A Need for Change in

the American Punitive

System
-Kyle Cornman

1 PRISON AMERICA
America currently faces an issue in its
criminal justice system of a scale unrivaled
by any other state on the globe. Our prisons
are drastically overcrowded. Indeed, our
nation holds more of its citizens in prisons
than any other on earth, with our prisons
currently housing over 2.2 million inmates.
For reference, China, the nation with the
second highest absolute number of
incarcerated
individuals
houses only
1.6 million
inmates. Yet
with a
staggering
total
population
of almost
1.4 billion
people, this numbers relative weight (~.1%
of the total population) is dwarfed by our
own (~.7% of the total population).
To compound onto this problem, the
overcrowding in our prisons has led to a
string of unsavory developments. Chief
among these, perhaps, is the trend taken up
by state prisons to export the prisoners that
they simply cannot afford to house to other
facilities. This has led to a rise in facilities
run by private companies, built to house
these spillovers. Like any other company,
their primary goal is to produce a profit. This
means being a cost efficient, something that
may seem like a good progression to many
that are fed up with the slow and often

costly mechanisms of state bureaucracy.

However, this also means that they are
willing to do far more than a state facility will
to cut prices. It is also probably for this
reason that a large number of complaints
about inhumane treatment of prisoners
derive from these facilities. This issue is
only exacerbated by the fact that their
private nature excludes them from many
inspection and regulatory standards that are
weighed on state run facilities.
And the thing is, we know all of this.
Overcrowding in prisons, massive
incarceration rates, private prison
establishments that incentivize such
massive incarceration rates: these are all
issues that have existed in the spotlight for
some time now. A litany of bills are
circulating through congress at this very
moment that address the problem of mass
incarceration. We know that it is not to our
advantage to continue housing prisoners in
such numbers. The majority of prisoners in
this country are held in state prisons. On
average, it costs these facilities nearly $68 a
day to house each inmate. For the minority
in federal facilities, this number has been
estimated to $30,000 a year. Furthermore,
though the question of whether mass
incarceration raises or lowers crime rates is
still disputed, it is commonly held that, even
if it does lower crime, the marginal benefit of
housing each additional prisoner
diminishes. As such, there is little reason to
believe that incarcerating at the rate we
currently are is optimal. This has been seen
by legislators and action has been taken.
However, much of the change being
instigated in Congress is based off of a
fatally misconception. For this reason, it is
imperative that we act now to change the
very paradigm with which we view the issue
of mass incarceration in the United States.

2 MISCONCEPTION
Part of what makes this issue so difficult to
solve is that it is so widely known. The
reason this is a problem is that we have
allowed for a commonplace to arise, which
asserts that this problem is solvable, and all
we need to do to solve it is to cut down on
incarceration for petty crime and nonviolent, drug related offenses.
In truth, with
the
exception of
a few states
that have
held off from
any
significant
reform in
non-violent crime sentencing, the effects
that will be seen throughout most of the
country by continuing to apply this
commonplace to policy would be minimal.
The exploration of NY Times columnist, Erik
Eckholm, into this issue revealed the
unfortunate fact that following our current
policies will have very little impact on our
current incarcerated population. He found
that a continued pursuit of our current
policies, concerning drug offenses would
lead to only a 2% decrease in prison
populations. Furthermore, he found that a
cut in drug related sentencing by 50% in 15
states would lead to only a 7% decrease in
prison populations in those states. A change
of the same level could be predicted via a
decrease in sentencing duration by 15% in
the case of violent offenses.

3 A DIFFICULT DECISION
This information leaves us with a tough
choice to make as a country. We can no
longer dance around the issue of mass
incarceration by saying that those criminals

that dont truly offend us need not be

imprisoned. New studies have shown that
even a completely abolishment of
sentencing for non-violent drug related
offenses would not solve the problem of
mass incarceration in America. So now we
have to choose. What kind of a country to
we want to be? Do we want to continue as
the prison capital of the world and simply try
to find a way to improve the prison system,
ways to cut costs while remaining (or
perhaps becoming) humane in our
treatment of prisoners. On the other hand,
do we perhaps want to move in a different
direction, find a new approach to criminal
corrections that moves away from large
scale incarceration? The fact of the matter
is, if we want to cut down on incarceration
rates to any significant degree, we have to
reform the way we deal with violent
offenders. The current punitive system of
corrections may affect crime rates to a small
degree, but it is not the only way that we
can cut down on crime. Perhaps it is time
that we try a different approach to cutting
down on crime, an approach that might
involve helping criminals reform and
assimilate back into the community.
This is not an easy decision to make; it is
hard to come to terms with the idea of
bringing people who committed violent
offenses, back into the real world, into our
world. However, this is something that we
have to come to terms with, because our
choices either involve doing just that, or
perpetuating the current state of affairs, and
the massive incarceration rates that that
entails. What is clear is that we can no
longer pretend that we can have it both
ways. Change is necessary now. It is time to
decide which way we want to head moving
forward. Two paths lay before us; which are
we going to choose? Should we streamline
criminal corrections into an efficient prison
industry, or should we move in a different
direction, a direction that involves cutting

down the prison population, so that 1 in

every 1500 people in this country no longer
need to live behind bars.

Memo
Above is an editorial piece put together to address the issue of mass incarceration in the
United States. More specifically, this piece confronts the unfortunate reality that the approach
we are currently taking to solve this problem is simply not going to work, at which point the
editorial lays out the two options that our country truly has when it comes to actually solving the
problems that lie in mass incarceration. When laid out, the option that is preferable, actually
solving the issue rather than its symptoms, becomes rather clear.
While the editorial hopes for change, its immediate target is the general American public.
The problem is that the forward thinking American public has developed a commonplace in their
approach to the issue that is fundamentally flawed. I wrote the editorial for this very reason, to
replace this commonplace and instigate a shift in paradigm, towards an understanding that far
more is needed than a reform of petty crime corrections. If we want to move forward on this
issue, we have to address reform in the correctional processes of violent crime as well.
The editorial relies heavily on the use of logos to get its point across. Statistics are
utilized to arrange a logical progression that hopefully outlines the direction in which our country
should head rather clearly. There is also some use of pathos, as the paper itself is a call to
action, meant to first insight a feeling of efficacy in the reader and then pair it with one of
responsibility. At the very least, the reader is responsible for knowing that the commonplace that
they may have adhered to up until reading the editorial is wrong. Just by coming to this
understanding, they are taking part in the paradigm shift that is necessary, should proper reform
ever occur.
The editorial is arranged in three separate sections. The first section outlines two
important elements: the problem (that Americas incarceration rates are ridiculously high, and
how that is negatively impacting society) and the fact of the publics awareness of this problem.
The second section outlines the misconceived commonplace that is held by many Americans, in
relation to the issue. The third section is the call to action. It outlines the options that lay before
us and provides reasoning for why one is clearly preferable to the other.
The inspiration for this piece came from another piece of journalism that I found in the
New York Times. As far as potential media outlets go, I feel the newspaper worked great as a
medium. I also believe that a blog would work well as a potential hosting site for this piece, in
the form that it currently exists. As we discussed in class, however, I feel this message could be
strongly articulated via verbal means as well. Simple presentations on the topic using graphics
for the various statistic laden portions of the piece would work towards the same aim of
educating people on the subject, as would a podcast or Ted Talk of a similar nature.

References
"Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) - Prisoners in 2014." Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Prisoners in 2014. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016. <http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?
ty=pbdetail&iid=5387>.
"CRIME LAB." Incarceration. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
<https://crimelab.uchicago.edu/page/incarceration>.
Eckholm, Erik. "How to Cut Down the Prison Population (See for Yourself)." Nytimes.com. The
New York Times, n.d. Web.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/upshot/how-to-cut-the-prison-population-see-foryourself.html?_r=0>.
Furman, Jason, and Douglas Holtz-eakin. "Why Mass Incarceration Doesnt Pay." The New York
Times. The New York Times, 20 Apr. 2016. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/opinion/why-mass-incarceration-doesnt-pay.html?
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field_region_taxonomy_tid=All>.
"Worldometers - Real Time World Statistics." Worldometers. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.worldometers.info/>.