“Mass Incarceration in the United States: At What Cost?”

I encourage everyone to see this report titled, “Mass Incarceration in the United States: At What Cost?”, based on a Joint Economic Committee Hearing on Thursday, October 4, 2007. The statistics are shocking.

Education is always a good antidote, but we also need better criminal justice policies.

Go here if you'd like to listen to the actual hearing.

-Angela

"The racial composition of America’s prisons is alarming. Although African Americans
constitute 14 percent of regular drug users, they are 37 percent of those arrested for drug
offenses, and 56 percent of persons in state prisons for drug crimes. African Americans serve
nearly as much time in federal prisons for drug offenses as whites do for violent crimes.
A black male who does not finish high school now has a 60 percent chance of going to jail. One
who has finished high school has a 30 percent chance. We have reached a point where the
principal nexus between young African-American men and our society is increasingly the
criminal justice system.
Moreover, we are spending enormous amounts of money to maintain the prison system. The
combined expenditures of local, state, and federal governments for law enforcement and
corrections personnel total over $200 billion. Prison construction and operation has become
sought after, if uncertain, tools of economic growth for rural communities.
Are there ways to spend less money, enhance public safety, and make a fairer prison system?"

Hard questions are being asked because crime rates are going down at the same time that incarceration rates are going up. The problem is not more crime, but rather sentencing policies. This is worth reading.