Mass Incarceration

A Problem that must be addressed

Henrik Ernst, Staff Writer

Mass Incarceration, is an issue that plagues our country, but luckily we have correctional acts. Mass Incarceration is a result of the Drug on wars, and sentences that are too long. Correctional Acts provide the platform to decrease mandatory gun and drug sentences.
Mass Incarceration in the U.S has been on the rise since the early 1980’s. It used to be every 1000 persons, there are 100 incarcerated, and today that figure has quadrupled since 1983. No other country has such a high incarceration rate per capita than the U.S. More than One out of every 100 Americans is incarcerated. That is one of the highest rates out of all countries in the world which obviously will  lead to an exponential rise in prisoners.

African Americans make up roughly less than 10 percent of the Population of america, yet they represent just under 40 percent of the prison population in america. Which is around 2.4 million total prisoners of all ethnicities in the U.S prisons. That figure means that just under 1 million prisoners in America are african american.

Although many people will argue that the current drug laws and means of convicting criminals help establish a safer society, and reduce criminals within the society. A large group of people incarcerated have not been convicted for violent crimes. The drug laws are known as very harsh and do help contribute the 80 billion spent on prisons annually. It is becoming very inefficient and must change in some way or we will continue to waste billions of dollars on a useless system.