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 the...