Incarceration is the confinement of a person in prison for a predetermined period as a form of retribution after having committed a felony. Correctional facilities serve the purpose of transforming criminal tendencies among the offender populations. The history of punishment dates back since antiquity during development of early codes of law. The codes were designed to guide human behaviour and help distinguish actions that were deemed legal from those that were not ( Blomberg, 2017) . The early codes of law formulated the precise punishments that were to be imposed on law offenders. In the United States, incarceration is the primary form of retribution and rehabilitation for commission of various form of offenses. As Allison et al., (2017) explain, the United States has the highest prison population globally. The nation also leads in per capita rate of incarceration.
Current Statues, Rates of Incarceration
The rate of incarceration represents number of offenders serving prison terms in penitentiaries per 100,000 of population. Statistics from a survey report conducted in 2019 indicated that in the United States, 655 prisoners per 100,000 are incarcerated. Recent statistics also show that the United States justice system houses approximately 2.3 million Americans which is equivalent to 655 for every 100,000 adults ( Meyer et al., 2017) . The United States represents 4.4% of the global population implying that the nation houses 2% of the total global prisoners. The 2.3 million inmates are imprisoned in 1,719 state prisons, 109 federal correctional facilities, 1,772 juvenile rehabilitation centers, 3,163 local prisons and 80 Indian penitentiary facilities. Additional correctional facilities where offenders are imprisoned include immigration detention facilities, military prisons, psychiatrist hospitals and civil commitment facilities ( Meyer et al., 2017) . Alarmingly, over 6.7 million adults equivalent to 1 for every 37 individuals are under some form of correctional control. Around 55% of people which is equal to 3.6 million are on probation while 870,000 equivalent to 11% are on parole. The individuals who are on community supervision (probation and parole) are twice the number of incarcerated inmates in the United States Jails. The State of Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate at 776 per 100,000 people followed by Oklahoma at 715 per 100,000 people and the third being Alabama whose rate is 611 per 100,000 people. Mississippi is fourth housing 609 per 100,000, fifth Arizona whose jail rate is 596 per 100,000 people ( Fabelo & Thompson, 2015) . Arkansas incarceration rate is 591 per 100,000 people, Texas 568, Missouri 530, Georgia 503, Florida 486, Kentucky 489, Virginia 457, Ohio 449, Nevada 444 while Nevada is fifteenth with a jail rate of 441 per 100,000 people respectively.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Laws, Policies and Practices
The Violent Crime Control Law and Enforcement act also known as the 1994 crime bill was formulated and passed to law by the United States Congress in 1994. The law has contributed significantly to the mass incarceration crisis through creation of new tough criminal sentences. The law incentivized the states leading to building of more prisons thereby creating the problem of increased imprisonment. Following the passage of the law, rates of incarcerations climbed exponentially for 14 years. Though the bill did not trigger mass incarceration, the law encouraged growth of imprisonment even further. Additionally, mandatory minimum practice in the United States has led to an increases in rates of integration. As Lamb (2014) explain, the sentencing laws apply often to nonviolent drug criminals leading to imposition of harsh punishments to individuals who do not pose significant danger to communities. The mandatory minimums practice in the USA has caused an imbalance in courtrooms ultimately driving mass incarceration ( Lamb, 2014) . The 1984 sentencing reform act for example added mandatory minimums and abolished federal parole thereby influencing states to follow suit as standard response to drug epidemics and upsurge in crime. The passing of three strikes law led to removal of judge’s sentencing discretion. After being convicted for three crimes, the three strike law term a person to be beyond rehabilitation leading to severe penalties such as harsh sentencing. The legislation has sparked an increase in rates of incarceration for example when a law offender is handed a life imprisonment for a minor offense. The practice by policy makers to increase prison sentences severity such as formulation of lengthy terms has substantially led to the buildup of prison numbers in the United States ( Fabelo & Thompson, 2015) . The practice of the use of life sentences has led to skyrocketing of rate of incarceration in the USA. In the United States, one in every nine people is serving a life prison term.
Punishment Philosophies Used Historically
Historically, the United States has relied on several types of punishment philosophies. The most utilized philosophy is incapacitation whose primary intention is isolation of a law offender away from the society by jailing them in state and federal penitentiaries. Incapacitation is developed to be unpleasant to an errant person to discourage the likelihood of repeating the behaviour ( Wringe, 2016). Offenders are secluded for a certain period through sentencing practices such as mandatory minimums to foster public safety ( Larkin & Bernick, 2014) . Incapacitation entails physically restraining criminals by placing the offenders behind bars, house arrest or through inpatient treatment programs. The United States justice system also uses deterrence as a punishment philosophy. According to Mishra (2016), the strategy purposes to discourage offenders from committing felonies for fear of punishment associated with criminal activities. The philosophy has mostly been applied to juveniles through for example application of pain pleasure principle. Warnings are also issued by police officers to convince minor offenders not to violate a certain laws. Both specific and general deterrence are utilized to shape individual future behaviour. The United States has also relied on rehabilitation philosophy to help criminals and prisoners change habits that influenced previous criminal acts. Rehabilitation principle focuses on reforming a criminal’s behaviour in preparation of the inmate’s return and integration into the community ( Mishra, 2016) . Rehabilitation cures an offender’s tendency of breaking the law through resolving of psychological issues such as aggression and drug addiction. Rehabilitation also focuses on developing occupational skills to promote transition of the offenders into the society. Retribution punishment philosophy has historically been used to prevent crime by giving a form of assurance for example to the society that an offender has been punished appropriately. Examples of retribution practices include imposing fines and enforcement of mandatory sentencing laws. Through retribution offenders are made to pay for their mistakes perpetuated against a community on the basis that the offenders violated society laws.
Costs of punishment Philosophies
Increased rate of incarceration toll cuts across social and financial costs. Social costs adversely affect individuals, families, communities and the society. On the individual, each instance of incarceration increases the likelihood of recidivism thereby reducing rehabilitation chances. Acording to Comfort, McKay, Landwehr, Kennedy, Lindquist and Bir (2016), a single incarceration has a 38.6% likelihood of recidivism while being imprisoned twice and thrice have a 54.9% and 63.9% recidivism likelihood respectively. Ex-inmates are also two times more likely of remaining unemployed which leaves 1 out of 10 ex-convicts without a job. Those who have previously been imprisoned also earn $3.69 to $6.71 less per hour in comparison to other workers ( Comfort et al., 2016) . On family, children whose either parent is incarcerated lose maternal or paternal care and family income. The children who experience parent incarceration are two times more likely to be convicted of an offense as adults thereby creating a cycle of loss.
Families also incur direct costs related to phone call and emails facilitation and on paying for personal effects such as meals, toothpaste, tissues and soaps. On society, high incarceration disenfranchises around 4.7 million voters their entitlement to exercise democratic right as felons are denied the right to vote ( Comfort et al., 2016) . Due to the high spending by the federal and the state government to maintain high number of inmates in penitentiaries, the society losses on key service delivery such as high education and health care. The United States government spends six time more on correction facilities than on higher education thereby denied the society the basic entitlement to access to education ( Kearney, Harris, Jácome & Parker, 2014) . Financial costs include the money channelized for the upkeep of inmates. The United States spends over $80 billion annually for the maintenance of more than 2.3 million convicts held in federal and state prisons ( Kearney et al., 2014) . The United States government incurs direct financial costs associated with operating prisons, jails, probation and parole.
Challenges to the Society due to Mass Incarceration
Mass incarceration has adverse consequences that prove to be a challenge to the society. Most inmates who are released from prisons come out in poor health than they were which makes them unproductive members of a community. While in jail, the convicts are five times likely to contract HIV and 20 times more likely to suffer from a mental illness. Most inmates exit the prison without having been properly rehabilitated ( Shrage, 2016) . The society therefore contends with challenges of homelessness, lack of family connection and joblessness. Additional encumbrances include poverty and an unhealthy community due to ailments that develop when inmates are incarcerated ( Comfort et al., 2016) . Communities where neighborhoods have recorded high imprisonment rates deal with challenges such as disproportionate stress, disrupted social and family networks as well as increased infectious disease and elevated crime rates ( Allison, Bastiampillai & Fuller, 2017) . The inmates’ children future is drastically affected due to lack of parental upbringing which increases the likelihood of incarceration once in adulthood.
References
Allison, S., Bastiampillai, T., & Fuller, D. A. (2017). Mass incarceration and severe mental illness in the USA. The Lancet , 390 (10089), 25.
Blomberg, T. G. (2017). American penology: A history of control . Routledge.
Comfort, M., McKay, T., Landwehr, J., Kennedy, E., Lindquist, C., & Bir, A. (2016). The costs of incarceration for families of prisoners. International Review of the Red Cross , 98 (903), 783-798.
Kearney, M. S., Harris, B. H., Jácome, E., & Parker, L. (2014). Ten economic facts about crime and incarceration in the United States.
Lamb, M. C. (2014). A Return to Rehabilitation: Mandatory Minimum Sentencing in an Era of Mass Incarceration. J. Legis. , 41 , 126.
Larkin, P., & Bernick, E. (2014). Reconsidering mandatory minimum sentences: the arguments for and against potential reforms. The Heritage Foundation .
Fabelo, T., & Thompson, M. (2015). Reducing incarceration rates: When science meets political realities. Issues in Science and Technology , 32 (1), 98-108.
Mishra, S. (2016). Theories of punishment-a philosophical aspect. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research , 2 (8), 74-78.
Meyer, I. H., Flores, A. R., Stemple, L., Romero, A. P., Wilson, B. D., & Herman, J. L. (2017). Incarceration rates and traits of sexual minorities in the United States: National Inmate Survey, 2011–2012. American Journal of Public Health , 107 (2), 267-273.
Shrage, L. (2016). African Americans, HIV, and mass incarceration. The Lancet , 388 (10049), e2-e3.
Wringe, W. (2016). An expressive theory of punishment . Springer.
