Overcrowded Prisons: The United States Criminal Justice System

Overcrowded prisons and improper punishment systems are huge societal issues for our government. Since the late 1970’s, the United States has seen a steady growth of prisoners in prisons. In just Illinois alone, we now have approximately 44,000 people in prison, which is increased by 30,000 people since 1983. As well as an increase of 30,000 people, 30,000 people leave prison each year and are let back into society. But remember, this is just in Illinois; this does not include the other 49 states in our country. So we can only imagine how high the incarceration and reentry into society rates are when you look at the entire country as a whole. The government has gotten harsher on crimes, which leads to more people getting arrested and …show more content…
The system needs to stop arresting and locking up people who get caught for a minor crime, such as having a small amount of marijuana in their car, and focus on people who are out in the world committing more serious and harmful crimes such as murder, assault, and robbery. Large numbers of people who are currently in prison are in there for nonviolent drug offenses and are serving sentences as long as twenty years! If people who commit a smaller, less dangerous crime were given a less strict punishment, this would lower the amount of people being put into prisons and open up more space for those who deserve to be in there for what they did. But maybe punishment is not the option and some of these offenders do not have to go to prison for what they did. Rather than punishing, the justice system could focus more on rehabilitating. Punishment does not always work, sure the offender will suffer being incarcerated for some time, but that does not mean they will learn their lesson and make a change. A possible alternative could be taking a restorative justice approach. Rather than punishing the offender by, they could be rehabilitated. This can provide the offender with the opportunity to sit down face-to-face with their victim and hear what they have to say. It can help the offender realize that what he or she did is wrong and that they should not be committing criminal acts. This could help lower the imprisonment rates because many people who are released from prison go right back to their old ways. They lack proper counseling services that could help benefit them and their future when they are released. If the justice system focuses more on rehabilitating rather than punishing, crime rates can be lowered. People being released from prison who get proper counseling and