rde into a six-by-ten cell. (Pettiinico, George. 31) People who commit crimes are the product of society. They are a tell tale sign which demands reform. We need to show them the true path to take. Denial of freedom is punishment enough, there is no need to make harsher penalties for nonviolent offenders. The only in pact that will come from that is huge costs for tax-payers and an overall more dangerous society.Although I believe there needs to be serious reform in American prisons, there are many different reasons why the system is set up the way it is. When a family is victimized by some form of crime they usually feel very afraid and vulnerable. This happens because criminals intrude into peoples personal lives. Therefor the victim wants everything the police can possibly do to put the deviant behind bars. Many people feel that the problem is solved when criminals get sent to jail. On the outside it looks like the system works and this will, in time, ease the pain the victims felt. People gain their sense of security back and fools them to thinking everything in the world is good again. Another reason politicians push for longer sentencing, harsher penalties, and building new prisons is because it helps law-abiding citizens keep jobs. The government spends millions of dollars a year on the construction of new prisons, which means a steady flow of jobs to major contracting companies. Hundreds of workers are able to put food on their children’s tables because of this. In fact, since 1980, our nation’s prison population has quadrupled. There has been more federal prisons built in the last 16 years than were constructed in the rest of our century.(Colson, Charles. 166) Also, taxes are a big issue across our nation. In our society, the desire to keep crime off the street is evident and is shown especially through the high tax rate in most states which is put away for correction facilities. This demand for new prisons was not...
