a journal article by Patricia Kelly it is stated that, “almost 2 million children in the united states have a parent in jail or prison (Kelley 1).” It is also proven that children with incarcerated parents are five times more likely to be incarcerated than any other child. In the documentary of “Girlhood”, I was able to learn about a fourteen year old girl named Megan who had a difficult childhood due to her mother always being out on the streets giving into her drug addiction or incarcerated for prostitution. Megan was placed in eleven different homes and practically run away from each one of them. When she was ten years old she was diagnosed with as manic-depressive which is one of the risk children are exposed to after experiencing the incarceration of parent as stated by Kelley: “[children] have elevated risk of depression, suicide, being violence, being of victim of violence (Kelley1).” By the age of fourteen Megan had experienced all these risks. At fourteen she had been hit by bullet and had stabbed a girl with a box cutter which led for her lock up in a juvenile detention for some of the most violent offenders in the country. At the age of nineteen she was addicted to cocaine and was practically doing anything to kill herself. Megan’s story comes to show how the incarceration of parent is affecting their offspring’s at great extents and creating more criminals. There are …show more content…
There are prisoners who are justly in prison but do not belong there. Just like there is prisoners that are justly in prison and do belong there. Therefore, providing an alternative to prison for those non- violent offenders could diminish the high incarceration rates and help rehabilitate the more serious offenders. An alternation to prison would be placing low level offenders into intensive community supervision where probation officers have less cases and are able to supervise offenders more closely. For some offenders, daily reporting can keep them on stricter path and reduce the chances of them of re-offending. Providing drug treatment for offenders with substance abuse could also help reduce the overcrowding in prisons and offer a more rehabilitative environment for prisoners that need it. Rehabilitation is very important for preventing prisoner from
Mass incarceration is very unique problem to the United States that has been around for several years and seems to continue to grow by the years. In the book Mass Incarceration on Trial it is stated that, “The term mass incarceration was first used by specialists in the field of punishment and society to describe the tremendous changes in the scale of incarceration that began in the late 1970s…” (Simon 3). The fact that this term has been getting attention for almost forty six years comes to show how urgently this issue needs to be addressed. Mass incarceration is not only negatively impacting the prisoner himself, the prisoner’s family, but society as well.
Mass incarceration is doing the opposite of what the eight amendment …show more content…
In a journal article by Patricia Kelly it is stated that, “almost 2 million children in the united states have a parent in jail or prison (Kelley 1).” It is also proven that children with incarcerated parents are five times more likely to be incarcerated than any other child. In the documentary of “Girlhood”, I was able to learn about a fourteen year old girl named Megan who had a difficult childhood due to her mother always being out on the streets giving into her drug addiction or incarcerated for prostitution. Megan was placed in eleven different homes and practically run away from each one of them. When she was ten years old she was diagnosed with as manic-depressive which is one of the risk children are exposed to after experiencing the incarceration of parent as stated by Kelley: “[children] have elevated risk of depression, suicide, being violence, being of victim of violence (Kelley1).” By the age of fourteen Megan had experienced all these risks. At fourteen she had been hit by bullet and had stabbed a girl with a box cutter which led for her lock up in a juvenile detention for some of the most violent offenders in the country. At the age of nineteen she was addicted to cocaine and was practically doing anything to kill herself. Megan’s story comes to show how the incarceration of parent is affecting their offspring’s at great extents and creating more criminals. There are …show more content…
There are prisoners who are justly in prison but do not belong there. Just like there is prisoners that are justly in prison and do belong there. Therefore, providing an alternative to prison for those non- violent offenders could diminish the high incarceration rates and help rehabilitate the more serious offenders. An alternation to prison would be placing low level offenders into intensive community supervision where probation officers have less cases and are able to supervise offenders more closely. For some offenders, daily reporting can keep them on stricter path and reduce the chances of them of re-offending. Providing drug treatment for offenders with substance abuse could also help reduce the overcrowding in prisons and offer a more rehabilitative environment for prisoners that need it. Rehabilitation is very important for preventing prisoner from