Hank Green, a famous blogger and vlogger on Youtube, once stated regarding incarceration, “We send people to prison to be punished, and to prevent them from doing bad things again, and to deter others from breaking the law. Punishment, corrections and deterrence.” Each aspect of this three-fold system must be effective and all aspects must work in unison to create an efficient institution against crime. This does not necessarily mean that each aspect must be equal in how it is emphasized, leading to the question of which should be emphasized and how we go about doing so to provide the maximum level of utility to society.
In America, we are particularly good at punishment. According to PBS, at least 80,000 prisoners in the U.S. are in solitary confinement or separated housing. Research from Human Rights Watch and United Nations shows that solitary confinement causes serious psychological harm and should be considered torture. However, in the U.S., it is perfectly legal. PBS reports that each prisoner in solitary confinement costs taxpayers an estimated $75,000 per year compared to $25,000 per year for a prisoner outside of solitary. On top of that, the U.S. has come under serious scrutiny over torture committed at Guantanamo Bay. President Barack Obama has promised that he would shut down Guantanamo Bay once and for all, but he has yet to follow through on his promise. The problem is that punishment does not seem to have a discernable effect on stopping crime. The cruelty must end.
The U.S. Department of Justice has published statistics saying 650,000 inmates are released back into society each year. Of those 650,000, approximately two-thirds of them will be re-incarcerated within 3 years of release. Clearly, corrections should be the largest portion of the prison pie, instead of detention or punishment. When thinking of prisoners, we have a tendency to reach an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality in which once a prisoner is locked away, they are no longer an issue for society. However, this belief is contradictory to the fact that so many prisoners are back on the street each year. On top of that, convicted felons have an extremely difficult time finding a job and are ineligible for welfare. In our prisons, we should be focusing on creating a transition and educating these future members of society as to prevent them from being re-incarcerated. Pursuant to a report published by the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, more than 60 percent of all prison inmates are functionally illiterate. Research also shows prisoners receiving literacy education are over four times less likely to return to prison. Without a doubt, there is a correlation between being educated and one’s likelihood of committing a crime. Statistics such as these should show that we need to ensure we educate the 650,000 citizens who re-enter society each year to prevent them from ending up in prison once more.
As stated by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the current U.S. prison population is over 2.2 million people. Although the U.S. is home to only 4.4 percent of the world’s population, it is home to a massive 22 percent of the world’s prison population. Thankfully, people are finally coming to the realization that something must be done about this injustice. As a result, deterrence has become a key topic of discussion in recent years. In the past, policymakers have made being tough on crime synonymous with being tough on criminals. The idea was that potential criminals would see the tough punishments brought upon convicts, thus reducing their incentive to commit a crime. The problem is that this form of rent control hasn’t worked. The research and advocacy group the Sentencing Project has found that increasing the severity of prison sentences does little to nothing in terms of its effects on deterring crime. Instead, we should be focusing on crime deterrence programs that have a much more likely chance to succeed. As stated earlier, there appears to be a correlation between the level of education received and crime. Thus, we should be focusing our time and money on programs that educate people, especially those most in need of an education. Our current programs aren’t working and it’s time to rethink how we treat our prisoners, and how the system can be changed to cater more to rehabilitation and introducing prisoners back into society more efficiently.
There are two other aspects of mass incarceration that absolutely cannot be forgotten in the debate over prison policy: economic costs and “the human element.” Speaking first on costs, the U.S.’s prison system cost taxpayers a total of $75 billion in 2008. We are dumping money down the drain on what is clearly a failed system. Our incarceration rates are astronomical, and our prisons aren’t effective at preventing further crime. In addition, we seem to forget about “the human element” of the U.S. prison system. Although criminals have committed illegal and generally immoral actions that constitute crimes, it is important to remember that they are humans, each one having some sort of family and emotions. Many criminals are arrested on minor drug charges with sentences severely disproportional to the severity of their crimes. It is our moral duty to do what we can to correct their actions and mentalities so that they may become prosperous citizens and members of our society. Not only are we losing massive amounts of financial capital, but we are also losing human capital, the most basic building block of any economy.
It’s time that we finally take a stand against the injustice that is occurring in our prison system. We must focus on putting an end to crime rather than simply making the lives of prisoners miserable. This is not a partisan issue. It is possible to put an end to mass crime, but our current system is merely taking us the wrong direction. It’s time that the criminal justice system focuses on being tough on crime, not tough on criminals.
Ben is a freshman majoring in political science. Do you agree with Ben on the criminal justice system? Send all comments to opinion@dailcardinal.com.
