Prison Population: Crisis In America
             For the past two decades, we have adopted a national policy of punishing offenders in ways that extend us well beyond our means. At the same time, we have ignored those social and economic factors that contribute to America's high crime rate and high prison populations. It is as though there is an enormous crime-production machine operating in our nation, especially in our inner cities, spewing forth criminals at an accelerating rate. But we choose to leave the machine intact, and deal only with its products. The vast majority or prison-bound offenders are neither serious nor violent. Over one-third of the 400,000 persons who enter prison annually are probation or parole violators or merely drug offenders, unconvicted of new or other crimes. Of the remainder, nearly half were convicted of property crimes, and over half were convicted of "petty crimes." While incarcerated, offenders receive little assistance in learning how to live a crime-free lifestyle. Instead, they are often exposed to harsh environments that do little to promote respect for the law. They are then released back into the same disorganized and criminogenic communies that they left behind, often with a heightened commitment to use illegal means to gratify their desires (Scalia 7). Plus, the forces that predominate criminal behavior remain unaltered, if not worsening, such as dysfunctional families, inadequate schools, entrenched and multi-generational patterns of poverty, child abuse and chemical dependency ( Daniel Burton-Rose 147). Also, the imprisonment of parents damages children and puts them at risk for developing criminal behavior themselves. There are many more problems, such as care for the mentally ill and drug offenders, which I will also cover in this paper. Little positive change will be possible until the justice system and sentencing policy is changed for the better.
             Once again, the ...