The 2005-2006 statistics are in. America increased its prison population by the greatest amount since 2000.
- The United States, which has the most prisoners of any country in the world, last year recorded the largest increase in the number of people in prisons and jails since 2000, the Justice Department reported on Wednesday.
- It said the nation's prison and jail populations increased by more than 62,000 inmates, or 2.8 percent, to about 2,245,000 inmates in the 12-month period that ended on June 30, 2006. It was the biggest jump in numbers and percentage change in six years.
Reasons for the increase:
- Criminal justice experts have attributed the record U.S. prison population to tough sentencing laws, record numbers of drug offenders and high crimes rates.
Question, is this the America we really want? Do we want a nation whose only solution to crime is to put more people in prisons no matter the cost (lives & dollars)? Or do we want a nation that works very hard to prevent people from turning to crime in the first place?
Are we a nation that has become so lazy that we accept the easy answer so we can go on to more important things? Important things like the latest Paris Hilton episode, or who won the last World of Wrestling Championship.
No comments:
Post a Comment