Our unjust justice and prison system



March 29, 2009

Gandhi said that “You can judge a society by how it treats its 
weakest members”. 21st Century America has failed this test on many 
levels, but none so glaring as how it treats its prisoners.

There are some shocking statistics:

The United States is the third largest country in the world, yet it 
has by far the greatest number of prisoners…not per capita number…
TOTAL NUMBER! According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, one in 31 U.S. 
adults are behind bars, on probation or parole.  China has four 
times the U.S. population, yet has just 1.6 prisoners compared to our 
2.3 million.
One million prisoners are non-violent offenders.
  90% of prisoners are male.
  Blacks are five times more likely to be imprisoned than Whites, and 
Hispanics are twice as likely.
  In New York, 80% of prisoners are indigent, which means they are 
forced to rely on public defenders, who are usually overworked.
  The costs of staying out of prison are prohibitive even for the 
middle class, but they are insurmountable for the poor.
  Violence within the prisons is rampant.
  Nearly 70% of released prisoners will be arrested within three years.

The fact is our justice system is unjust. It favors the wealthy and 
the white. The most famous illustration is the discrepancy between 
crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Federal law mandates a five year 
minimum sentence for trafficking in 500 grams of powder cocaine, but 
only 5 grams of crack cocaine, which is cheaper and more often used 
by poor and minority users.

Prison isn’t designed to rehabilitate.  American prisons are 
designed to punish. Non-violent prisoners learn violence, violent 
prisoners perfect it.

There is some hope. The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s 
Prisons has released a study complete with a plan to help America’s 
prison system.

President Obama, unlike his predecessor, has acknowledged the 
problems and plans to at least attempt to fix them.

Due to budgetary constraints, some states are beginning to release 
non-violent offenders.

America has a long way to go before its prison system reflects the 
country we want to be, but hopefully these are some steps in the 
right direction.

http://www.examiner.com/x-2133-Social-Justice-Examiner~y2009m3d29-Our-
unjust-justice-and-prison-system