This article is talking about the population trends in U.S. prisons. By 2017, thirty nine states had "downsized their prisons" and then eleven states had a big increase of their prison population. It mentions that is the stated and the federal government keep at a 1% decarceration rate will talk about 72 years just to cut the over all prison population is half, that would be by the year of 2091. It is a long time however it is better than no change. It states that at least five states have a more than 30% decrease in prison population which includes the states of Alaska, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, and New York. It also states how the states with more incarceration has been able to achieve double digit percentage decrease in their prison populations. This would include the more southern states of Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The article gives a statistic chart of the percentages of change in crime rates from the United States versus New York state. It shows that New York states percentages surpass the United States which means that New York state lowered its rates more than the U.S. as a whole. From reading this it seems that they have lowered the number of people in prison for less violent crimes like crimes against property however there is little decrease when it comes to violent crimes. They could get out the older inmates who aged out but that still wont be enough to change that drastically. Overall, there are changes being made throughout the U.S. causing a decrease in prison populations which is great however we might need to find a better way to get those numbers to decrease more. -wags002
I also thought that the 30% decrease in the states of Alaska, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, and New York interesting. I think that even though these states already had more prisoners locked up than most states, their achievements should still be congratulated. New Yrok really stood out to me among these states, because there is a lot of crime that occurs there. -CRJB002
I also thought it was interesting that some of the highest crime rate states have the highest decrease rates by thirty percent. I agree with what the other reply said about New York. That was really surprising. I also thought that the prison rates in southern states was interesting. -JU002
The first statistic that really stood out to me was the fact that between 1972 and 2009 there was a 700% increase in the prison incarceration rate. I know that many factors lead into this major increase, such as the war on drugs which started in 1971, but this kind of increase is still shocking on any level. The next fact that caught my eye was the fact that 39 states have downsized their prisons by 2017. Of these states 14 were reduced by less than 5%. Even though many of these states didn’t reduce their size by outstanding numbers, the decrease in the prison population is still a step in the right direction. After reading the first statistic and the second statistic is a sigh of relief. The article states that the drug crimes have gone down by 26c since 2007. This is a very positive statistic, because of how hard the country is cracking down on drugs. It’s nice knowing that drug related crimes are going down, because this will help with reducing the prison population. Drug related crimes often times get punished to harshly for the crime they committed. The next statistic that really caught my eye was the fact that Arizona has had a 23% increase in their prisons population since the peak year in 2012. I didn’t expect any state to be increasing by this much, especially since the majority of the other states are decreasing their prison populations. The last thing I found surprising in this article was the fact that Texas has decreased their prison population by 4% since the peak year of 2012. Texas is always the “top” state when it comes to incarceration. -CRJB002
A seven hundred percent increase in prison incarceration is a big deal. Like you said it was because the war on drugs. A lot of people in the poorer areas were arrested because of that law. Depending on the state it could be possibly people still locked up from the war on drugs. Batman002
I agree that it is extremely alarming that the prison rate increased so much between 1972 -2009. The War on Drugs definitely contributed to this dramatic increase. Now we are faced with how to lessen this over 700% increase. The reality is that we will not be able to decrease this number at the same rate it was established. There are so many factors to consider in reducing the number of people incarcerated but I think it should start with rehabilitation efforts, sentencing reforms and reducing recidivism.-zen002
This article talks about the steady decline in the United States prison population. “In the article it says “Expediting the end of mass incarceration will require intensifying sentencing reforms for non-violent crimes and making a meaningful dent into the number of people imprisoned for violence.” This is something I have been saying for a while now. When I hear people say they need to change certain but I know it's going to take time for it to happen because of how many people are being arrested. If you think about every jail and or prison and count all the people and all of there cases. Thats a lot of work. Then while they are looking at all the past cases what about the new ones that are occurring now. I think that mass incarceration will never end because of each states different laws and how they want to sentence for different crimes. Also dealing with non violent crimes they should change the way they “lock them up”. I think if its a petty offense they should give them probation or house arrest. Most times petty offenses are a simple mistake while others can be justified depending on the crime. Another thing that im surpised about is “Some Southern states, which have exceptionally high rates of incarceration, also achieved double-digit percentage reductions in their prison populations since reaching their peak levels.” Which is good for southern states because they are really strict on some laws. Especially places like Alabama and Texas. “The federal prison population declined in size by 16% between its peak in 2011 and 2017—at over twice the nationwide rate of incarceration.” Which I think is because of the governments legalizing weed in some states. Which really shows you how many people were locked up for weed. Batman002
I thought the article was very interesting. If we go by the policy and practice, we would see the difference in the prison population. New York changed the policy and they practiced the design. They have declined a lot of rates. The rates that they have declined are murder, violent, and property crimes. If they can do it, we can do it as well. If we end mass incarceration could cause our life to have bold leadership. Our leadership could cause pace and scope of reforms. I would like to see our incarceration rate go down because most of the prison population is ridiculous. Softball002
I also found that statistics about the southern states were interesting to me as well. Its great to hear that they are making progress in keeping their prison population down. And I agree with what you said at the end, it is crazy how many people are in prison due to marijuana and a lot of them probably shouldn't be in there that long for the marijuana because they are taking up space that could be used for more violent offenders. -wags002
You pointed out a very important fact to me. The southern states prison population rate numbers very interesting. It is great to know that the prison population rate is decreasing significantly. There are a lot of people incarcerated for nonviolent crimes. They are basically taking up space for those who could be in there for violent crimes. -Jas002
I thought this article is interesting because it talks about U.S Prison Population Trends: Massive Buildup and Modest Decline. According to The Sentencing Project “ By year end 2017, 1.4 million people were imprisoned in the United States, a decline of 7% since the prison population reached its peak level in 2009. This follows a nearly 700% growth in the prison population between 1972 and 2009.” I am glad the rate has gone down. In the article there are five states that reduced their peak levels. The states that did that are Alaska, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, and New York. Out of all states fourteen states had five percent imprisonment. If this keeps going down, it will take 72 years for the U.S prison population in half. In southern states have high rates of incarceration. They have reached their peak level. These states are Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi. In 2012 Alabama rate declines 25% and Louisiana rate declined 16% in the same year. Mississippi 2008 rate has declined 15%. In 2009, South Carolina rate has declined 17%. According to The Sentencing Project “ These prison population reductions are the result of a mix of changes in policy and practice designed to reduce prison admissions and lengths of stay.” If we go by the policy and practice, we would see the difference in the prison population. New York changed the policy and they practiced the design. They have declined a lot of rates. The rates that they have declined are murder, violent, and property crimes. If they can do it, we can do it as well. If we end mass incarceration could cause our life to have bold leadership. Our leadership could cause pace and scope of reforms. I would like to see our incarceration rate go down because most of the prison population is bad. Softball002
The population for US prisons, by the numbers, is astounding. By the end of 2017, according to the article, 1.4 million people were incarcerated in the United States. This number has actually decreased to a 7% decline. The prison system showing in decline is a good thing, however the decline is minimal in relation to the growth that the prison population had received. From the years of 1972 through 2009 there was a 700% increase in the prison population. Although any decline is good. According to the article, at this rate, it will take into the year 2091 to reduce the prison population in half. This decline also could be representative of other aspects. We could also be seeing a decline in the prison population because the number of reported crimes could have decreased. A lot of this increase was attributed to the drug war. There was a dramatic increase in the prison population during those years. Now a complete overhaul is necessary to even start reducing these numbers. Some changes in sentencing laws have decreased the amount of people in federal prisons by 12%. Southern states have shown an extremely high rate of incarceration but are declining quite swiftly as well. One aspect to consider is the cost of the incarceration as a whole. Prison is costing taxpayers billions of dollars each year. If we look at the cost of reducing this prison population at the rate we are currently at, that is over 72 years of continuous cost to the taxpayers. Although there has been some decline, it is not significant enough to change the taxpayers and the amount of money they are contributing to the system. There are several things to examine including rehabilitation to reduce it. Another interesting aspect is that there should be sentencing reform for nonviolent crimes. While reforms have focused on reducing sentences for people with drug offenses, the people in prison for property crimes has dropped as well. Another dilemma comes with the sentencing of violent crimes. The number of people that are currently serving time for committing violent crimes has only decreased by 2% between 2009 and 2016. However, there are huge and rightfully placed concerns regarding reducing sentences for those charged with committing violent crimes. Reforms are reluctant to reduce these crimes because of their violent nature. It will take a dramatic level of prison reforms in order to reduce this number at a quicker rate. The punishments should definitely fit the crime. However, the prison population needs the cooperation of the court system, probation systems and the community in order to reduce the buildup within the prison system. -zen002
I found your comment interesting just because it really is true, the rates are crazy, although the rates that they have declined are murder, violent, and property crimes and the fact that it will take 72 years is mind blowing but not at the same time. It’s great to hear that they are making progress in keeping their prison population down. The War on Drugs definitely contributed to this dramatic increase. Now we are faced with how to lessen this over 700% increase. SH002
This article talks about the population trends in U.S. prisons. There was a lot of interesting fact in this article. The first one that stood out to me was the increase in the prison incarceration rate. It increased seven hundred percent between 1972 and 2009. That sounds like an unsettling statistic even though it has many factors on why it is that large. For example, the War on Drugs. By 2017, thirty-nine states have decreased their prison population. Out of the thirty-nine states, only five states decreased their population by thirty percent or more. Another fact that interested me was that southern states have exceptionally high rates of incarceration, but four southern states decreased their prison rates by double-digits. The leading southern state being Alabama. Another fact is that the federal prison population decreased by sixteen percent between 2011 and 2017 and it is continuing to decrease. Not all states have had a decrease in their prison incarceration rates. In fourteen states the prison population reduction was less than five percent. Eleven states had no decrease in prison population at all by 2017. The largest five year increases in prison population occurred in Arkansas with a twenty-three percent. Washington, Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Kentucky have also increased prison incarceration rate by ten percent or more. Another interesting fact is that the pace of decline since 2009 is only averaging one percent annually. The article says that it will take until 2091, seventy-two years, to cute the U.S. population by fifty percent. The people that have been incarcerated for drug offenses has decreased by twenty six percent between 2007 and 2016. The number of people in jail for property offense has decreased by fourteen percent between 2007 and 2016. The people imprisoned for violent crimes has only decreased by two percent between 2009 and 2016. -JU002
This article talks about the steady decline in the United States prison population. “By year end 2017, 1.4 million people were imprisoned in the United States, a decline of 7% since the prison population reached its peak level in 2009. This follows a nearly 700% growth in the prison population between 1972 and 2009.” In the article there are five states that reduced their peak levels. The states that did that are Alaska, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, and New York. Out of all states fourteen states had five percent imprisonment. The largest five year increases in prison population occurred in Arkansas with a twenty-three percent. Washington, Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Kentucky have also increased prison incarceration rate by ten percent or more. Another interesting fact is that the pace of decline since 2009 is only averaging one percent annually. One aspect to consider is the cost of the incarceration as a whole. Prison is costing taxpayers billions of dollars each year. If we look at the cost of reducing this prison population at the rate we are currently at, that is over 72 years of continuous cost to the taxpayers. Another interesting aspect is that there should be sentencing reform for nonviolent crimes. While reforms have focused on reducing sentences for people with drug offenses, the people in prison for property crimes has dropped as well. Another problem comes with the sentencing of violent crimes. The number of people that are currently serving time for committing violent crimes has only decreased by 2% between 2009 and 2016. SH002
I like that you pointed out the 700% increase between 1972 and 2009, that is such a huge increase in not a very long time. Why did it increase so high? It is amazing that looking into the future nearly seventy years we are expected to have our prison population in half. Hopefully with this major cut in the prison population, comes peace. -KF002
This article was very interesting in how it talked about the prison population trends and what goes into them. Prison population reached its highest point in 2009, and since then, the end of 2017 it has decreased to nearly seven percent. The rate of people being incarcerated is declining modesty throughout the states. If the United States can keep this decline at a steady pace, than by 2091 we will have cut the prison population in half. In order to get rid of the mass incarceration we need to end the war on drugs and look into violent crimes with another approach. Appropriate changes in policies and practices resulted in prison population decline, by shortening the lengths of the time one stays and total admissions. The hope to decrease population in prisons scares many thinking more crime will be on the streets instead of being locked away. Not to worry to crime nationwide has dropped with the prison population drop. Ending mass incarceration is critical to continue to rate of decline in prison population. This will require us to push aside our unfortunate biases and focus on bold leadership in order to cut the prison population in half. To decrease our prison population population we must be able to make changes and go about the system differently. We all have biases and there are evident biases amongst the prison system and to better the outcome we need to reevaluate. Overall incarceration rates have been declining at a slow pace in the majority of the states. Decreasing sentencing crimes can help reduce the population, for most crimes in will not take years upon years for the offender to go back to society with a normal life. Not all crimes deserve a long sentence and sometimes prison time is not even the answer. -KF002
I agree that not all crimes deserve prison time or a lengthy sentence. Obviously violent crimes do but drug charges and other things of that nature do not deserve prison. It is a tricky conversation on what crimes deserve what. In my opinion any simple possession does not deserve prison, non violent crimes do not deserve prison time and any petty crime do not deserve time. The only people that deserve to be behind bars are the people that are putting others in fear or danger. -wb002
This article was very important to me. This article talks about the decline in prison population. According to the article , “ The United States has only made modest progress in ending mass incarceration despite a dramatic decline in crime rates. Reported crime rates have plummeted to half of their 1990’s levels-- as they have in many other countries that did not increase imprisonment levels”. The states of Alaska, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, and New York have a 30% and over decrease in their prison population. This is very surprising to me because the number of people incarcerated is the lowest it's been in decades. Why is the prison population decreasing? I believe crime rates are staying low and people are not getting caught. The fact that was the most surprising to me was that between 1972 and 2009 there was 700% increase in the prison incarceration rate. That is because the war on drugs was very big at this time. People were transporting illegal drugs from Mexico to the United States in 1971. Since then The United States government had to crack down on illegal drug use and distribution. Another fact that caught my eye was the federal prison population rate declined in size by 16 % between its peak in 2011 and 2017 at over twice the nationwide rate of decarceration. Another fact that was interesting to me was, “these prison population reductions are the result of a mix of changes in policy and practice designed to reduce prison admissions and lengths of stay”. I don't think that it's bad prison population rate is decreasing. Someone is doing something correctly. Another fact that was important to me was 39 states had at least modestly downsized their prison populations from their peak levels. Five states led the nation in reducing their prison populations by 30% or more. -JAS002
This article is about the prison trends in the US. 1.7 million people were imprisoned in the year of 2014 which is a 7% decrease since the peak in 2009. 1972 to 2009 the prison population has seen a 700% increase which is insane. 11 states had their highest prison population in 2009 lead by Arkansas. Alaska, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and Connecticut have cut the population by 30%. If the states and federal government continue this decrease it will take until 2091 to cut the prison population in half. Even though it will take a long time to cut the population in half, it is refreshing to see it decreasing at all. I am glad that change is being made even if it is small. I think with the more states legalizing marijuana the population will take a huge drop because a lot of people are in for petty drug charges. People going to prison because of 3 strike laws for a simple possession is crazy to me. I understand that the law is the law with 3x but I think there can be changes made so you don't go to prison because you had weed on you. I don't think we will ever get to half of the population but I do think we will have a steady decrease for many years. Any change is good though. I would rather have the population slowly decreasing then increasing or not having any change at all, so that is a positive in my eyes. -wb002
This article is talking about the population trends in U.S. prisons. By 2017, thirty nine states had "downsized their prisons" and then eleven states had a big increase of their prison population. It mentions that is the stated and the federal government keep at a 1% decarceration rate will talk about 72 years just to cut the over all prison population is half, that would be by the year of 2091. It is a long time however it is better than no change. It states that at least five states have a more than 30% decrease in prison population which includes the states of Alaska, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, and New York. It also states how the states with more incarceration has been able to achieve double digit percentage decrease in their prison populations. This would include the more southern states of Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The article gives a statistic chart of the percentages of change in crime rates from the United States versus New York state. It shows that New York states percentages surpass the United States which means that New York state lowered its rates more than the U.S. as a whole. From reading this it seems that they have lowered the number of people in prison for less violent crimes like crimes against property however there is little decrease when it comes to violent crimes. They could get out the older inmates who aged out but that still wont be enough to change that drastically. Overall, there are changes being made throughout the U.S. causing a decrease in prison populations which is great however we might need to find a better way to get those numbers to decrease more. -wags002
ReplyDeleteI also thought that the 30% decrease in the states of Alaska, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, and New York interesting. I think that even though these states already had more prisoners locked up than most states, their achievements should still be congratulated. New Yrok really stood out to me among these states, because there is a lot of crime that occurs there. -CRJB002
DeleteI also thought it was interesting that some of the highest crime rate states have the highest decrease rates by thirty percent. I agree with what the other reply said about New York. That was really surprising. I also thought that the prison rates in southern states was interesting. -JU002
DeleteThe first statistic that really stood out to me was the fact that between 1972 and 2009 there was a 700% increase in the prison incarceration rate. I know that many factors lead into this major increase, such as the war on drugs which started in 1971, but this kind of increase is still shocking on any level. The next fact that caught my eye was the fact that 39 states have downsized their prisons by 2017. Of these states 14 were reduced by less than 5%. Even though many of these states didn’t reduce their size by outstanding numbers, the decrease in the prison population is still a step in the right direction. After reading the first statistic and the second statistic is a sigh of relief. The article states that the drug crimes have gone down by 26c since 2007. This is a very positive statistic, because of how hard the country is cracking down on drugs. It’s nice knowing that drug related crimes are going down, because this will help with reducing the prison population. Drug related crimes often times get punished to harshly for the crime they committed. The next statistic that really caught my eye was the fact that Arizona has had a 23% increase in their prisons population since the peak year in 2012. I didn’t expect any state to be increasing by this much, especially since the majority of the other states are decreasing their prison populations. The last thing I found surprising in this article was the fact that Texas has decreased their prison population by 4% since the peak year of 2012. Texas is always the “top” state when it comes to incarceration. -CRJB002
ReplyDeleteA seven hundred percent increase in prison incarceration is a big deal. Like you said it was because the war on drugs. A lot of people in the poorer areas were arrested because of that law. Depending on the state it could be possibly people still locked up from the war on drugs. Batman002
DeleteI agree that it is extremely alarming that the prison rate increased so much between 1972 -2009. The War on Drugs definitely contributed to this dramatic increase. Now we are faced with how to lessen this over 700% increase. The reality is that we will not be able to decrease this number at the same rate it was established. There are so many factors to consider in reducing the number of people incarcerated but I think it should start with rehabilitation efforts, sentencing reforms and reducing recidivism.-zen002
DeleteThis article talks about the steady decline in the United States prison population. “In the article it says “Expediting the end of mass incarceration will require intensifying sentencing reforms for non-violent crimes and making a meaningful dent into the number of people imprisoned for violence.” This is something I have been saying for a while now. When I hear people say they need to change certain but I know it's going to take time for it to happen because of how many people are being arrested. If you think about every jail and or prison and count all the people and all of there cases. Thats a lot of work. Then while they are looking at all the past cases what about the new ones that are occurring now. I think that mass incarceration will never end because of each states different laws and how they want to sentence for different crimes. Also dealing with non violent crimes they should change the way they “lock them up”. I think if its a petty offense they should give them probation or house arrest. Most times petty offenses are a simple mistake while others can be justified depending on the crime. Another thing that im surpised about is “Some Southern states, which have exceptionally high rates of incarceration, also achieved double-digit percentage reductions in their prison populations since reaching their peak levels.” Which is good for southern states because they are really strict on some laws. Especially places like Alabama and Texas. “The federal prison population declined in size by 16% between its peak in 2011 and 2017—at over twice the nationwide rate of incarceration.” Which I think is because of the governments legalizing weed in some states. Which really shows you how many people were locked up for weed. Batman002
ReplyDeleteI thought the article was very interesting. If we go by the policy and practice, we would see the difference in the prison population. New York changed the policy and they practiced the design. They have declined a lot of rates. The rates that they have declined are murder, violent, and property crimes. If they can do it, we can do it as well. If we end mass incarceration could cause our life to have bold leadership. Our leadership could cause pace and scope of reforms. I would like to see our incarceration rate go down because most of the prison population is
Deleteridiculous. Softball002
I also found that statistics about the southern states were interesting to me as well. Its great to hear that they are making progress in keeping their prison population down. And I agree with what you said at the end, it is crazy how many people are in prison due to marijuana and a lot of them probably shouldn't be in there that long for the marijuana because they are taking up space that could be used for more violent offenders. -wags002
DeleteYou pointed out a very important fact to me. The southern states prison population rate numbers very interesting. It is great to know that the prison population rate is decreasing significantly. There are a lot of people incarcerated for nonviolent crimes. They are basically taking up space for those who could be in there for violent crimes. -Jas002
DeleteI thought this article is interesting because it talks about U.S Prison Population Trends: Massive Buildup and Modest Decline. According to The Sentencing Project “ By year end 2017, 1.4 million people were imprisoned in the United States, a decline of 7% since the prison population reached its peak level in 2009. This follows a nearly 700% growth in the prison population between 1972 and 2009.” I am glad the rate has gone down. In the article there are five states that reduced their peak levels. The states that did that are Alaska, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, and New York. Out of all states fourteen states had five percent imprisonment. If this keeps going down, it will take 72 years for the U.S prison population in half. In southern states have high rates of incarceration. They have reached their peak level. These states are Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi. In 2012 Alabama rate declines 25% and Louisiana rate declined 16% in the same year. Mississippi 2008 rate has declined 15%. In 2009, South Carolina rate has declined 17%. According to The Sentencing Project “ These prison population reductions are the result of a mix of changes in policy and practice designed to reduce prison admissions and lengths of stay.” If we go by the policy and practice, we would see the difference in the prison population. New York changed the policy and they practiced the design. They have declined a lot of rates. The rates that they have declined are murder, violent, and property crimes. If they can do it, we can do it as well. If we end mass incarceration could cause our life to have bold leadership. Our leadership could cause pace and scope of reforms. I would like to see our incarceration rate go down because most of the prison population is bad. Softball002
ReplyDeleteThe population for US prisons, by the numbers, is astounding. By the end of 2017, according to the article, 1.4 million people were incarcerated in the United States. This number has actually decreased to a 7% decline. The prison system showing in decline is a good thing, however the decline is minimal in relation to the growth that the prison population had received. From the years of 1972 through 2009 there was a 700% increase in the prison population. Although any decline is good. According to the article, at this rate, it will take into the year 2091 to reduce the prison population in half. This decline also could be representative of other aspects. We could also be seeing a decline in the prison population because the number of reported crimes could have decreased. A lot of this increase was attributed to the drug war. There was a dramatic increase in the prison population during those years. Now a complete overhaul is necessary to even start reducing these numbers. Some changes in sentencing laws have decreased the amount of people in federal prisons by 12%. Southern states have shown an extremely high rate of incarceration but are declining quite swiftly as well. One aspect to consider is the cost of the incarceration as a whole. Prison is costing taxpayers billions of dollars each year. If we look at the cost of reducing this prison population at the rate we are currently at, that is over 72 years of continuous cost to the taxpayers. Although there has been some decline, it is not significant enough to change the taxpayers and the amount of money they are contributing to the system. There are several things to examine including rehabilitation to reduce it. Another interesting aspect is that there should be sentencing reform for nonviolent crimes. While reforms have focused on reducing sentences for people with drug offenses, the people in prison for property crimes has dropped as well. Another dilemma comes with the sentencing of violent crimes. The number of people that are currently serving time for committing violent crimes has only decreased by 2% between 2009 and 2016. However, there are huge and rightfully placed concerns regarding reducing sentences for those charged with committing violent crimes. Reforms are reluctant to reduce these crimes because of their violent nature. It will take a dramatic level of prison reforms in order to reduce this number at a quicker rate. The punishments should definitely fit the crime. However, the prison population needs the cooperation of the court system, probation systems and the community in order to reduce the buildup within the prison system. -zen002
ReplyDeleteI found your comment interesting just because it really is true, the rates are crazy, although the rates that they have declined are murder, violent, and property crimes and the fact that it will take 72 years is mind blowing but not at the same time. It’s great to hear that they are making progress in keeping their prison population down. The War on Drugs definitely contributed to this dramatic increase. Now we are faced with how to lessen this over 700% increase. SH002
DeleteThis article talks about the population trends in U.S. prisons. There was a lot of interesting fact in this article. The first one that stood out to me was the increase in the prison incarceration rate. It increased seven hundred percent between 1972 and 2009. That sounds like an unsettling statistic even though it has many factors on why it is that large. For example, the War on Drugs. By 2017, thirty-nine states have decreased their prison population. Out of the thirty-nine states, only five states decreased their population by thirty percent or more. Another fact that interested me was that southern states have exceptionally high rates of incarceration, but four southern states decreased their prison rates by double-digits. The leading southern state being Alabama. Another fact is that the federal prison population decreased by sixteen percent between 2011 and 2017 and it is continuing to decrease. Not all states have had a decrease in their prison incarceration rates. In fourteen states the prison population reduction was less than five percent. Eleven states had no decrease in prison population at all by 2017. The largest five year increases in prison population occurred in Arkansas with a twenty-three percent. Washington, Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Kentucky have also increased prison incarceration rate by ten percent or more. Another interesting fact is that the pace of decline since 2009 is only averaging one percent annually. The article says that it will take until 2091, seventy-two years, to cute the U.S. population by fifty percent. The people that have been incarcerated for drug offenses has decreased by twenty six percent between 2007 and 2016. The number of people in jail for property offense has decreased by fourteen percent between 2007 and 2016. The people imprisoned for violent crimes has only decreased by two percent between 2009 and 2016. -JU002
ReplyDeleteThis article talks about the steady decline in the United States prison population. “By year end 2017, 1.4 million people were imprisoned in the United States, a decline of 7% since the prison population reached its peak level in 2009. This follows a nearly 700% growth in the prison population between 1972 and 2009.” In the article there are five states that reduced their peak levels. The states that did that are Alaska, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, and New York. Out of all states fourteen states had five percent imprisonment. The largest five year increases in prison population occurred in Arkansas with a twenty-three percent. Washington, Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Kentucky have also increased prison incarceration rate by ten percent or more. Another interesting fact is that the pace of decline since 2009 is only averaging one percent annually. One aspect to consider is the cost of the incarceration as a whole. Prison is costing taxpayers billions of dollars each year. If we look at the cost of reducing this prison population at the rate we are currently at, that is over 72 years of continuous cost to the taxpayers. Another interesting aspect is that there should be sentencing reform for nonviolent crimes. While reforms have focused on reducing sentences for people with drug offenses, the people in prison for property crimes has dropped as well. Another problem comes with the sentencing of violent crimes. The number of people that are currently serving time for committing violent crimes has only decreased by 2% between 2009 and 2016. SH002
ReplyDeleteI like that you pointed out the 700% increase between 1972 and 2009, that is such a huge increase in not a very long time. Why did it increase so high? It is amazing that looking into the future nearly seventy years we are expected to have our prison population in half. Hopefully with this major cut in the prison population, comes peace.
Delete-KF002
This article was very interesting in how it talked about the prison population trends and what goes into them. Prison population reached its highest point in 2009, and since then, the end of 2017 it has decreased to nearly seven percent. The rate of people being incarcerated is declining modesty throughout the states. If the United States can keep this decline at a steady pace, than by 2091 we will have cut the prison population in half. In order to get rid of the mass incarceration we need to end the war on drugs and look into violent crimes with another approach. Appropriate changes in policies and practices resulted in prison population decline, by shortening the lengths of the time one stays and total admissions. The hope to decrease population in prisons scares many thinking more crime will be on the streets instead of being locked away. Not to worry to crime nationwide has dropped with the prison population drop. Ending mass incarceration is critical to continue to rate of decline in prison population. This will require us to push aside our unfortunate biases and focus on bold leadership in order to cut the prison population in half. To decrease our prison population population we must be able to make changes and go about the system differently. We all have biases and there are evident biases amongst the prison system and to better the outcome we need to reevaluate. Overall incarceration rates have been declining at a slow pace in the majority of the states. Decreasing sentencing crimes can help reduce the population, for most crimes in will not take years upon years for the offender to go back to society with a normal life. Not all crimes deserve a long sentence and sometimes prison time is not even the answer.
ReplyDelete-KF002
I agree that not all crimes deserve prison time or a lengthy sentence. Obviously violent crimes do but drug charges and other things of that nature do not deserve prison. It is a tricky conversation on what crimes deserve what. In my opinion any simple possession does not deserve prison, non violent crimes do not deserve prison time and any petty crime do not deserve time. The only people that deserve to be behind bars are the people that are putting others in fear or danger.
Delete-wb002
This article was very important to me. This article talks about the decline in prison population. According to the article , “ The United States has only made modest progress in ending mass incarceration despite a dramatic decline in crime rates. Reported crime rates have plummeted to half of their 1990’s levels-- as they have in many other countries that did not increase imprisonment levels”. The states of Alaska, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, and New York have a 30% and over decrease in their prison population. This is very surprising to me because the number of people incarcerated is the lowest it's been in decades. Why is the prison population decreasing? I believe crime rates are staying low and people are not getting caught. The fact that was the most surprising to me was that between 1972 and 2009 there was 700% increase in the prison incarceration rate. That is because the war on drugs was very big at this time. People were transporting illegal drugs from Mexico to the United States in 1971. Since then The United States government had to crack down on illegal drug use and distribution. Another fact that caught my eye was the federal prison population rate declined in size by 16 % between its peak in 2011 and 2017 at over twice the nationwide rate of decarceration. Another fact that was interesting to me was, “these prison population reductions are the result of a mix of changes in policy and practice designed to reduce prison admissions and lengths of stay”. I don't think that it's bad prison population rate is decreasing. Someone is doing something correctly. Another fact that was important to me was 39 states had at least modestly downsized their prison populations from their peak levels. Five states led the nation in reducing their prison populations by 30% or more. -JAS002
ReplyDeleteThis article is about the prison trends in the US. 1.7 million people were imprisoned in the year of 2014 which is a 7% decrease since the peak in 2009. 1972 to 2009 the prison population has seen a 700% increase which is insane. 11 states had their highest prison population in 2009 lead by Arkansas. Alaska, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and Connecticut have cut the population by 30%. If the states and federal government continue this decrease it will take until 2091 to cut the prison population in half. Even though it will take a long time to cut the population in half, it is refreshing to see it decreasing at all. I am glad that change is being made even if it is small. I think with the more states legalizing marijuana the population will take a huge drop because a lot of people are in for petty drug charges. People going to prison because of 3 strike laws for a simple possession is crazy to me. I understand that the law is the law with 3x but I think there can be changes made so you don't go to prison because you had weed on you. I don't think we will ever get to half of the population but I do think we will have a steady decrease for many years. Any change is good though. I would rather have the population slowly decreasing then increasing or not having any change at all, so that is a positive in my eyes. -wb002
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