Mass Incarceration Research Paper
Mass Incarceration in the United States Analyzing the Costs of Mass Incarceration in America
Juan Guereque
University of Texas at Arlington
Institutional Corrections
Professor Arthur G. Vasquez
December 11, 2015
Introduction This research paper concisely reviews matters regarding mass incarceration in the United States of America by presenting several facts and findings discovered in research conducted by scholars who have dedicated themselves to studying this subject. The main objective of this research paper is to analyze the matters of concern of mass incarceration and to present a series of possible recommendations for the U.S. Department of Justice. Mass incarceration in the United States has particularly been …show more content…
Naturally, the economic and social impacts of the development of this issue have been immense. According to Kelly (2015), state expenditure on corrections facilities increased approximately four hundred percent just between the years of 1980 and 2009. The outcome of this is that penitentiaries are currently some of the main suppliers of various necessities to the group of people that are the most underprivileged groups; these necessities include therapy, health care and job preparation (Western & Pettit, 2010). In the meantime, the negative cultural and social consequences of mass incarceration are unreasonably endured by minorities, deprived communities, and groups with mental health issues (Western & Pettit, 2010). To state it clearly, the studies show that Latino and black men (as well as young boys of either race) are treated disproportionately different by the law. This type of disproportionate treatment includes being detained, questioned, charged, and arrested (Traum, 2013). One of the most apparent disproportionate treatments under the law is being sentenced for longer or punished more severely for the same crime their white counterparts commit (Traum, 2013). Because of this, the United States is increasingly becoming a country that leaves close to a million children without fathers and that prevents those same people from joining the workforce …show more content…
While it has been observed and recorded that crime rates have gone down in the last thirty years, the correlation between increasing the number of prisoners and less crime is not significant (Kelly, 2015). This is due to the fact that more and more non-violent offenders have been imprisoned for minor drug related offenses that have only been interpreted as major offenses by poor policy regulation (Kelly, 2015). This only means that tax payers are progressively increasing the amount of money they pay for nothing other than a false sense of
Juan Guereque
University of Texas at Arlington
Institutional Corrections
Professor Arthur G. Vasquez
December 11, 2015
Introduction This research paper concisely reviews matters regarding mass incarceration in the United States of America by presenting several facts and findings discovered in research conducted by scholars who have dedicated themselves to studying this subject. The main objective of this research paper is to analyze the matters of concern of mass incarceration and to present a series of possible recommendations for the U.S. Department of Justice. Mass incarceration in the United States has particularly been …show more content…
Naturally, the economic and social impacts of the development of this issue have been immense. According to Kelly (2015), state expenditure on corrections facilities increased approximately four hundred percent just between the years of 1980 and 2009. The outcome of this is that penitentiaries are currently some of the main suppliers of various necessities to the group of people that are the most underprivileged groups; these necessities include therapy, health care and job preparation (Western & Pettit, 2010). In the meantime, the negative cultural and social consequences of mass incarceration are unreasonably endured by minorities, deprived communities, and groups with mental health issues (Western & Pettit, 2010). To state it clearly, the studies show that Latino and black men (as well as young boys of either race) are treated disproportionately different by the law. This type of disproportionate treatment includes being detained, questioned, charged, and arrested (Traum, 2013). One of the most apparent disproportionate treatments under the law is being sentenced for longer or punished more severely for the same crime their white counterparts commit (Traum, 2013). Because of this, the United States is increasingly becoming a country that leaves close to a million children without fathers and that prevents those same people from joining the workforce …show more content…
While it has been observed and recorded that crime rates have gone down in the last thirty years, the correlation between increasing the number of prisoners and less crime is not significant (Kelly, 2015). This is due to the fact that more and more non-violent offenders have been imprisoned for minor drug related offenses that have only been interpreted as major offenses by poor policy regulation (Kelly, 2015). This only means that tax payers are progressively increasing the amount of money they pay for nothing other than a false sense of