The US justice system is absolutely broken
The US has the highest incarceration rate of any developed country, and until about the last decade had the highest rate among all countries.
The system sets people up for failure.
Cash bail criminalizes poverty, and poor defendants end up sitting in jail for weeks and months waiting for a trial, even when innocent. Prosecutors have disproportionately high and virtually unchecked power. They often use stall tactics to coerce poor defendants into taking plea deals, even when innocent. Over 95% of cases end in plea deals, and judges pretty much always accept plea deals without even questioning their fairness. Prosecutors also often threaten much worse charges if the defendant doesn’t take the plea deal, and have the legal power to do so no matter how ridiculous and disproportionate the charge is. They rarely face consequences for unethical behavior, even when caught outright withholding evidence, coercing plea deals, or delaying trials to apply pressure. They have near absolute immunity to lawsuits related to their official conduct.
The 6th amendment is practically ignored. Many states allow months to a year or more before a case is brought to trial for detained people. There aren’t nearly enough judges or public defenders. Defendants with often wait months in jail before they even get the opportunity to have a long conversation with their attorney.
Minimum sentences for even nonviolent offenses leave no room for context or judge discretion. They’re imposed by lawmakers to appear “tough on crime,” but this just leads to prosecutors manipulating charges to enforce longer minimums, often part of their plea deal coercion tactics.
Three strikes laws put people convicted of minor felonies in prison for decades, often 25 years to life.
Recidivism rates in the US are incredibly high. 70% of people are re-arrested within the following 3 years of getting out. Compare that to just 20% in Norway, where they focus on rehabilitation instead of punishment.
US prison conditions are horrific. They’re overcrowded, forcing many inmates to sleep on floors, be forced into crowded cells and areas meant for less people, leading to increased inter-inmate violence due to stress. Abuse by staff is rampant, and medical needs are often not met or completely denied. Sexual violence from both inmates and staff are a major issue.
Prisons are absolutely filthy and completely unsanitary (broken toilets, mold, infestations, inedible food, rats and roaches), and basic hygiene products often cost prisoners money they don’t have. Prisoners are forced to pay for their basic needs such as soap, phone calls, medical visits, feminine hygiene products. Many are earning only 10¢ to 50¢ an hour (or absolutely nothing) for prison labor.
Mental health is completely neglected, and inmates with mental illnesses are often punished for having symptoms (self-harm, outbursts). Suicide and self-injury are rampant, especially in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement causes permanent psychological damage, especially among youth and the mentally ill, and prisoners can spend weeks, months, or even years, locked in a tiny cell 23 hours a day. The UN considers long solitary confinement a form of torture.
The prison industrial complex and the existence of private prisons result in politicians being lobbied to pass laws that make these conditions worse, because private prisons profit off of mass incarceration and their prisons being at max capacity.
This took me a long ass time to write, but the topic makes me absolutely livid. It is outrageous that in a developed nation that people can be treated with such cruelty, so inhumanly.
I think the reason things don’t change is that people are either blissfully unaware how horrific it is, or write it off as deserved punishment for those who break the law. To those people I say this: it doesn’t matter if someone is a rapist or a murderer, or if they’re simply addicts who got caught for possession of drugs they use to self medicate for their depression and anxiety, or if they’re some dumb 19 year old who was peer pressured into shoplifting one day. They all end up in the same damn place, under the same conditions, with the same malicious treatment from other inmates and staff. Jails can often be just as bad or worse, and we all know it’s not just the guilty in there.
Something needs to be done to fix this. There are so many things we could be doing better but we just don’t and frankly it’s pathetic and sad. If I could snap my fingers and fix it myself I would without hesitation.
The system sets people up for failure.
Cash bail criminalizes poverty, and poor defendants end up sitting in jail for weeks and months waiting for a trial, even when innocent. Prosecutors have disproportionately high and virtually unchecked power. They often use stall tactics to coerce poor defendants into taking plea deals, even when innocent. Over 95% of cases end in plea deals, and judges pretty much always accept plea deals without even questioning their fairness. Prosecutors also often threaten much worse charges if the defendant doesn’t take the plea deal, and have the legal power to do so no matter how ridiculous and disproportionate the charge is. They rarely face consequences for unethical behavior, even when caught outright withholding evidence, coercing plea deals, or delaying trials to apply pressure. They have near absolute immunity to lawsuits related to their official conduct.
The 6th amendment is practically ignored. Many states allow months to a year or more before a case is brought to trial for detained people. There aren’t nearly enough judges or public defenders. Defendants with often wait months in jail before they even get the opportunity to have a long conversation with their attorney.
Minimum sentences for even nonviolent offenses leave no room for context or judge discretion. They’re imposed by lawmakers to appear “tough on crime,” but this just leads to prosecutors manipulating charges to enforce longer minimums, often part of their plea deal coercion tactics.
Three strikes laws put people convicted of minor felonies in prison for decades, often 25 years to life.
Recidivism rates in the US are incredibly high. 70% of people are re-arrested within the following 3 years of getting out. Compare that to just 20% in Norway, where they focus on rehabilitation instead of punishment.
US prison conditions are horrific. They’re overcrowded, forcing many inmates to sleep on floors, be forced into crowded cells and areas meant for less people, leading to increased inter-inmate violence due to stress. Abuse by staff is rampant, and medical needs are often not met or completely denied. Sexual violence from both inmates and staff are a major issue.
Prisons are absolutely filthy and completely unsanitary (broken toilets, mold, infestations, inedible food, rats and roaches), and basic hygiene products often cost prisoners money they don’t have. Prisoners are forced to pay for their basic needs such as soap, phone calls, medical visits, feminine hygiene products. Many are earning only 10¢ to 50¢ an hour (or absolutely nothing) for prison labor.
Mental health is completely neglected, and inmates with mental illnesses are often punished for having symptoms (self-harm, outbursts). Suicide and self-injury are rampant, especially in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement causes permanent psychological damage, especially among youth and the mentally ill, and prisoners can spend weeks, months, or even years, locked in a tiny cell 23 hours a day. The UN considers long solitary confinement a form of torture.
The prison industrial complex and the existence of private prisons result in politicians being lobbied to pass laws that make these conditions worse, because private prisons profit off of mass incarceration and their prisons being at max capacity.
This took me a long ass time to write, but the topic makes me absolutely livid. It is outrageous that in a developed nation that people can be treated with such cruelty, so inhumanly.
I think the reason things don’t change is that people are either blissfully unaware how horrific it is, or write it off as deserved punishment for those who break the law. To those people I say this: it doesn’t matter if someone is a rapist or a murderer, or if they’re simply addicts who got caught for possession of drugs they use to self medicate for their depression and anxiety, or if they’re some dumb 19 year old who was peer pressured into shoplifting one day. They all end up in the same damn place, under the same conditions, with the same malicious treatment from other inmates and staff. Jails can often be just as bad or worse, and we all know it’s not just the guilty in there.
Something needs to be done to fix this. There are so many things we could be doing better but we just don’t and frankly it’s pathetic and sad. If I could snap my fingers and fix it myself I would without hesitation.
