Prisons Overcrowding and How it Happened
“Get Though on Crime”
The state of the overcrowding in the United States prison can be traced back to the 1970’s when the “Get Though on Crime” movement started in hopes to give harsher punishments for severe crimes in hopes it creates a deterrent for individuals to commit violent crimes. The 38th President of the United States, Richard Nixon stated “Doubling the conviction rate in this country would do more to cure crime in America than quadrupling the funds for [Hubert] Humphry’s war on poverty” (Beckett & Sasson, 2015). The “get though on Crime” had well meaning intensions behind it, but as time went on, programs that devolved as direct response to Nixon’s movement such as “Mandatory Sentencing, …show more content…
According to the Center on Sentencing and Corrections, over 44 percent of inmates entering prisons were found to have serious mental illness and approximately 95% of the imamates were incarcerated for drug use (2015). Many poor individuals that sufferer from mental illness are not able to afford quality and reliable mental heath treatments, and turn to self-medicating with illegal drugs to deal with mental illness. Along with drug use, almost 75 percent of local jails are overcrowded with persons from other non-violent crimes, for things such as failing to pay a traffic fine, or other public order offenses and due to the economic statues, cannot afford bail. Also, the poor have to rely on public defenders, and according to the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, many individuals enter to a guilty plea with out ever meeting with a Public defender due to the fact that Public Defenders are understaffed and overworked, leading to many other wise innocent poor people to face prison time …show more content…
Mood and anxiety disorders such as; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Depression, and Bipolar Disorder and disorders are one if the leading causes of drug use in individual to help cope with the symptoms of these disorders (NIDA 2010). To help with the overcrowding issues in the prisons, when a person is caught with using an illegal drug, in stead of throwing the individual in prison as a punishment, more steps need to be taken to identify why the individual is using in the first place. If the reason is to help cope with an overlapping disorder, then diagnosis and treatment is a more effective way to get the individual off of the substance then sending them to prison for a set amount of time. If the need to be placed into a controlled environment is the most helpful, the offender would be best to spend the time in facility that is set up to help with mental
“Get Though on Crime”
The state of the overcrowding in the United States prison can be traced back to the 1970’s when the “Get Though on Crime” movement started in hopes to give harsher punishments for severe crimes in hopes it creates a deterrent for individuals to commit violent crimes. The 38th President of the United States, Richard Nixon stated “Doubling the conviction rate in this country would do more to cure crime in America than quadrupling the funds for [Hubert] Humphry’s war on poverty” (Beckett & Sasson, 2015). The “get though on Crime” had well meaning intensions behind it, but as time went on, programs that devolved as direct response to Nixon’s movement such as “Mandatory Sentencing, …show more content…
According to the Center on Sentencing and Corrections, over 44 percent of inmates entering prisons were found to have serious mental illness and approximately 95% of the imamates were incarcerated for drug use (2015). Many poor individuals that sufferer from mental illness are not able to afford quality and reliable mental heath treatments, and turn to self-medicating with illegal drugs to deal with mental illness. Along with drug use, almost 75 percent of local jails are overcrowded with persons from other non-violent crimes, for things such as failing to pay a traffic fine, or other public order offenses and due to the economic statues, cannot afford bail. Also, the poor have to rely on public defenders, and according to the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, many individuals enter to a guilty plea with out ever meeting with a Public defender due to the fact that Public Defenders are understaffed and overworked, leading to many other wise innocent poor people to face prison time …show more content…
Mood and anxiety disorders such as; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Depression, and Bipolar Disorder and disorders are one if the leading causes of drug use in individual to help cope with the symptoms of these disorders (NIDA 2010). To help with the overcrowding issues in the prisons, when a person is caught with using an illegal drug, in stead of throwing the individual in prison as a punishment, more steps need to be taken to identify why the individual is using in the first place. If the reason is to help cope with an overlapping disorder, then diagnosis and treatment is a more effective way to get the individual off of the substance then sending them to prison for a set amount of time. If the need to be placed into a controlled environment is the most helpful, the offender would be best to spend the time in facility that is set up to help with mental