Mass Incarceration In The United States

This paper was primarily researched online using freely available sources such as NC Live and ProQuest. The main purpose of this article is to shed a light on the mass incarceration of people in the United States of America. The United States has the greatest number of incarcerated individuals of any country on Earth. While the majority of these sentences are correct and just, a considerable number may actually be mistakes made by officers, the legal system, or the court. These slip-ups are often settled in or out of court, through the means of deals, like brief jail times, community service, and probation. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for these people to be unable to explain themselves or settle for a more lenient punishment. It is then

Jail time is a not an optional part of correction for most who are convicted. Even most petty crimes or “misdemeanors” come with a minimum prison sentence, ranging from one year to “not exceeding 3 months.” America is almost completely reliant on imprisonment as a means of punishment. There are ways that people may get around jail time and instead receive psychiatric help, but this is reserved for the mentally ill. In cases like these the defendant may plead insanity, which may result in being determined “not guilty by reason of insanity” or “guilty but insane or mentally ill”. Both will have the defendant committed to a mental health institution, either until the individual is not considered a threat or for a court determined period of time. Outside of mental health, a defendant who is deemed guilty has several arguments that can lead to a more lenient punishment, such as self-defense, provocation, intoxication, and more. While all this is good and just for the system currently in action, the US prison system cannot be sustained in its current

Any functioning society needs laws and punishments for breaking said laws. The question is whether or not the United States has become too reliant on its prisons as a means of keeping society clean and free from crime. In the last few decades, the number of arrests by made police has increased dramatically. This can be seen as a good thing given that more successful arrests are being made crime rates have declined steadily over the years. However, many researchers in fields relating to criminal justice and sociology find this trend worrying. The reason is the U.S. has never had such a high imprisoned population, and as such we have now way of knowing how this will affect society in the long run. Some hypothesize that mass incarceration will lead to higher crime rates in the long-term as prisoners are released back into the public, once again free to relapse and reenter a life of crime. Others predict that life outside prison is enough incentive to keep released inmates in accordance with the law. Presently, there is no absolute way of predicting the behavior of these inmates once released. Only time can tell the true effects of imprisonment on such a large