America's Increasing Jail Population

In the past few decades there has been a national "war on drugs". Countless drug users and dealers have been incarcerated for a lengthy period of time. Some even have been sentenced to a longer jail time than some murderers, rapists, and burglars. Many find that this is not justifiable because most of these drug-related crimes were non-violent. Many protest that all of that is merely a waste of prison space and billions of dollars.

A sufficient way to reduce America's jail population would be simply to only incarcerate the very serious misdemeanors. People arrested for drug dealing and using should not be sent to prisons. Addictions are hard to beat and imprisoning these people will only make their behavior worse when they get out. Drug users have a mental disease and the way for them to recover is to be helped.

There are many programs throughout the nation to help addicts overcome their issues and start a new life. Instead of thousands of dollars being wasted on each one of these thousands of people, they can be treated in a way that shows that they need to stop their addictions for their own good. They can be shown that people do care about their well-being. In general, they can be treated like human beings. They can be taught the value of a steady job and how to care for their own health, mental and physical. Participating in these programs will not only help themselves, but also to the society. They will be saving taxpayers money and can have a chance to give back to the community and learn the value of their surroundings.

Drug dealers can also be apart of programs and taught to learn the value of a real occupation. They can appreciate earning their money rightfully through hard, honest work. They should also be entitled to do community service. There is no need for extremely harsh jail sentences when these people need help and taught the correct way to live the right kind of healthy lifestyle.

Another way to reduce America's jail population would be to follow the chivalrous examples of the Red Hook Justice Community Center. They catch those committing crimes but do not punish them to an extreme. These people are assisted to get their life on check and are given chances to start a new leaf. It is a very admirable program set up by people who genuinely care and want to ameliorate the lifestyles of those in need.

Numerous people are sentenced to jail every single day. Some of them should not be. Some are really innocent and wrongly convicted. Some only need some assistance and a push in the right direction. The American court system is accused of being too harsh with their arrests. Billions of dollars are spent every year for the insanely high amount of the jail population. America can only imagine what could be done with that money in favor of our country, instead of against so many people.