This isn't "Orange is the New Black"

The criminal justice system has shifted from one that seeks to protect the community to one that amplifies and over-criminalizes every minor offense. Imprisoning millions of people at the maximum sentence is neither socially nor fiscally responsible, and we are witnessing the direct ramifications of such decisions. 

Americans undoubtedly have a bizarre obsession with crime. With the rise of shows like Criminal Minds and Making a Murder, the slew of crime documentaries, and the disturbing romanticization of serial killers such as Ted Bundy, crime is consuming modern pop culture. With this, however, viewers watch a dramatized and somewhat fictional version of the world of crime and translate it to real-world cases. The reality is that crime isn’t a clear-cut, black and white situation by any means. But crime television forces us to adopt a mentality of protagonist vs. antagonist, in which we designate the incarcerated as villains and law enforcers as heroes. This is dangerous because it shuns and scorns convicts (regardless of whether they are guilty are not) and glorifies cops and the justice system, thus awarding them with far too much trust. We rarely question their jurisdiction because we expect them to always function the way they are intended to, though they clearly do not.

The criminal justice system is structured specifically to trap the guilty and incarcerated in a cycle of crime. The lifelong stigmas attached to having a criminal record and being forced to check the box on job applications confirming your imprisonment hinder the previously imprisoned from returning to a conventional life. When released from prison, individuals are spat out from a system that essentially brands them with a scarlet letter and inflicts crushing psychological damage. They are then expected to return to a world of suits, stocks, and briefcases while living in a society that fears and turns its nose up to the incarcerated. 

From a psychological standpoint, the current prison system is immensely destructive. When one’s supposed guiltiness determines their future and defines their entire identity, they will adopt a criminal mentality due to the fact that they are trapped in an environment and surrounded by people that reiterate their criminality. Even those who have been wrongly convicted become a victim of this system, which effectively convinces the innocent that they are in fact guilty. Being put on trial and sentenced to serve time in prison is an atrociously dehumanizing experience. One loses his or her multifaceted identity in favor of demeaning, one-dimensional rhetoric that is intended to encapsulate their entire identity. Instead of being a brother, a niece, a father, convicts are labeled as criminals, thugs, and gangsters who are treated with no regard for human dignity.

The U.S., though we pride ourselves on our advanced human rights policies, remains one of the largest practicers of and one of the only 56 countries that still utilize capital punishment. In 2018, 25 Americans were executed and over 2,700 prisoners are on death row, not all of which are guilty. Due to the discrepancies in the judicial system, 1 out of every 9 death row inmates has been proven to be innocent (and there are likely more who have not been given the opportunity of a retrial), an atrocious number that indicates another instance of the  U.S.’s senseless murder of innocent civilians. Arguments for the death penalty tend to go along the lines of “an eye for an eye,” but this logic must be called into question. Besides prioritizing the desire for vengeance over that for justice, the execution of convicts does not provide a solution by any means. Electrocuting or lethally injecting a death row inmate does not undo the crime committed, it merely temporarily satisfies community members’ somewhat primitive craving for retribution. Momentary relief is not worth violating prisoners’ humanity. To truly lower the rates of serious offenses, the government needs to address the root causes of crime (mental health, education, housing, foster care system, etc.).

The federal government approaches the prison system as an industry, a standpoint that forces the rate of incarceration to increase because when prisons are built, they have to be filled. Consequently, America’s public spending structure is severely warped. 15 U.S. states spend $27,000 more per prisoner than they do per public school student, directly reinforcing the school-to-prison pipeline. This increases crime rates, which is rather counterproductive to the “purpose” of prisons. While the presence of prisons in America contributes to the economy by adding significant numbers of jobs, it is morally irresponsible to profit off of mass incarceration while turning a blind eye to the lack of quality education.

Furthermore, taxpayers spend $80 billion on prisons annually, compared to the $6.9 billion spent on the entire justice system in 1980. While it is impossible to place a price tag on justice, the prison system imprisons copious amounts of people simply to fill the prisons and to support the prison industry. Draining public funds and taxpayer money for this agenda is a tremendous disservice to American society as a whole because the money spent on prisons/prisoners themselves forces the deprioritization of other funds such as federal prosecutors and public defenders, both of which aim to achieve justice far more effectively than mass incarceration does. The U.S. must stop spending such copious amounts of money to minimize the presence of justice and bolster the cycle of crime. 

To tackle other issues that we consider to be plagues to our society - mental health, poverty, drug abuse, etc. - the defects in the justice system need to be addressed. Prison cells are not to be treated as lists to be filled in which inmates can be stripped of all humanity. The criminal justice system’s intent must be to protect the broader community, not worsen its condition.