America s Scandalous Incarceration Rate - 921 Words

America’s scandalous incarceration rate In the U.S. there has been a rise in incarcerations, the numbers today are much higher than they were 30, 40 years ago despite the fact that crime is at historic lows. So what are we to make of the leap in time typically served for crimes in America’s society? Either the justice system was too lenient in the past, or the justice system is too strict now. Have we just now realized the real gravity of murder, or are we now overreacting? Those who have served a proportional sentence, and have proven themselves worthy, deserve to be restored to public life. Locking away large numbers of people for long periods of time has little effect on public safety. Given how high America’s incarceration rate is, it†¦show more content†¦The idea was to make prison a system for corrections, rather than detention alone. These ideas soon manifested in schools of philosophy and criminology were the notion was defended that punishment should be more lenient only at the cost of the g reater good and aimed to change the behavior itself. Eventually these ideas gave birth to a new form of incarcerations designed to deter both rise in crime and to reform, based on self-reflection over the prisoner’s choices. â€Å"The 2015 World Justice project Rule of Law index was published in June 2015, ranking 102 countries based on a host of indicators, including criminal justice. The criminal justice factor measures impartiality, due process and rights of the accused, and effectiveness of the countries’ criminal investigation, adjudication and correction systems. The United States ranked 23rd out of 102 countries, 16th among 24 regional peers, and 23 among 31 income peers.† Michelle Ye Hee Lee July 7, 2015. Why are the incarcerations in the United States so high one might ask? In the United States around 1970 through 1985 the crime rate spike, this was not anything new to the American people at the time, but what was new was how the United States chose to respond to the crime wave. The United States respond with a series of tough crime tactics because the American public was becoming worried by the spike in violent crimes.