by L.J. Vannnatter

Created on: December 21, 2011   Last Updated: December 27, 2011

The current prison population in the United States is growing at an alarming rate resulting in an increase in inmate violence, higher crime rates and a huge financial debt. Policies like the three strike rule are only adding fuel to an already out of control fire. At the end of 2009 statistics provided by the United States Department of Justice showed that over one million six hundred people were behind bars; that is roughly around 33% of the population or one out of one hundred  adults. On top of increasing inmate violence and rising crime rates the cost to house these inmates is crippling our economy. (http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov)

The first step in fixing the problem is to find out what exactly is causing the over-crowding in the first place. The largest problem seems to be the increased rate of offenders who are released and then are returned because they violated a condition of their parole. In fact according to an online article written by Common Sense for Drug Policy, over 85% of inmates that are released on some type of probation or community action condition violates the terms of their parole and is returned. Why is the early release policy not working and what can be done to improve the policy? Well unfortunately not much; while this is a good idea in theory, it needs to be modified so that a judge can examine each individual and rather than applying the early release program to all offenders, administer it on a case by case basis.

Another problem is the three strike rule that federal government has implemented. The three strike rule requires state courts to hand down mandatory extended sentences to criminals who have been convicted of equal or greater offences more than three times. Adding to this confusion is the fact that laws are always changing and the type of crime may also change as well. Also any felony can be included in three strike rule ranging from shoplifting to fraud and sentencing can range from 25 years to life.

So let’s say that someone who is a chronic shoplifter is caught on three separate incidents falls under the three strike rule and is sentenced to 20 years. This sounds reasonable and fair right? At first glance it does seem like the correct course of action however lets reexamine the case and dig a little deeper.

This individual shoplifts not because they do not have money or they like to steal but because of an addiction that can be treated.  A closer investigation reveals that this individual is an average

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