The Between Norway And The United States

INCARCERATION

America, where people come to be free of religious, political, or racial persecution. Ironically, with that said, the United States of America is not just a big free for all where everyone is able to do what they want, when they want. It is actually leading the world in incarceration rate and has the most people in its prisons than any other country. But, if you do a complete one-eighty you would be looking at Norway. With a tiny fraction of prisoners compared to the United States, Norway is a model for all nations to strive for in the department of incarceration. Comparing these two complete opposites is hard because they are so different, but some topics can help us look into each countries incarceration systems, these topics would be: Building, sentence length, interaction, discrimination, population, rehabilitation, and costs of the prisons.
The way these two countries build their prisons are completely contrast each other right down to the last bolt. The United States goes with a more closed off style, with high fences and barbed wire at the top. They also seem to put them in secluded areas, as if they are trying to shove them away and make people forget that they exist. They are also built to prevent any form of danger. For instance, all the chairs, tables, and beds are made to prevent any inmate from taking them apart to create some form of weapon. This is basically saying to the inmates that we are scared of what they will do so we are going to take away anything that will allow them to harm others with, almost like they are sub-human. Now in contrast the Norwegian prisons are built open with trees inside their walls and it really promotes happiness, allowing the prisoners to feel as if they are home. One ...

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...inety-three thousand dollars per inmate per year in Norway, while it only costs thirty-one thousand dollars per inmate in the States. But, Norway can pull this off because it has so few prisoners. And if the U.S. ever wanted to try to convert to the way Norway does things they would have to decrease their population.
In conclusion, the United States and Norway are two completely different countries, different populations, standards, and way of life. Comparing these two nations is not easy because of these differences but I feel as if after looking at all the facts that neither country has it all right. Norway spends too much money on its prisoners while the U.S. is way too overpopulated. I think that if the U.S. can figure out a way to cut down their population and start looking towards rehabilitation like Norway, then they will be put in a better place to succeed.