Even though there have been significant efforts by the government to reduce crimes, the crime rates in the United States still seem to be on the rise. A report released in 2015 indicated that there was approximately three percent increase in violent crimes in 2015. In 2016, violent crimes increased by approximately four percent while homicides increased by more than eight percent (Wakefield & Wildeman, 2016) . The rising trend of criminal behavior and the inability of the criminal justice system to lower the crime rates continue to puzzle criminal justice departments and criminologist. There is disarray regarding the reasons why such violent crimes increased. The US crime problems are a result of our failure to get tough on crime.
The right-to-carry gun laws increase the rate of violent crimes in the US. The increase in violent crime in the US is estimated to be 13-15 percent since the adoption of RTC laws (Wakefield & Wildeman, 2016) . For instance, the current Florida shootings which led to the death of 17 students support how gun ownership increases crimes. Most of the American citizens own the guns for the sake of self-protection, but there are numerous reports on how individuals have used guns them commit crimes.
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Drug abuse has been on the rise in the United States. People who are addicted to drugs may end up being criminals. Most of the drugs curtails engage in rimes to raise the money needed to sustain their habits. The drug trade in the United States is on the rise as many teens engage in drug abuse thus providing a ready market. Cases of drug business sometimes are not reported to the police or relevant authorities. Sometimes, the rich owners of drug cartels corrupt the police thus interfering with the fight against drug abuse. Leaving drug offenders on probation other than incarcerating them is just encouraging a vicious cycle of criminality in the United States. For example, countries that have placed very harsh and strict penalties for drug offenses such as China have significantly reduced crime rates. The laxity and softness of American criminal justice system on these drug offenders should be blamed for crimes in America.
Overpopulation in the major cities of the United States is one of the major causes of crimes. Overpopulation can develop as a result of movement of individuals in search of jobs and living conditions. In most cases, unemployment results in high poverty levels. The situation of unemployment rates in the United States Cities and other urban centers is alarming. Most of the youth who engage in crimes do so after staying for a long time without being employed. If the government and the society want to get tough on crime, they should focus on reducing overpopulation and unemployment in the urban centers.
American criminal justice system generally under incarcerates rather than over incarcerate. In America, nobody goes to prison when they are guilty of their first crime not unless it is murder. The American criminal justice system applies other techniques and hides under the approaches of probation, treatment programs among others soft strategies on the belief that such softer strategies may deter crime (Stevens & Morash, 2015) . The truth is that such alternative punishment strategies employed by the American criminal justice system hardly work in a society where people have believed that there is a system where it is hard to get jailed for committing a crime.
In America, almost every case of drugs is always granted probation. They are seen as less serious offenses which do not have a significant impact on the society. This thinking is just a mere laxity of the criminal justice system
The constitution of the United States seems to have emphasized so much on the rights of criminal other than preventing criminality. This shows how much criminals have been handed protection by the American constitution other than being tough on them. For example, the law inhibits police from conducting search and seizure unless warranted authority by courts. Such kind of constitutional rights has made it easy for criminals to go ways with their offenses and crimes. Such practices limit the work of police officers and other law enforcing agencies in dealing with criminal issues and make it easy for criminals to tamper or remove evidence before the polices follows the right procedure. Many of criminal cases in American justice system have been thrown out not on the basis that the evidence was not presented but on the ground that the police did not follow the correct procedures. Such kind of lengthy procedures that protect the rights of suspected offender shows how America has been so soft to criminal activities.
The major role of prison and correctional facilities is to deter crime. The prison and correctional system of America shows how the criminal justice system of the nation is seemingly too soft to criminal behaviors. The current prison and correctional facilities are just houses where convicted offenders relax eat and sleep. Initially, prisons and correctional facilities were characterized by serious hardship that scared many people and thus preventing crimes. Many people who landed in these prisons did not want to go back there at all while those who imagined of criminal activities were scared (O'Hear, 2017). The traditional jails and correctional facilities were however termed as barbaric and replaced with the modern prison and correction facilities which are luxurious in the name of protecting the rights of the convicts. This has significantly diminished the deterring effects of the prison and correctional centers .
In conclusion, a fight against criminal offenses is not an easy task. The US crimes have been on the rise because of failure to get tough on them. The process of combating crimes should not be left to the government only but should start from an individual level.
References
Kelly, W. R. (2015). Criminal justice at the crossroads: Transforming crime and punishment . (Criminal justice at the crossroads.). New York: Columbia University Press, 2015.
O'Hear, M. (2017). Wisconsin sentencing in the tough-on-crime era: How judges retained power and why mass incarceration happened anyway . Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2017
Wakefield, S., Lee, H., & Wildeman, C. (2016). Tough on crime, tough on families? Criminal justice and family life in America .
Stevens, T., & Morash, M. (2015). Racial/ethnic disparities in boys’ probability of arrest and court actions in 1980 and 2000: The disproportionate impact of “getting tough” on crime. Youth violence and juvenile justice , 13 (1), 77-95.
