Word Count: 604

Policy Reform Needed to Reduce Increasing Incarceration

Rates in the United States

By Avery Zimmerman

Wayne State University

Com 2100, April 3, 2019

The American prison system sends too many people to jail for too long and is often

abusive to people of color. The flaws in America’s system need to be overhauled by policy

changes such as getting rid of mandatory minimums, giving judges back their judicial discretions

and creating programs to reduce the chances of the incarcerated returning to jail after they get

out.

“Mass incarceration is one of the biggest problems facing our country,” said Octavia

Renke, criminal justice major at Wayne State University. “The number of incarcerated

individuals is much higher than in other countries.”

There are 698 inmates per 100,000 residents in the United States, according to a study

done by The Prison Policy Initiative in 2019. This is more than four and half times the rate for

the United Kingdom, based on penal statistics from the Council of Europe.

The number of incarcerated individuals has disastrous effects for the individuals

themselves, but also on their families.

“Children of incarcerated parents don’t reach the same level of educational attainment as

those who don’t have incarcerated parents,” said Michelle Jacobs, a sociology professor at

Wayne. “This is just one example, it can affect their development long term.”
 Although the number of incarcerated individuals is concerning, people tend to shy away

from action when it comes to actually letting people out of jail.

“Even with how many people are incarcerated, many people in the U.S think we’re too

soft on crime,” said Renke. “It’s common for people to support politicians that promise to get

tougher on crime.”

Recently, President Donald Trump passed the First Step Act. “An act to provide for

programs to help reduce the risk that prisoners will recidivate upon release from prison,”

according to U.S House Bill 5682.

This attempt at prison reform is debated among criminal justice reformers.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights wrote a letter to U.S

Representatives urging them to vote no on the First Step Act. Citing the Risk Assessment System

created in the bill as dangerous and that it “risks embedding deep racial and class bias into

decisions.”

Researchers found that a risk assessment tool used in Florida was twice as likely to

misclassify a black man as a higher risk compared to their white counterparts, according to an

article written for the Minnesota Law Review.

“It’s important to help incarcerated individuals get out and stay out of prison,” said

Parker Feldman, law student at Wayne. “But doing so without acknowledging the implications of

race and class is not the way to go about it.”

“We need to give judges more discretion on sentencing instead of forcing them to adhere

to mandatory maximum and minimum sentences,” said Jacobs. “It will allow them to evaluate

case by case and understand the individual situation.”

 “We can also expand employer hiring of formerly incarcerated individuals so they aren’t

discriminated against when applying for jobs,” said Jacobs.

Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder did something similar in 2018 when he signed an

executive order removing the check box that asks applicants if they were convicted of a felony,

known as the Ban the Box initiative.

However this executive order only applies to state departments and agencies. If private

employers followed suit it could have the potential for more job opportunities for felons, but

right now they are not required to ban the box on applications under Michigan Senate Bill 353.

“There’s a stereotype that surrounds the incarcerated. People don’t want to help them get

out because they think they’re dangerous,” said Jacobs. “We need to move past these stereotypes

in order to help the current and previously incarcerated.”

-- 30 --
Source List

Prison Policy Initiative, https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2019.html. Used their statistics

on number of incarcerated individuals in the U.S.

Council of Europe “Prisons in Europe 2005-2015,” http://wp.unil.ch/space/files/2018/12/UK.pdf.

Used statistics of the number of incarcerated individuals in the United Kingdom.

The Sentencing Project, http://www.sentencingproject.org/criminal-justice-facts/. Used statistics

on increasing incarceration rates.

“Assessing Risk Assessment in Action” by Megan Stevenson for the Minnesota Law Review,
https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=6490171210091050270881241050850290690320
340220580260591130050780740310840991200121121030420271010220231151091141251120
700100210460510620930600750980940810221261120990590460141260711120260260100680
93089095086085115095116075114072016107124021016087122097&EXT=pdf. Used to get
the background on the research of racial bias in risk assessment programs.

House Bill 5682, https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5682/text.

Michelle Jacobs, michelle.jacobs@wayne.edu. Sociology professor at Wayne State University

provided comments in a face to face interview on March 25.

Octavia Renke, 586-329-1919. Criminal justice student at Wayne State University provided
comments in a face to face interview on March 27 and April 1.

Parker Feldman, gb7492@wayne.edu. Law student with a political science undergraduate degree
commented on prison reform in a face to face interview on March 28.

Michigan Senate Bill 353, https://www.michigan.gov/formergovernors/0,4584,7-212-

90815_57657-464637--,00.html

Former Gov Rick Snyder’s executive order,

https://www.michigan.gov/formergovernors/0,4584,7-212-90815_57657-476952--,00.html.