Incarceration has been a major growth industry in the United States over the past 40 years, and the United States is now the world leader in incarceration. African Americans have been most affected and are greatly overrepresented in jails and prisons. A major contributor to the growth in imprisonment has been changes in drug policies and drug laws, such as mandatory sentences for drug offenses. These laws had little effect on drug abuse or crime, but they did fill prison cells. Because of the detrimental effects that high incarceration rates have on a community and on tight state budgets, it is important that the political and criminal justice systems find innovative ways to reduce prison rates and do so without increasing crime.
Keywords
- Criminal Justice System
- Incarceration Rate
- Racial Discrimination
- Black Male
- Crime Type
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