• Home Page
  • Should Prison Population Be Increased Or Decreased

Should Prison Population Be Increased Or Decreased

Improved Essays
Show More
The world and time were living in now is full of crime. Many people are being sentenced to prison for all sorts of crimes. The judges and prosecutors are sentencing people to prison and not even thinking about if the overpopulation already at hand. This is a huge issue in the United States. This issue is causing numerous of problems for our society and the prisoners. This paper will provide sources that believe prison population should be decreased. It will also provide sources whom believe prison population shouldn’t be decrease. The purpose of this essay is to provide an argument of both sides of the topic.
According to Dictionary.com, (2015) overpopulation is to fill with an excessive number of people, straining available resources and facilities. This is what is happening in our prison systems today. Our country has more people in prison than any other country. In fact the most recent statistics from the Department of Justice states that 1 out of every 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 has been jailed. This means that someone you know is likely in prison or has been in incarnated. Many people are …show more content…
The three main reasons are: over population is causing tax payers millions, over population affects the prisoners in many ways, and over population is mainly from drug convictions. The first reason prison population should be decreased is because it is causing tax payers millions. According Wbrc.com, (2012) the reasons why over populated prisons are costing taxpayers money because the states are paying millions on healthcare and other medical services for prisoners with non-violent crimes and who’s probably had no criminal record or minor offenses prior to their arrest. Another reason why prisons are costing taxpayers millions because most states are tighten up their laws on drug offenses, which means some inmates are facing life without parole on drug charges. Lough, N. (2014, June

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    History Of Mass Incarceration
    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages

    History Of Mass Incarceration

    The United States incarcerates more of its citizens than any other nation in the world. In 1972, jail and prison populations were less than 200,000 increasing to 2.2 million today which has led to prison overcrowding and has substantial strains on state budgets across the country. Mass incarceration came after a series of law enforcement and sentencing policy changes on the “tough of crime” era and the official beginning of the War on Drugs. Today, there are more people behind bars for a drug offense than the number of people who were in prison or jail for any crime in…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Race To Incarcerate Rhetorical Analysis
    • 2271 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Race To Incarcerate Rhetorical Analysis

    Prison Population: The growing business “They speak about school system being used to feed young people into youth detention, jails, and prisons where those bodies are suddenly worth a fortune. People say that the criminal justice system does not work” (Bonnie Kerness). America has captured and controlled the population by putting our people in prisons while private prison companies like Corrections Corporations of America and The GEO group celebrate the fact that they gain more money as the rate of incarcerated raises and according to Online paralegal degree, “2.3 million people living behind bars in the United States, ”. Moreover this affects mainly people who are economically disadvantaged. According to the book “Race to Incarcerate” by Marc Mauer, Mauer argues that America has used prison to punish the people and a racial disparity in our justice system is happening.…

    • 2271 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Pros And Cons Of Mckean Prison
    • 2222 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Pros And Cons Of Mckean Prison

    Something needs to happen in our prison system because it is terribly wrong. We are digging a hole for our ourselves and letting our neighbors and country men rot away until the are unleashed back into the community. Overcrowded prisons will create very aggressive atmospheres for people who still have a chance to continue in life as a normal person. This atmosphere will cause that person to be very angry and scornful which could in pact future families and communities. If America would wake up and actually try and correct our falling brothers our society would have the ability to make our streets a safe place again.…

    • 2222 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Decent Essays

    Pros And Cons Of Mass Incarceration
    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Pros And Cons Of Mass Incarceration

    Crimes are usually committed by people in their late teenage years and their early twenties. When people reach their 30s, crime rates drop. This means that they are putting a lot of people in jail for many years when they hit that age range. As the population grows, there will be more people that end up in prison. In the documentary 13th, there was a quote that said, “1 out of 4 human beings in the world are locked up here in the home of the free.”…

    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Arguments Against Overcrowding Prisons
    • 2582 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Arguments Against Overcrowding Prisons

    As of today the United States has a total of 2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 942 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,283 local jails, and 79 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, and prisons in the U.S. Territories. Overcrowding prisons and not enough staff are becoming a serious issue in America. Everyday more citizens are committing crimes that lead them in either prison or jails. And overcrowding prisons lead to having four to five inmates to a cell, which being that close to other criminals can cause violent behavior. It can also cause lack of privacy, which can cause mental health problems and possibly even increase suicide rates and self-harm.…

    • 2582 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Filling Prisons
    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Filling Prisons

    In a recent New York Times article, titled “A 90s Legacy that is Filling Prisons Today” by Timothy Williams, it primarily focuses on people who are serving long sentences for crimes, which are keeping them locked up in prisons for numerous years. Williams writes that the criminal justice system within the United States seems hand out long sentences without the possibility of parole or giving prisoners opportunities for resocialization. Within this cover story, Williams used a real example on how the criminal justice system gives it’s prisoners a restless feeling. Lenny Singleton had a crack habit back in the 1990s and robbed multiple stores within two weeks, which resulted with him a life sentence without the possibility of parole. This story continues to state that the increase of incarceration is becoming a problem.…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Private Prison Benefits
    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Private Prison Benefits

    Which leads to a cycle of people locked up for non-violent crimes who are then subjected to violent murders that are left in a situation which they learn to adapt to survive in turn increasing their recidivism rate. As the President calls for a change in the way the judicial system imprison offenders we are staring down overcrowding in almost every state. At the root of the problem states are forced to contract with private prisons to relieve overcrowding quickly. Profit is the main goal for any capitalism business this applies to private prison corporations as well. When profit is the focus of a prison wages, training and staffing suffer leaving those behind the fences in a delicate situation that is primed to claim lives.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Mass Incarceration Research Paper
    • 1656 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Mass Incarceration Research Paper

    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.…

    • 1656 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Crime In Prison
    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Crime In Prison

    While the United States’ problems with prison overcrowding date back centuries, the problem has suddenly worsened. There are many reasons for this, but the most pressing reason is the war on drugs. This “war”, beginning around the 1970s, perpetuated the overcrowding crisis by drastically increasing the number of nonviolent offenders incarcerated (Schlanger 4). By inserting nonviolent prisoners in jail, the likelihood of violence and psychological problems increases. The problems with prison overcrowding were exacerbated by the war on crime, which also appeared between the 1970s and 90s.…

    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Mass Incarceration In America
    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Mass Incarceration In America

    A Caged Country: Mass Incarceration in America Mass incarceration is an indication of the downfall of America because too many people are carelessly thrown into jails and prisons, it prohibits progress amongst “minority” communities, and hinders the country’s economy by increasing unnecessary debt. Although some are opposed to limiting mass incarceration because they believe it may hinder public safety, it is not the most effective route to reaching public safety. Mass incarceration has only become a major issue in the United States within the past 40 years. Once one is in the hands of the legal system you are forced to work for the prison, which is considered a legal form of slavery. For this reason, many believe that the rise in incarcerated…

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Minimum Mandatory Sentencing
    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Minimum Mandatory Sentencing

    United States prisons are overcrowded. There is a huge problem with persons who commit minor offenses being handed major punishments. This problem has been going on for decades. Everyday individuals are being incarcerated for less severe infractions of the law and their whole lives are being changed with the drop of a gavel. There is a bias in our criminal justice system that people have been trying to cover up for generations.…

    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Decrease In Prison Incarceration
    • 1725 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Decrease In Prison Incarceration

    People are ending up in jail for small and victimless crimes for longer periods of time that they need to be. Sometimes when criminals are released they end up back in prison because they do not know how to survive on their own.…

    • 1725 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Effects Of Overcrowding In Prisons
    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Effects Of Overcrowding In Prisons

    Why is overcrowding in prisons becoming such a huge problem? The overcrowding of prisons became problematic starting in the early 1980’s as the federal and state laws over sentencing policies shifted into having stricter punishments for criminal activities (BOOK, pg. #). The increase in the length of sentencing for prisoners are causing prisons to become dramatically overcrowded as prisoners are forced into remain in the prison system for a long period of time even though there are new prisoners continuing to enter through the system (article What can we do about prison overcrowding). The prison population as whole has rapidly increased to forty-one percent since 2000, even though the rate of correctional officers within the prison has only…

    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Essay On Prison Overcrowding
    • 1540 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Essay On Prison Overcrowding

    In the United States, prison overcrowding has reached a crisis level as it becomes ubiquitous and continues to show no sign of abating within the foreseeable future. Courts in the country continue to sentence criminal offenders to serve various prison terms and fail to utilize various sentencing alternatives thus sustaining the problem. The problem has escalated in the last thirty years thus turning into a crisis. Between 1970 and 2005 for example, the inmate population in the country grew by 700% and has continued on an…

    • 1540 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Prison Overcrowding Essay
    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Prison Overcrowding Essay

    Prison overcrowdings have been and is one of the main key component factors of poor prison circumstances around the globe. Since 1981, prisons and jails have a huge continuous increase despite the decrease in both crime rates as well as the number of people arrested. It has been the biggest problem faced by the prison systems; its effects can become life threating making prisons are unable to prevent proper functions. “Prison overcrowding, is the aggressive “tough on crime" approach taken by policymakers, criminal justice administrators, as well as the courts since the mid-1990s. A series of laws aimed at increasing penalties and reducing the discrepancy between the court-imposed prison term and the actual time served by an inmate has lengthened…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings