Nonviolent Crimes In Prison Essay

The United States of America is a country of freedom, entrepreneurship, wealth, luxury, and immense opportunity. So it stands in stark contrast to this image that we are also home to the world’s largest prison population. In fact, America has just 5% of the world’s population, but is home to 25% of its prisoners. The majority of the prison population is made up of people serving long sentences for nonviolent crimes like drug offenses. Some would argue that due to the significant negative impact drugs has on communities these sentences are just. Most human and civil rights groups are in favor of abolishing the sentencing structure that has led to this massive prison population. Whatever side of the argument you favor, one can agree that there is simply no excuse that a country that espouses freedom for all should incarcerate so many of its citizens. The fact that today America has more of its population imprisoned than oppressive regimes like China, Russia, and Iran is diametrically opposed to the philosophies that intelligent men relied on in the foundation of …show more content…
Since the legislation for this sentencing was passed in the 1980s, the federal prison population has multiplied almost ten times. The cost of housing these prisoners is a burden that we as tax payers have to shoulder. Almost $70 billion dollars is spent annually on the prison system. Since the introduction of sentencing structures like the three strike rule, state spending has increased almost 300 percent. All of this money could be better spent elsewhere. Imagine using just a percentage of these costs on education, public works, beautification, art, or scientific research. Instead of investing so much money into putting Americans in prison we could invest money into our job sector to ensure that less Americans are unemployed and have money to reinvest into our