Incarceration in the United States

Travis Hirschi’s Control Theory states that deviance occurs when a person has no control over their environment; they stray from norms and commit crimes. Travis Hirschi also believe that humans want to belong and that criminals are made when one’s bond to society is abated. Using Hirschi’s Control Theory, crime rate is low in Japan due to conformity being crucial, the publics’ view of prison, and the punishments in prison being harsh. Juvenile delinquency rates are also low; a factor…

importance of making people aware of the injustice occurring in the United States’ criminal justice system. Stevenson’s use of ethos creates a sense of credibility between him and his audience which allows for his argument to be more believable, then this leads to a use of logos that creates exigence and emphasizes the importance of taking action which leads to a strong use of pathos to make a connection between slavery and mass incarceration, which is used to move the audience and make them…

Forty five years have passed since the American Government has declared a war on drugs. Do you feel safe living in a drug free America? Are children and young adults living in the United States protected from the drug cartels? Do the American schools remain free of illegal substances? The controversy of legalizing drugs has been ongoing for years with more than enough anti-drug propaganda and reasons to vote against legalization of drugs. As the communities, schools, and youth become…

men. The Thirteenth Amendment justified this which states, “Neither nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime.” The Thirteenth Amendment also allowed the south to rebuild its economy through cruel and savage prison labor. In 1982, former President Ronald Reagan thrashed the black community again with an additional hurdle to overcome by dramatically increasing sentencing for minor drug offenses. In the eighties black…

Race, class, and incarceration are all examples in which the prison system in America is operated. Over the years, many people have argued that racism no longer exists—let alone classism. Therefore, it would be completely obscene to infer that these components could dictate our precious America in any way. However, research conducted by organizations such as The Sentencing Project and renown sociologists like Angela Davis provide for a strong rebuttal. This essay will argue that the American…

The United States has one of the highest rates of arrests and incarcerations in the world. In the United States, it is estimated that about one in three adult citizens can be found on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) databases. (Dolan, 13) The majority of these arrests are of people who have committed nonviolent offenses. Many of the people who are arrested are free to go without conviction. However, both people who are incarcerated and people who are arrested but not convicted share…

Roland Neil and Jason T. Carmichael analyze the use of incarceration in Canada, providing research concerning the political and social threat explanations, specifically from the years 2001 to 2010. It is clear that there is an overrepresentation of racial minorities within the prison system, and the authors further analyze the likelihood that one will be more punished if they are a visible minority. There is a comparison shown with the United States alongside Canada, and the authors also…

Here in the United States, we incarcerate more people per capita than any other nation. Between 1970 and 2010, the number of people incarcerated in this country grew by 700%. (ACLU 2011) Some is due to the laws that were put in place back in the 70’s and 80’s to combat the rise of drugs. Looking at some of the numbers, 1 in 5 are in jail for drug offenses. You can even take the numbers down to the federal, state and jail levels to see a difference in those numbers. States and jails hold far…

economy’s money. In this reading you will learn the evils and the corruption our government have hidden away from us and the boost in the economy we will have if we legalize marijuana. Marijuana should be legalized because it will reduce mass incarceration, it goes against our first amendment, and boost tax money . Legalizing marijuana will be the next topic this country will have to face and we have to be ready and informed when that day comes. Not only has marijuana been used for medication…

There are roughly 1,300 state, federal, and privately run prisons in the United States (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). Depending on the location in the U.S., the state prison system ranges from nearly fifty percent under maximum amount of prisoners allowed to almost fifty percent over the maximum amount of prisoners allowed. The federal prison system in total is running approximately forty percent over maximum amount of prisoners allowed. The fact that both state and federal prison systems are…