Did you know that the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world? The population of the United States is only about 4.5% of the world population, yet the country is home to 22% of all prisoners in the world. This is very wrong. Almost 2.3 million people are incarcerated in the United States and we, the taxpayers are funding this. Prisons on the state level are at 115% of their capacity, and federal prisons are 136% overfilled on average.
The United States justice system is clearly broken as people in possession of small quantities of drugs are often imprisoned for longer than violent criminals. This all started in the Nixon administration with the “War on Drugs”, a policy shift that destroyed the lives of countless Americans for no good reason. This war on the American people created minimum prison sentences for drug users, and dealers alike. Many people who were addicted to dangerous substances were put in prison for long periods of time, and then dumped back onto the streets when their sentences were over with nothing. No job, no where to live, nothing to do but go back to their old ways. The imprisonment of people who were using drugs accomplished nothing while wasting billions in taxpayer dollars.
Instead of putting people in prison for using drugs, we should let these people make their own decisions, and offer help and healthy choices for those who will take it. First, we need to realize as a country that people have the right to do what they want with their bodies and that if they are set on using drugs, there is little we can do. Governments must respect people’s natural rights. Next, addicts should not be thrown in jail. Instead, we should offer treatments for addiction, and help people facing poverty to get back on their feet with programs that help them to find jobs or employ them.
Currently, the system is broken beyond repair. The United States needs to completely scrap its policies on drugs, and must start from scratch to build programs that help people in need instead of making their conditions worse at the expense of taxpayers.
This brings us to those who have committed other crimes. Sure violent criminals should have to face consequences such as prison sentences, but instead of just locking them up, only to release them later in the same if not worse of a condition, we should work to help these people become productive members of society if they are going to be released. There are no valid excuses that can explain why one of the most successful countries locks up such a huge percentage of its citizens.
As always, thanks for reading and be sure to FOLLOW for more!
--Aaron