What is mass incarceration? How has it changed overtime, by race, and by gender? What role do private for profit prisons play? How do you feel the criminal justice system should be reformed?
Changes in Mass Incarceration in the United States
Over the past few decades, the United States’ criminal justice system has put in several measures to address different types of crimes in the country, including punishments, jail terms, and parole. Also, the system has adopted unique ways of punishing people for offenses, such as mass incarceration. According to Nott, mass incarceration is the unique way the U.S. locks up a vast population in local jails, federal and state prisons. Mass incarceration in the United States has slightly declined over the past few years; however, it is still a leading cause of disproportionate imprisonment of specific races and gender, necessitating reforms of the system to incorporate less severe punishments such as rehabilitation.
Based on an analysis of recent statistics, mass incarceration in the United States has declined slightly but remains the highest in the world. Robertson observes that somewhat under 1.5 million people were in prison by 2017 compared to 2016. The author also adds that a federal report showed that the incarceration rates for both jail and prisons in the country had declined by over 10 percent within ten years (Robertson). These statistics are a blatant indication of the outcomes of policies being put in place by bipartisan to reduce the prison sentences and population of people incarcerated. While some of these policies appear to be working, the rate of decline in mass incarceration is still insignificant.
Despite the slight decline in mass incarceration, biasness in the system has increased significantly over the years, especially in terms of gender. Studies suggest that the rate of male incarceration is higher than that of females. For instance, Weidner and Jennifer observe that as of 2017, the males’ rate of imprisonment was more than 13 times as high as females (1). The disaggregation by race could probably be due to more efficient filtration of female offenders compared to their male counterparts, such that only females involved in more severe crimes are sent to prison. Regardless of the underlying reasons, substantial evidence points to the fact that men are subjected more to mass incarceration compared to women.
Furthermore, studies reveal a significant change in mass incarceration by race, which is an improvement from the past few years. Notably, in their study, Bronson and Carson (9) observe that African Americans were incarcerated in state and federal prisons at a rate almost six times that of whites and double the rate of Hispanics. The statistics by these researchers are significant evidence of disproportionate imprisonment of the minority, such as African Americans and Latinos. Nonetheless, recent studies reveal that this disaggregation has reduced considerably over the past few decades, especially among women. For instance, Robertson avers that since the turn of the century, the number of incarcerated black women has dropped by nearly half compared to white females. On the other hand, there remains a significant racial disparity in the mass incarceration of African American men compared to their white counterparts. Synthesis of the current statistics shows that while mass incarceration of African Americans remains on the rise, the racial disparity is declining gradually among female convicts.
Adoption and increase of mass incarceration in the United States triggers the need for more prisons to house inmates, making private for-profit prisons a significant component of the criminal justice system. Like public prisons, private prisons play a primary role in housing inmates. Statistics show that by the end of 2017, 8 percent of state and federal prisoners were held in private prisons operated under the jurisdiction of 27 counties in the United States (Bronson and Carson 16). These types of prisons relieve the burden borne by the government in housing prisoners in exchange for a stipend.
Based on an analysis of the current high rate of mass incarceration in the United States, I feel that the criminal justice system should be reformed to incorporate less severe punishments such as rehabilitation. Notably, it appears that the system focuses more on prisons being the first rather than last resort for crimes, which explains the high number of inmates in prisons and jails. The criminal justice system should adopt effective measures of filtering crimes, to ensure that some minor offenses are addressed through rehabilitation rather than sending all convicts to prison. By doing so, the system would not only reduce the amount of money spent on the maintenance of private and public prisons but also lower the probability of similar crimes occurring, as offenders would get the opportunity to reform their ways in rehabilitation centers.
In summary, mass incarceration in the United States has declined over the past few years but remains the root cause of racial and gender disparity in imprisonment. Synthesis of existing data shows that compared to women, the rate of incarceration among men is relatively high. Also, African American men experience higher rates of mass incarceration compared to their white counterparts. Additionally, the high rate of imprisonment in the United States triggers the need for private for-profit prisons, which assist the government in housing inmates. It is suggested that the criminal justice system should make rehabilitation, rather than imprisonment, the first resort for crime to reduce mass incarceration.
Works Cited
Bronson, Jennifer, and Carson, Ann. “Prisoners in 2017.” Bureau of Justice Statistics, April 2019, www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p17.pdf. Accessed 4 May 2020.
Nott, Daniel. “What is Mass Incarceration?” Medium, 25 May 2016, medium.com/@dan_nott/what-is-mass-incarceration-ff737196580. Accessed 4 May 2020.
Robertson, Campbell. “Crime is Down, Yet U.S. Incarceration Rates are Still Among the Highest in the World.” The New York Times, 25 April 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/us/us-mass-incarceration-rate.html. Accessed 4 May 2020.
Weidner, Robert, and Schultz, Jennifer. “Examining the Relationship between U.S. Incarceration Rates and Population Health at the County Level.” SSM Population Health, vol. 9, no. 100466, 2019, pp. 1-8. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ssmph.2019.100466
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