PROMPT:
For this paper, discuss the phenomenon of mass incarceration and its impact on American society.
SOURCE: (need 1 more) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/us/politics/prison-sentencing-trump.html
BACKGROUND:
Address the role of sentencing policies in putting America in this predicament and how sentencing reform may change the criminal justice landscape going forward.
For most of the past fifty (or more) years, the constant trend in criminal sentencing law (as well as criminal justice policy generally), at both the state and federal level, has been increasingly punitive sentencing laws, particularly for drug offenses. The “War on Drugs,” begun by President Nixon in the early Seventies, as well as other initiatives implemented since, have metastasized into sentencing policies that have created the phenomenon of mass incarceration in America today. Some of those policies include mandatory minimum prison sentences for a wide variety of offenses and “three strikes” laws. Another major factor is the “truth in sentencing” policies which require most inmates to serve at least eighty-five percent of their sentences. As a result, Arizona, like many states, spends more money incarcerating inmates than it does on education. These policies have also caused an increase in the number of elderly and infirm inmates.
The “tough on crime” movement which resulted in the adoption of these ever increasingly harsh penalties was extremely popular with politicians from both parties (not mention their constituents). Indeed, until very recently, anyone willing to consider any type of meaningful sentencing reform ran the risk of being branded “soft on crime,” and rendered effectively unelectable.
Times seem to be changing. Beginning during Obama’s second term (when he was no longer worried about getting re-elected) and continuing into the Trump administration (perhaps hanging out with Kanye has enlightened the president), historic changes in sentencing policy are unfolding at the federal level and the states seem to be taking notice.
