The Pros And Cons Of Prison Incarceration

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Around 14 million arrests were documented in 2009 for all crimes and only 4 percent of those were for crimes considered serious and violent(Solomon). 4 percent of the 14 million people arrested were arrested for serious violent crimes meaning that the other 96 percent were arrested for reasons not as awful as the others. The other 96 percent may have committed a crime that causes problems for the community, but most of these people are likely first time offenders of minor crimes. Small time and first time offenders deserve a second chance because severe punishment destroys permanent records and people's’ lives and prison is very expensive. In many cases people who have committed a crime and were offered a second chance have returned to society …show more content…
The minimum security level prisons cost twenty one thousand dollars per inmate per year (La Vigne and Samuels). Low security prisons cost just over twenty five thousand dollars per inmate per year (La Vigne and Samuels). The cost of medium security prisons ate about twenty six thousand dollars per prisoner per year (La Vigne and Samuels). High security prisons cost almost ten thousand dollars more at thirty four thousand dollars per prisoner per year (La Vigne and Samuels). These costs are something that have to be considered at trials and sentencing hearings by judges and justices. The budget of the bureau of Prisons is 6,900,000,000 dollars per year, which is twenty five percent of the Justice Department’s budget. The United States spends infinitely more money imprisoning people rather than educating them. No state spends more than twenty thousand dollars per student per year which is over five thousand dollars less than the cost of a minimum security prison. The money that would be used to imprison someone at a minimum security prison could be used to give a minor criminal an education and second chance at life. Overall, minor first time criminals should be offered a second chance at life because a prison sentence is expensive for the country and destructive to a person's aspirations in
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