Just in case some of you are teaching Crime and Violence next year...

Utter Failure; It's Time to Rethink the Prison System

With 2.3 million people in America's prison system, we've literally become our own jailers. It's time to call for a compassionate -- and more effective -- judicial system.

“Get tough on crime” has been a common mantra in the U.S. since the 1970’s and, indeed, we have. We now have over 2.3 million people locked up on any given day, approximately the same number as China and Russia combined. More than one in every one hundred adults in America is presently in jail or prison. Nationally, our prison industrial complex is a $60 billion-a-year industry.

This incarceration binge is destroying the fabric of our communities, some more than others. One in every 15 African American men lives in a prison or jail cell. If you are an African American male between the ages of 20 and 34, the ratio is one in nine. Hispanics are disproportionately affected as well. As of 2006, one in 36 Hispanic adults was behind bars.

Over the last 30 years more acts have been classified as crimes, many prison sentences have become mandatory, as well as longer, and early release for good conduct has been all but eliminated. Some defense attorneys advise their clients to plead guilty to crimes they didn’t commit, reasoning that a short sentence for a lesser crime is better than risking decades behind bars that would be mandated if convicted of a more serious offense.

Link:
http://www.alternet.org/vision/147199/utter_failure%3B_it%27s_time_to_rethink_the_prison_system/?page=entire