Imprisonment System in the

U.S

Leonel Fournier
RWS 1301

Main Issues
Racial disparity in the criminal justice system
Over crowding of prisons
Mass incarceration
Government funding
Incarceration became the default setting rather than the

backstop of the criminal justice system.

These factors turned the imprisonment system in the U.S
from a way of punishment for crimes and to deter others
from breaking the law, to a corrupt, unjustified way of
business

Racial Disparity

African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total

2.3 million incarcerated population.
Together, African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all
prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics
make up approximately one quarter of the US population.
5 times as many Whites are using drugs as African Americans,
yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10
times the rate of Whites,
African Americans serve virtually as much time in prison for a
drug offense (58.7 months) as whites do for a violent offense
(61.7 months).

Mass Incarceration
"Get tough on crime" and "war on drugs" policies
Mandatory minimum sentencing, especially disparities in

sentencing for crack and powder cocaine possession

From 1980 to 2008, the number of people incarcerated in
America quadrupled-from roughly 500,000 to 2.3 million
people
Today, the US is 5% of the World population and has 25% of
world prisoners.
Prison has not been proven as a rehabilitation for behavior,
as two-thirds of prisoners will reoffend

Government Funding

Housing prisoners costs the U.S about 600

billion a year
It costs the average citizen $28 to keep an
inmate in a private prison.

Conclusions

High inmate populations is caused by

mandatory sentencing and over-zealous drug

laws.
Progress toward drug policy reform has
unprecedented momentum.

References

A Brief History of the Drug War. (n.d.). Retrieved

October 24, 2015.
Imprisonment." International Encyclopedia of the
Social Sciences. 2008. Retrieved October 09, 2015
from Encyclopedia.com:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G23045301095.htmlbnfg
Vlogbrothers. April 4, 2014. Mass incarceration in
the U.S. United States: Youtube.