1. Running head: MASS INCARCERATION- A MAJOR AMERICAN ISSUE 1
Mass Incarceration- A Major American Issue
Anna Fullerton
Justice 101
Southern New Hampshire University

2. Running head: MASS INCARCERATION- A MAJOR AMERICAN ISSUE 2
Abstract
The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, and yet leads in the
number of individuals who are imprisoned. Over a quarter of those in prison in the world
reside within the United States prison system (Gottschalk, 2006). Over the past 50 years,
the penal system in America has grown from a just, balanced system into an unchecked,
wildly biased monster. This push towards mass incarceration has yielded among inmates
increased chances of reoffending, homelessness, reliance on welfare, drug and alcohol
abuse, and generational poverty. In order to cut the incredibly taxing cost of our current
prison system and enable our citizens to lead better lives, alternative methods must be
utilized for misdemeanors and nonviolent crimes.
Keywords: incarceration, imprisonment, penal system, alternatives to incarceration,
crime, reoffenders, poverty

3. Running head: MASS INCARCERATION- A MAJOR AMERICAN ISSUE 3
Mass Incarceration- A Major American Issue
The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, and yet leads in
the number of individuals who are imprisoned. Over a quarter of those in prison in the
world reside within the United States prison system (Gottschalk, 2006). Over the past 50
years, the penal system in America has grown from a just, balanced system into an
unchecked, ludicrously biased monster. This push towards mass incarceration has yielded
among inmates increased chances of reoffending, homelessness, reliance on welfare, drug
and alcohol abuse, and generational poverty. In order to cut the incredibly taxing cost of
our current prison system and enable our citizens to lead better lives, alternative methods
must be utilized for misdemeanors and nonviolent crimes.
Many in today’s society do not expense much energy thinking about our prison
systems. Even if they are aware of the mass amount of our population we keep locked up,
there is a pervasive sense that it has always been this way and will continue to be this
way. However, America’s mass incarceration is a relatively new development. Up until
the mid 1970’s, The United States was matching its Western European counterparts in
prison populations, crime rates, and even in attitudes toward the death penalty (which
were showing decreasing popularity). Since then, the U.S. incarceration rate has
increased over five-fold and is now five to twelve times the rate of other Western
European countries, Australia, Japan, and Canada. Even if it weren’t bad enough that one
out of every fifty of our citizens are behind bars, but the imprisoned population is
comprised of over half African-Americans when they only make up a quarter of the US
population (Gottschalk, 2006). One out of three African-American males will spend time

4. Running head: MASS INCARCERATION- A MAJOR AMERICAN ISSUE 4
in jail at some point in his life. Contrary to public opinion, seeing family members,
friends, and community members in prison is not proven to be a deterrent to crime. In
fact, studies have shown that children exposed to a parent or other family member who
has spent time locked up, have an increased chance of being imprisoned themselves
(Clear, 2007).
As we see upon closer inspection, this mass incarceration of US citizens is not only
damaging economically (thanks to the cost of housing and feeding 6 million prisoners
and the revenue lost with potential laborers behind bars), but also socially because of the
ripple effect on inmates and their families after their release. Adverse effects ex-inmates
face include poverty, homelessness, and difficulty finding jobs. (Western, 2002). There is
a positive correlation between homelessness and incarceration, especially when a mental
disorder is involved (Binder, McNiel, and Robinson, 2005). Incarceration also has been
linked to generational poverty and dependence on welfare, which in turn has been shown
to increase chances of imprisonment. Adversely, states with poor welfare systems tend to
have the largest and most populated prison systems (Beckett and Western, 2001).
Although correlation does not prove causation, the relationship does indicate that despite
what the public tends to believe, being on welfare does not actually increase crime rates.
The opposite actually could be argued as studies have shown that unemployment and
limited economic options for ex-inmates often leads them back into crime (Western
2002).
It becomes more and more clear that our current system is not working, but what are
the alternatives? Would the general public even support such a radical paradigm shift? In
June 2009, The National Council on Crime and Delinquency conducted a study to find

5. Running head: MASS INCARCERATION- A MAJOR AMERICAN ISSUE 5
out just that. How does the American public really feel about our current penal system
and what changes, if any, would they like to see? Policy makers often advocate for
harsher laws and punishments, but according to the American public, lawmakers need to
start investing into rehabilitation, community service, and other alternative methods to
incarceration.
“Eight in ten (77%) adults believe the most appropriate sentence for nonviolent,
nonserious offenders* is supervised probation, restitution, community service,
and/or rehabilitative services; if an offender fails in these alternatives, then prison
or jail may be appropriate.
Over three-quarters (77%) believe alternatives to incarceration do not decrease
public safety.
More than half (55%) believe alternatives to prison or jail decrease costs to state
and local governments.
US adults more often think alternatives to incarceration are more effective than
prison or jail time at reducing recidivism (45% vs. 38%).
Respondents cited a variety of reasons they believe justify sending fewer people
to prison or jail, including expense, overcrowding (danger to guards, danger to
inmates), the ability of proven alternatives to reduce crime, and the fairness of the
punishment relative to the crime.”
(Hartney and Marchionna , 2009).

6. Running head: MASS INCARCERATION- A MAJOR AMERICAN ISSUE 6
Alternative justice methods that have already been successfully implemented include
drug rehabilitation programs (Belenko and Lang, 1999), restorative justice programs,
which utilize new types of therapy such as victim-offender mediation (Bonta, Mcanoy,
Rooney, and Wallace-Capretta, 2010), and various methods such as community service
and monitored probation (Porter, 2000). The most popular type of alternative sentencing
(77.5% in favor), according to the National Council for Crime and Delinquency, includes
supervised probation, restitution, community service, and/or rehabilitative services for
nonviolent, nonsexual offenders. A mere 15% of those polled believed that keeping those
aforementioned offenders out of prisons would decrease public safety.
Over the fast forty years, even as crime rates have oscillated, incarceration rates have
risen at an astonishing rate. Many claim that the answer to the war on crime is increase in
arrests and jail time; however, there seems to be little data to back that up. Prisons get the
immediate threat off the street, but it is quickly replaced with someone else. The prison
system itself does not foster a rehabilitating atmosphere that releases inmates better than
when they arrived. Many times after release, inmates, who are often uneducated, have
trouble finding living-wage jobs, if they can find jobs at all with a record. Their fight with
poverty continues and, ultimately, many end up right back in the cycle of crime that they
came from. We need a better system. More and more studies are being published thanks
to organizations like the NCCD that show where the public opinion on the penal system
truly lies. The alternative options exist: house arrest, electric monitoring, drug court, day
reporting, outpatient treatment, restorative justice, community service, and rehabilitation.
We see the injustice of the system, the options alternatives available, and now we have to
choose whether or not to be silent.

7. Running head: MASS INCARCERATION- A MAJOR AMERICAN ISSUE 7
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of
the oppressor.” –Desmond Tutu

8. Running head: MASS INCARCERATION- A MAJOR AMERICAN ISSUE 8
References
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evaluation of a restorative justice alternative to incarceration. Contemporary
Justice Review, 5(4), 319-338.
Bottoms, A., Rex, S., & Robinson, G. (Eds.). (2013). Alternatives to prison. Routledge.
Clear, T. R. (2007). Imprisoning communities: How mass incarceration makes
disadvantaged neighborhoods worse. Oxford University Press.
Clear, T. R., Rose, D. R., & Ryder, J. A. (2001). Incarceration and the community: The
problem of removing and returning offenders. Crime & Delinquency, 47(3), 335-
351.
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Gottschalk, M. (2006). The prison and the gallows: The politics of mass incarceration in
America. Cambridge University Press.

9. Running head: MASS INCARCERATION- A MAJOR AMERICAN ISSUE 9
Koch, C., & Holden, M. (2015, January 7). The Overcriminalization of America.
Retrieved January 14, 2015, from
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/overcriminalization-of-
america-113991.html#ixzz3OLA0GMxy
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