The Benefits Of Mass Incarceration

It’s the last quarter of a game at the Beaver Stadium, and it’s a close game. Suddenly, a swat force comes in and snatches seven hundred and sixteen people randomly to take them to prison. While this is dramatics, the fact remains that out of every 100,000 people, 716 people are in jail (Lee). This staggering amount makes The United States the country with the most population in prison. The US is not the most populated country, but has the most populated prison system. This is because America’s mass incarceration of its citizens. Mass incarceration costs the government money, splits up families, and is not even proven to work. While some may think mass incarceration helps keep America safe, the American government needs to take steps to reduce

Black Americans and Hispanic American seem to be stopped more, frisked more , and arrested more. It could be because they commit crimes more, but statistics show that African Americans commit drug offenses the same rate as their white counterparts (Strauss). Moreover Black Americans and White Americans break drug laws at the frequency, but Black Americans face the tougher sentences. African Americans in Philadelphia accounted for 72% of the stops and 80% of the risks of pedestrians (Washington). Additionally this high percentage shows that everyday African Americans are being stopped and frisked and are being purposely targeted. African Americans are only 43.4% of Philadelphia, but are stopped 72% of the time (United States Census Bureau). These surprising percentages give insight to American’s unfair incarceration of minorities. The offenders are not the only ones suffering due to the racist mass incarceration; the families and children of the prisoners are suffering as well. A white child is six times less likely to have a parent in jail compared to a black child (Strauss). In fact, parents pay a big part in a child’s development, and having an absence of one causes a negative impact. An incarcerated parent can lead to the child to drop out of school, have health problems such as asthma, and misbehave in school (Strauss). It’s important to realize that having problems in school, or even dropping out could lead a child to jail. A parent in prison cannot give a child the knowledge to work through cognitive and noncognitive outcome measures (Strauss). To point out, a child that can not work through cognitive problems effectively may turn to crime. This can cause a never ending cycle of families being the prison system. Getting rid of these biases that cause harsher sentences could bring down the prison rate by allowing children to