Sociology 2962-721 October 29, 2012 Thought Piece #3 Case Study Two: The Prison Industrial Complex In the late 12th century the United States prison system exploded. Mass incarceration has caused a slew of economic and social problems for this country. Steven R. Donziger, author of “Crime and Policy,” noted that America is both obsessed and fearful of crime. American media is saturated with criminal drama, and news coverage is constantly reporting drastic displays of violence (488). Donziger’s studies show that crime rates since the 1970’s are remarkably stable, and violent crimes such as those displayed in the media have dropped by sixteen percent (489).
Not to also mention, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world (Senator James 1)! But how is all of this happening when crime rates are going down? People in today’s society are getting locked behind bars for lesser crimes then in the past. Criminals are serving more time in prisons nowadays than any previous year. Another significant issue with the United States prison system is its ability to spend money.
This large increase in the rate of incarceration is the biggest dertermining factor for the rise of private prisons in the US and because the United States has setup a system in which we are putting people in prison at a much faster rate than anywhere else in the world private prisons have become more and more acceptable. "In 1980 about half the people entering state prison were violent offenders; in 1995 less than a third had been convicted of a violent crime. The enormous increase in America's inmate population can be explained in large part by the sentences given to people who have committed nonviolent offenses. Crimes that in other countries would usually lead to community service, fines, or drug treatment—or would not be considered crimes at all—in the United States now lead to a prison term, by far the most expensive form of punishment." (Schlosser) The creation of the Rockefeller drug laws in New York state is what appears to be a major proponent in this
Contemporary Issues: The Death Penalty Contemporary Issues: The Death Penalty The death penalty is said to be the greatest deterrent to crime in the United States. However, in recent years those states, which still use the death penalty, have seen a marked increase in crimes where death is a punishment. Is the threat of being put to death still an effective deterrent? According to FBI statistics (2008), the national murder rate per capita was 5.4 in 2008. With a national population of over 304 million people, that is around 16,000 murders for 2008 alone.
Coca Cola had been manufactured with cocaine until the discovery that cocaine was addictive. The war on drugs has cost the government and the public trillions of dollars and the war does not have a minimal impact on winning. More people are being arrested for drug-related charges against them. Drugs do not stop at the prison gates The drug scene rages in prison. Drugs are more profitable in prison than on the street.
The debate on drug courts therapy is a main problem with politics with race, poverty, and drug cities (p.417). According to (Miller, 2009, p. 417) “Between 1986 and 1991, the number of white drug offenders in state prisons increased by 110 percent, but the number of black drug offenders rose by 465 percent”. Drug courts were ultimately used for overloaded court cases resulting in congested prisons (p.417). Programs were developed because of drug arrests and offenses that introduced drug courts (p.417). The role of the drug courts is to deter drug offenders and abusers from incarceration and into treatment programs (p.417).
Inmates Involved in Drug Abuse are on the Rise Drug abuse and addiction have, for all intents and purposes, changed the landscape of the prison populations in the United States. We consume two-thirds of the world’s illegal drugs and embody twenty-five percent of the world’s prison population. In the decade between 1996 and 2006, the population in the U.S. increased by 12.5 percent. While the percentage of incarcerated adults rose by 32.8 percent during that period, the percentage of inmates involved in drugs increased even more quickly, by 43.2 percent (CASAColumbia, 2010). One factor contributing to the continuous growth of substance abusers in the prison population is drug misuse and addiction.
States held an estimated 250,900 drug offenders in 2003. That means it costs states approximately $16,948,295 per day to imprison drug offenders, or $6.1 Billion per year. (American) The French organization OGD points out the deeper economic impact from the eventual release of American drug felons: according to some estimates some 3.5 million prisoners will be released between now and 2010, and an additional 500,000 each year thereafter. “Such a large-scale release of unskilled people - most of them cannot even read and write - will have a negative impact on wages, which are already low in deprived urban areas, due to a massive influx of men desperate to get a job; especially, since the reform of the welfare system in 1996 severely reduced felons’ access to welfare money.
This intern will reduce the time for a prisoner to go through the judicial system, most inmates spend a good deal of time waiting for their court appearance, if they are innocent then this conflicts with their work and life. The federal and state governments also spend an astronomical amount of money on fighting Marijuana as well. For example 100 million dollars a year is spent on
For example, if the maximum prison term for armed robbery is 15 years and that conviction is doubled, the city has to pay for an extra 15 years of housing to inmates. That would be over $300,000 just for one inmate. This is one of the reasons we are so broke now. Another reason why I feel this is a bad bill is because I don’t think this idea will deter the rate of this crime. Minorities or bums are more likely to commit these crimes.