Criminal Justice System: Prison Overcrowding

Prison Overcrowding
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Abstract
Prison overcrowding has been among the most serious problems facing the American criminal justice system since the early 1980s. Among the factors that have been attributed to causing the unprecedented rise in the federal prison’s population are the changes in the federal criminal justice system’s laws and policies in the last thirty years. A critical issue that is currently before congress is whether the law and policy makers take into consideration the rate of population growth within the prisons and if they consider this growth rate as sustainable. If this is not the case what are the changes being put in place to reduce the population of prisoners and ensure the public’s safety. This paper provides an introduction to the trends of population growth in the prison population and looks into the government policy issues that contribute to the high population. Finally, the paper provides insight into the changes and steps the American government is making to address the population problem.
Introduction
Projections made on the population increase in prisons back in 2011 estimated that the United States’ prison population would increase by approximately 13%. This percentage increase is, in fact, three times the growth of the entire American population, and this is an outstanding and scary statistic given the fact that it refers to the prison population (McFarlane, 2012). Prisons in all of America have become overcrowded and this does not affect the inmates alone, but the entire criminal justice system. The problem of overcrowding prison is prevalent throughout the world; however, due to the high-crime rates and arrests in America, it is a much bigger problem for the country (Adler & Gray, 2010). Today, America ranks first in the rate of prison incarcerations globally with the federal and state prisons having over a third more than the population they were meant to hold. The question becomes what is causing the present overcrowding in prisons within the American Criminal Justice System (Adler & Gray, 2010).
The Issue
In the United States, several problems are faced by the criminal justice system and in this case the correctional system and among the most menacing problem is prison overcrowding. Previously, suggestions were made to build more prisons and this resulted into a building spree of more prisons. Despite the building spree, prison overcrowding remains at the top of the problems affecting the criminal justice system. The prison’s population explosion is not, as a result, of increased populations or higher rates of crime, but due to tougher drug laws (Kauzlarich & Barlow, 2009).
The last three decades have been characterized with increased criminalization of improper drug users globally and especially in the United States. This has resulted into use of increasingly tougher punishments and sanctions imposed on drug offenders. This has translated to increased rates of incarceration for these offenders (Stevenson, 2011). Driving Under the Influence (DUI) laws and policies have become stringent that lead to imprisonment hence contributing to the high population at the local state level. Furthermore, the current war on drugs has resulted to the imprisonment of more African American males and their population in prison is higher than that of those who are in college (Stevenson, 2011).
America remains just about t...