Locked Away
Tony Velez, November 23, 2015
Summary
The US has 25% of the worlds inmates in our prison systems. Some of the crimes committed have sentences that are outrageous. The US congress have in the past passed laws that where meant to scare people into not committing crimes, so the punishments where ridiculous. The crime rate has only increased and the amount of people in the prison systems is higher than ever before. This has cost around 80 billion a year to tax payers.
In the past years minority groups are the most affected by these changes and this had made it hard to overcome.
The third strike law also has caused some felons to go back to prison and serve 25 years for crimes that where not bad enough to serve so much time. A man once served 25 years for stealing a slice of pizza because it was his 5th offense. The prison system does not rehabilitate people but make hardened criminals. That are more likely to commit more violent and dangerous crimes.
Supporting Details
1."The incarceration rate more than quadrupled from 1972 to 2012. Today, 2.2 million people are behind bars in the U.S. (About 211,000 are in federal prisons; the rest are in state lockups.) That’s nearly
1 out of every 100 American adults. "
2."For example, in 1995, a California man with five prior convictions was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing a slice of pepperoni pizza."
3."The U.S. incarceration rate is 5 to 10 times higher than the rates in Western European countries. The U.S. accounts for just 5 percent of the global population but has 25 percent of the world’s inmates."
4."“People come out of prison hardened and angry and more likely to offend,” Teachman says."