In 2011, the Court in Brown v. Plata gave California two years to reduce overcrowding to a 137.5% capacity, the equivalent to an 113,722 inmate maximum. Though California reduced its prison population it did not meet the deadline and was issued an extension in 2013. In January of 2015, California officially met the standard set by the court when prisons were at a 137.2% capacity. A weekly population report conducted by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in April of 2017 displays how California continues to decrease its prison population at a current capacity of 131.8 %. Thus, data measuring California’s prison population since 2011 suggest that the Court achieved an impact because overcrowding was…
In the prison system today, there has been an explosion of minorities being incarcerated for offenses that may not have gotten jail time if they had not been of a certain race. Although the overall numbers of incarcerations may have dropped just slightly for the first time in over 35 years, the amount of inmates remains to be a topic of concern. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2003 almost 10.4 percent of black males who were between the ages of 25 to 29 were in prison compared to the rate of 2.4 percent for Hispanic males and a rate of 1.2 percent for white men. Why is there such a difference in these numbers? This paper will take a look at the growing trend. The last figures have shown that these figures have grown to 12 percent for black males, 3.7 percent for Hispanic males, and 1.6 percent for white males. This is a concern for the states that have prisons since the statistics show that by the end of 2002 most were operating at an average of 1 to 17 percent above their rated operating capacity. In 1990 the number of felony convictions in state courts was about 829,000. That number has grown to over 1,132,290 in 2006. The most current statistics (as of January 2010) have put the figure of people in state prison at about 1,404,053. Of all of the convictions that send a person to prison, the U.S. Bureau of Statistics has reported that about 69 percent of those have had prior convictions. That means that almost 20 percent of those in prison are repeat offenders. When studies were done asking the general public what reasons they…
In the United States the number of criminals incarcerated in state and federal correctional systems has grown massively over the past several years. The number of those incarcerated has the greatest effect on state and federal correction systems. From 1930 to 1975 the average incarceration rate was 106 inmates per 100,000 adults in the population (Mackenzie, 2001). These numbers remained relatively stable until after 1975 (Mackenzie, 2001). By 1985 the rates were 202 per 100,000. By 1995 it was 411 and by 1997 it was 652 including local jail populations (Mackenzie, 2001). At the end of 1998 more than 1.3 million prisoners were under Federal or State jurisdiction (Mackenzie,…
Over the last two decades (1980-2000), the US prison population has increased 450%. California has led the nation in prison growth since the early 1980s, and it incarcerated a higher percentage of its population than any nation on earth by 1994. The same year California enacted a controversial sentencing law that will drive prison growth for decades to come. This is the story of that law.…
The fastest growing component of our criminal justice system is the correctional side. With prison populations growing at a rapid rate and no money in our economy to build new prisons or hire correctional guards to watch them, it is becoming UN healthy and dangerous to house inmates especially in California. There are more inmates than guards right now and the inmates that are coming into some prisons aren’t even staying in cells. The new inmates are going to some prisons are living in the gym in three high bunks where there is little to no privacy and it makes for running into violent problems more frequently than they should be.…
“Since the 1970s the rate of incarceration in the United States has quadrupled, after having been relatively flat over the prior half-century.”-Anthony Zurcher. The rate of prison incarcerations has increased so much over the years; the government can’t afford to incarcerate that many people. Karen Thomas’s article “Time to Invest in Schools, Note Prisons” shows that United States incarcerates too many criminals violent and non-violent. Joan Petersilia said in her article “Beyond the Prison Bubble” that, the United States has the highest incarceration rate of any free nation. This also supports the idea that The United States incarcerates too many people.…
In California, New York, and Michigan, there’s been a history of imprisonment rates, and all over the United States. Many of the prisoners are in there because of the lack of their actions and the way of choosing decisions life brings upon them. Also how does it affect the new way of their lifestyle in prison and best believe their morals too, or how confident they feel about themselves in prison. Cities like Chicago, New York, and Detroit have been indeed affected by society, but the rates can be stabilized.…
Not only has mass incarceration contributed to the depletion of economic resources, but it has also not been proven as an effective means of lowering crime rates. Our current prison system is designed to spend massive amounts of money on warehousing and punishing criminal to then just place them back into society without any of the tools needed to become a constructive member of society, thus resulting in criminal behavior to reoccur. Multiple studies conducted have manifested that “rehabilitation programs, education, therapy, and vocational training have a profound effect on not only bettering the inmate as an overall individual, but on society as well” (….) because these offenders can now become productive citizens that can add to the community.…
In, “Beyond the Prison Bubble,” published in the Wilson Quarterly in the winter 2011, Joan Petersilia shows different choices about the imprisonment systems. The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any free nation (para.1). The crime rate over a thirty year span had grown by five times since 1960 to 1990. There are more people of color or Hispanics in federal and state institutions then there are of any other nationality. The prison system is growing more than ever; the growth in twenty years has been about 21 new prisons. Mass imprisonment has reduced crime but, has not helped the inmate to gradually return back to society with skills or education. But the offenders leaving prison now are more likely to have fairly long criminal records, lengthy histories of alcohol and drug abuse, significant periods of unemployment and homelessness, and physical or mental disability (par.12).…
Because the Southern American economy was based on the backs of enslaved Black folks and the political landscape was based on white supremacy, the post-emancipation Southern economy necessarily had to find alternative ways to exploit Black labor and subjugate Blackness. One of these such ways was the development of the sharecropping system which kept Black workers on their former owners’ plantations. The second major way that the Southern political landscape and economy adapted to simultaneously subjugate Blackness and exploit Black labor was the expansion of the carceral system. For the carceral system to successfully serve its function of exploiting Black labor, large numbers of Black Americans had to be imprisoned quickly during reconstruction.…
Incarceration rates have dramatically increased in the United States than in anywhere else in the world. In fact, according to “Incarceration nation,” America has about 707,000 incarcerated people compared to Russia, who has about 474,000 people. Not only has this caused a problem inside the prison walls, it has also increased economic situations for stakeholders.The recent increase in incarceration rates has had negative effects on the United States economy by causing an increase in expenditure on prisons that could be better used for education. This increase in incarceration rates has also led to overcrowding in prisons, leading to unsuitable conditions for prisoners and prison workers.…
There are millions of Americans in the United States (U.S) who have been to prison for conviction of a crime and incarceration rates are increasing (Public Safety Performance Project,2007, Pew, 2008). Each year, thousands of individuals across the United States confront social and personal challenges related with the shift of transitioning from prison to society outside of prison. Incarceration prisons rates in the U.S. has increased more than any country in the world (Pew, 2008). In this informative review, I will discuss some of the social factors associated with individuals that have been convicted of a crime and have a felony record. I will also show evidence that supports my investigation and will be culminate in action. This is not…
The shift from deinstitutionalization to criminalization for mentally ill offenders has further added to the complexities occurring within United States prison system. The number of mentally ill inmates has continued to increase significantly as public psychiatric hospitals have continued to close. In addition to overcrowding, budget constraints and allegations of mistreatment among inmates with psychiatric disorders correctional facilities have been given the task of providing treatment to the large percentage of inmates with serious mental illnesses. A recent study found that over one million offenders diagnosed with a serious mental illness are under “correctional supervision” and these offenders are highly more likely to be rearrested…
According to national reports, “West Virginia is one of a handful of states that has been moving in the opposite direction regarding the incarceration of juveniles. It confines juveniles at a rate 42 percent higher than the nation, and according to federal data, has had the largest jump in youth incarceration since 2001. The state places offenders as young as 10 in facilities such as detention centers and group homes.” (Williamson Daily News Juvenile Center No longer safe, July 27, 2015)…
Cullen, Francis T. and Cheryl Lero Jonson. 2012. Correctional Theory: Context and Consequences. Thousand Oaks, CA. SAGE Publications, Inc.…