US Has Highest Incarceration Rate Outside of North Korea

The prison population in the UK is problematic too; it went over capacity a few months ago. Numerous ideas on how to lower the number of prisoners have been discussed but few have made it into policy yet.

I believe only China executes more people than we do.

The US incarceration rate is so high that economists should consider adding it to the unemployment rate.

Awhile ago I came across some studies that showed the majority of felons end up back in prison after their release. Not a small majority either, over 68% in one study by the DoJ. If we can't successfully reintroduce felons into society we're essentially guaranteeing an ever growing prison population. It can't be a one way trip to jail.

Most convicts are released into halfway houses at a point when they have little training and they get little assistance in finding quality work. They have bills that exceed what they can make in the market with the skills they have. Not keeping up with the bills in many cases is enough to violate parole and send you back to prison. At that point parole is nothing more than a mean joke, since theres very little many people can do to keep themselves from going back to jail.

The halfway houses themselves are filled with other "high risk" individuals that make it far to easy to fall back into destructive behavior. If you're an addict, does it help you to be in a home with a much larger group of users than the average apartment complex? Probably not.

Further, we ostracize ex-cons to the point that they have difficulty reintegrating with society in any meaningful way. For the best example of this, take a look at released sex offenders. They cant get jobs or find residence without continued harassment. Most of you have probably seen it on employment applications, that "have you ever been convicted of a felon" check box. The way we treat ex-con's is it any wonder they end up back in jail?

Lots of people who talk about this are of the opinion that its good that we send these people back to jail. After all ex-cons in jail makes them feel safer than ex-cons on the street. Thats really a naive opinion though. Ignoring the horrible cost to society of maintaining prisons and holding 2 million plus people in cages all the time, consider a world where there were no second chances. I've never been to jail myself, but I don't ignore the possibility that one day I or someone I love could make a mistake. I'd want the chance to pay my debt and return to society, I'd want that chance for anyone I love. Wouldn't you?

One of the major reasons our prison population is so large is because its full of people who failed to make the transition from the prison system back to society. We need to fix that process. Doing so will help us cut our prison costs, and treat a large (and sadly growing) percentage of our population more humanely.

Another reason prisons are too crowded is an over-focus in America on vengeance as part of justice.

To my way of thinking the justice system serves 3 essential elements.

1. it serves to rehabilitate
2. it serves to keep society safe from dangerous people
3. it scratches the (very necessary) revenge itch for victims and their families and friends

Consider a 10 year prison sentence. We're so used to long prison terms here that it sounds sane, but what exactly is the point of 10 full years behind bars? Is there really rehabilitative benefit to keeping someone in jail for more than say 2 years? Is there a lesson that can't be learned in 2 years that can be learned in 10 that isn't taught in our prison system? So a 10 year sentence isn't serving a rehabilitative function. The same question is valid with regards to keeping society safe. What domestication so to speak can happen in 10 years that can't happen in 2? If the person isn't safe for society after 2 years, are they likely to be safe after 10? If not, why are we releasing them at 10 years? That leaves us with revenge as the only reason to keep someone in jail that long. There are very view crimes that justify that amount of vengeful punishment. Murder for one, possibly rape for another. Beyond that its difficult to justify the downsides of keeping people in jail for so long that they no longer have the skills they need to re-enter society in a way that won't make them a drain for the remainder of their lives. So why do we do it?

America should cut prison sentences on virtually all crimes where people can be rehabilitated, and focus on making sure that rehabilitation is a success. In cases where people can't be rehabilitated, don't go through the time expense and danger of releasing them just to have them move through the justice system again in a matter of months. Most crimes should be served over 2 or less years. There shouldn't be many cases where people need to be kept longer than that, yet shouldn't be kept for life.