Williams, Chelsea

Pols 155

Professor Morris

5/5/2018

Mass Incarceration: Criminal Justice Reform

Part 1: Policy Background

Mass incarceration is one of the biggest problems the United States face and has

started to increase rapidly more over the years. According to the Bureau of Justice Of

Statistics, the United States have over two million inmates located in their county jails,

state and federal prisons. The highest level of people being incarcerated are minorities

basically, meaning people of color and hispanics, and is serving time for small offenses

such as drug use. The cost rate of keeping an inmate behind bars for senseless

reasons, range from prices such as $20,000 - $50,000 a year. As a country, we need to

come together as one, find solutions, or help fix other problems, such as more money

going towards healthcare and schools around the U.S., but instead, were paying billions

of money in tax dollars for people to be put in a room that’s as big as a box with a

window that’s as small as an peephole looking outside. There are also other issues that

associate within the prison and jail system, which involves letting the inmates see their

loved ones. Visitations are quite limited, due to people having minor infractions such as

traffic tickets and how many people can come to visitation when visiting an inmate.

Distance is also another factor that takes part in this issue because it takes time and

money to travels to get to a prison or jail institution, especially when it may not be close

to someone’s hometown. My research resulted in me finding many different

organizations where people want to fight against mass incarceration, meaning they see

no problem with the issue itself. However, individuals who are for the end of mass

incarceration, can fight for it by signing petitions or even joining community

organizations. There are many organizations that helped deepen my understandings of

mass incarceration. One that truly stood out to me was the American Civil Liberties

Union also known as the ACLU. This is an organization that fights to end mass

incarceration by having people donate and sign petitions that helps let a certain amount

of inmates out each year. My policy solution involves US citizens to fight for what’s right,

and to me that is reducing mass incarceration rates. Another organization that helped

deepen my understanding of my policy topic was an organization called the Sentencing

Project, which was a movement that formed for individuals to take action against

criminal reform.

After researching and reading many arguments about my topic I furthered explored my

research based on upon the organizations.

Part 2: Updates On The Issues/Solution

The local government level would definitely be a huge help with addressing my

policy problem. This would be a more appropriate level because you have to start off

locally, then you can move your way up to dealing with issues that revolve around state

and federal level. I strongly believe that if we can get enough people to fight for the

issue of reducing mass incarceration we can move forward and get the problem pushed

to those higher levels of government. There were many arguments that came about

while researching how and why we should end mass incarceration in the United States.

The U.S. stands alone being the top leading country who incarcerates a large number of
people for small crimes. According to Vera institute of Justice, incarceration is a

“runaway use to dehumanize poor people and people of color, it damages already

marginalized communities, does not advance public safety, and siphons public

resources with no social benefit”. Many people believe that incarceration is new modern

day slavery, and there are over a million people who are behind bars, facing years for

crimes committed for the use of drugs. While researching people who would oppose the

mass incarceration, I really could not find anything on it, but I did find that there are

reasons and views on why people would look to incarceration of humans a good thing to

keep around such as the role imprisonment plays in the economy. There are multiple

reasons why many people who think of either jail or imprisonment being a good thing for

the country would oppose my policy solution which is to fight and petition for more to

free inmates. One reason would be that the prison industry is a top priority in the U.S.,

in which it also creates lots of jobs fields that people can work in the U.S.,for example,

correctional officers, superintendent jobs, plus many more. Not only does having jailing

institutions create jobs but some people who would oppose my issue towards mass

incarceration would think of prisons and jails as safety for the country because its

having a source of security in society by keeping criminals off the streets.

A Campaign that was launched May 8th, 2018, has been introduced called, “Vote

For Justice” in Washington D.C. to get the public to fight for criminal justice reforms.

The campaign gives an incite on the costs and political and economic views on our

countries criminal justice systems. The goal of the campaign is to help advocates who

have been fighting for mass incarceration, to try and get individuals who are released

from prisons or jails, get back on their feet and help them find the resources they need
in order to survive in the real world again. Another fight going on is the sentencing

reform and corrections act, which is a bipartisan bill that was brought upon to help

reduce extremely high sentencing among inmates. According to the American Civil

Liberties Union (ACLU), the extremely high sentencing numbers does have an affect on

the crime rates that goes on within communities. It is also said to be a lot higher

amongst communities who have people of color. I agree with the position that this

organization is taking, because it opens the doors for people who have been behind

bars for years. It is helping the future by giving ones who have done senseless acts, just

enough years and not too much. The petition only needs 50,000 signatures to get

moving forward and it current standing is over 27,000. I feel as if I can work with this

organization in order to get the number of signatures needed by sharing the petition with

others to promote this issue. I can also use social media as an outlet to promote the

petition, inform them about the problem behind it and hopefully get them to sign it.

Part 3: Action Plan:

There are many steps I could take in order to have my proposed policy solution

become active. First, I want to further my knowledge and educate myself more than I

already am on the part of how the prison and justice system works on the inside. Next, I

want to attend community meetings based on the ideas that either pertain to mass

incarceration tactics or anything dealing with criminal justice reform, just to have my

public opinion on their political views about dealing with the matter. Lastly I want to

inform the ones who are lacking knowledge about what prison reform and injustices are.

I think it would be a good idea if the people of my community were more informed about

the imprisonment of human beings in America, because it is an ongoing problem within

the country will continue to face if we do not come together as one. One possible

distinct action I could take towards getting a solution to my problem, would be writing a

letter to elected officials. I want to conduct a letter based on how this problem affects

me personally because I have a loved one who is super far away, and the amount of

time being served for his crime is extremely high. In my letter, I can state how I connect

to my policy issue and explain possible solutions to help it. Also, me being a person of

color, and to see my people being the most incarcerated for small offenses, weighs

quite heavy on my mental. Writing a letter to an official would be more focused towards

the local government. Another action tactic I could use is the use of social media.

Making a page for the policy I am fighting for and sharing ideas about why we should

petition for more rights of prisoners and why we should be for criminal justice reform.

There are a lot of of social media outlets, meaning that there are a lot of ways I can go

with sharing an informational page about my policy topic and the solution. I feel as if that

is a great way to get ones to also sign a petition for one of the organizations I mentioned

above. The last action I chose work’s perfect for my policy solution which is a non-

governmental petition because I can conduct it through an organization or on my own.

By starting a petition, I would not have to go through official rules like the governmental

petition, and it would bring awareness to the community I live in and care about. An

ongoing petition could bring bigger and better opportunities of me making my solution

effective towards the policy problem. One big obstacle I would have to go through with

taking on any one of these actions, would be just having to find someone to hear me

out, and is willing to help me make a difference in society. Someone who has

connections within the local government might be super hard to get a hold of also, but it
isn't impossible with hard work and dedication. Another huge obstacle I would face with

the action of me starting a non-governmental petition is getting people to sign it and

after getting my amount of signatures getting it submitted hoping that further notice will

occur. To me,that is going to be one of the hardest obstacles I would have to face. I

believe that getting the signatures for it would be the easy part but it’s all about getting it

submitted. In order to fulfill my policy solution, I would need to take these steps into

consideration that mass incarceration and petty sentencing must come to a end.

References

“Mass Incarceration.” American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union,

www.aclu.org/issues/mass-incarceration.

Vera Institute.” Vera, www.vera.org/ending-mass-incarceration.

“Vote For Justice.” Vote for Justice, www.voteforjustice.us/.