| Display title | American Prisons |
| Default sort key | American Prisons |
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| Page ID | 116342 |
| Page content language | en - English |
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| Page creator | m>Import Bot |
| Date of page creation | 21:27, 1 November 2013 |
| Latest editor | Robkelk (talk | contribs) |
| Date of latest edit | 00:34, 5 June 2021 |
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Article description: (description)
This attribute controls the content of the description and og:description elements. | The United States has the world's highest incarceration rate. One person in a hundred people are in prison, and one person out of thirty-one people are in prison, probation or on parole. (Note that a very large percentage of this is argued to be due to the "War on Drugs" by opponents of said movement.) The rate is especially high among black men. Important to note is the American philosophy that prisons is not for rehabilitation, but for punishment, deterrence, and incapacitation. Whether or not it works (which is quite debatable), rehabilitation is low on the prison system's list of priorities, as many Americans are skeptical that it's even possible. This skepticism results in longer sentencing as well. For example, in much of Europe, "life" is 20 years, with about seven to ten years off that for good behavior. In the US, this varies from 25 years (with parole hearings possible after half that time) to a very literal "lock 'em up and throw away the key" sentence. In the federal system, early release on parole is even forbidden for prisoners sentenced after 1984, but time off for good behavior remains. In the 1980s, there was a trend towards determinate sentencing (a fixed sentence with a certain number of years, as opposed to "10 to life"), statutory sentencing guidelines, and mandatory minimums that made sentencing relatively predictable (and harsh, especially for drug offenses), but the trend in the 21st century has perhaps been slowly moving away from that. |