Another example would be that the United States gives an average burglary sentence around sixteen months, but Canada gives a sentence of five months, and in England people get about seven months. This is a rather large difference, and can explain why the United States as of 2009 holds the highest incarceration rate throughout the world at 754 inmates per 100,000 people. The war on drugs in the United States has seriously impacted the criminal justice system. There have been a lot more people arrested and sentenced for non violent crimes. This has also had a big part in the current overcrowding of the United States prisons.
It is really hard to fully grasp the idea that our government is doing the best for us and to stay calm while our country falters at the seams day by day. The increase on the everyday cost of living in the United States, has gone up in the past ten years from an annual household living on thirty thousand dollars a year was considered in the top percent to now you must make at least fifty thousand dollars a year to be considered living comfortably ( Jonus, 2011). It is going to be hard to live in this country when you have to live in these conditions based on out government saying that they are trying to pull this country out of debt when in actual reality we are the ones pulling this country out of
However, some experts believe the rates have declined because the baby boomer generations are aging, so the percentage of young adults has declined. Some believe that the tougher or harsher sentences for crimes are a cause and there is evidence of this based on the increased prison populations. According to "Where Have All The Burglars Gone?" (2013), "Could more criminals being locked up be the answer? The number of people behind bars has grown substantially in many countries over the past 20 years.” (para.
Taxpayers are the ones that have to pay for the expenses of these cases. Some examples of how expensive a case can be are the Casey Anthony trial and the Lloyd Rayney murder trial. The Casey Anthony case cost taxpayers over seven hundred thousand dollars. The Lloyd Rayney murder trial cost taxpayers over three million dollars. Not only do trials cost taxpayers a lot of money but housing criminals in jails cost them about thirty five dollars a day per criminal.
Even after the signing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act by Bill Clinton in 1996, which was designed to put people to work while supporting them as they tried to become self-sufficient. This did not go as congress and many others hoped it would. The Government Accountability Office [GAO] stated in 1997 alone, states received 4.7 billion dollars more than they would have without the reform (Pimpare). There was an overwhelming increase in Government spending which started the country down the wrong path for many generations to come! At the turn of the century, the Department of Health and Human Services stated almost fifty percent of the American population received the aid needed (Pimpare).
Aging populations also bring on new patterns of work and retirement. People will spend more time in retirement which will strain our existing health and pension programs. On top of it, currently 80% of older Americans are living with one chronic condition, and 50% with at least two. Among Americans, close to 95% of healthcare expenditure is for treating chronic illnesses, which answers why the cost of providing care for people of age 65 or older is three to five times more expensive than that of someone younger than
It cost a lot more then the government expected they thought it would cost 6.5 millions but it cost 8 million in the first year. If you got poor relief you could not receive a pension also if you had been in prison in the last ten years you could not get it. For the first time help had been given as a right not a charity and the government was addressing needs which in the past had been left to charities or the individual to sort out themselves. Another area the liberals helped was the
Over the past few years, our economy has faced unthinkable challenges including millions upon millions of Americans losing or has lost their jobs. For the past two years the unemployment rate has average around nine percent. Among the 26 million who are unemployed, at least seven million individuals are working illegally in the United States. Some believe that legal workers have to compete with illegal immigrants for scarce jobs. Good news is, congress have come up with a program that will eliminate unauthorized employment.
It’s very hard for people who is released from jail to improve in life because of the difficultness in finding a job. The levels of poverty thus increase. Also, after release it is more likely for them to face unemployment and more economic problems. The Pew article is stressed on statistics on the economy of former inmates. According to the Pew's Economic Policy group and the Pew Center, on the States shows that after release, former male inmates work nine fewer weeks annually and takes home 40 percent less in annual earnings, making $23,500 instead of $39,100.
62% of local jail inmates are awaiting trial. The cost of medical care for inmates grows by 10% annually. High rates of incarceration are due to sentence length. The United States incarcerates a large number of non-violent and victimless offenders. 50% of all prisoners are non-violent offenders, and 20% are drug related offenders.