Mass Incarceration

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Mass Incarceration is a term that is used to refer to the number of current inmates in the United States' prison system. This number of incarcerated people in the United States has drastically risen over the last forty years. According to recent statistics, the United States makes up around one fourth of the world's prison population. Statistics also show that some minorities are targeted by some of the laws in the Unites States accounting for higher numbers of black, Hispanic, and women.

Histories trace the origins of mass incarceration back to the 1960's and 1970's, when the following factors played into incarceration rates:

• During these decades, the government started enacting harsher punishments for crimes committed.
• Harsher punishments greatly increased the sheer number of people who were sentenced to serve time in prison.
• Not only were more people placed into the prison system, but also the length of the sentences were increased.

According to 2016, statistics around 12,000 people are currently serving time for small offenses that most people do not even recognize as crimes. Some of these offenses include parole violations, juveniles running away from home, and school truancy violations.

Mass incarceration has become a social issue based on the sheer number of minorities in the United States prison system. Many see the prison system as continuing racial division that began after slavery with the development of Jim Crow laws. Many believe that the prison system continues to disenfranchise minorities because it prevents people from being able to work and be contributing members of society. Once they are released from prison, these individuals find it extremely difficult to find employment and start over. Many individuals will return back to the prison system because they are unable to survive outside.