Prison

Overcrowding
BY: JUSTIN FORBES

Facts
2004: 2.2 million incarcerated in the U.S.
About 8 times that of 1975

Prisons are at about 99% capacity in the United States alone.

5% of the prison population is sent to life without possibility of parole.
95% of all prison admissions are released and 80% are released on parole or
some other after-prison supervision program.

Facts Continued
2003: thirty-nine states faced budget gaps, and in 20 of those states the
gaps were over 10% of the general fund budget.
This means the states must cut programs or departments (such as corrections).

Case Study #1
In 1993, a 12-year old girl named Polly Klaas was abducted from her home in
Petaluma, California during a slumber party with her friends. The abductor,
named Richard Davis, raped and killed Polly and then dumped her body like a
piece of trash. You know what the sad thing was? Richard Davis was a
CONVICTED sex offender who got out of prison because of good behavior
and was put on parole.

Case Study #2
In 1994, Megan Kanka was walking around in her neighborhood when a twiceconvicted child molester lured her into his house, which was in the same
neighborhood as her. He told her that he had a puppy he wanted to give her
and, once inside the house, he proceeded to molest and kill her. This man
(whom I dont have his name) was also on parole at the time of this terrible
incident.

Case Study #3
In 1997, a nursing student in Albany, New York. She was walking home one
night by herself and was murdered by parolee out on good behavior once
again. He was previously convicted of a violent crime (I dont know the exact
crime) and was out on parole.

Aftermath of the Case Studies

1994: Californians enacted a law three strikes law which requires
that once a person gets charged with their third felony
conviction, they must get sentenced to life in prison no matter
which felony it is.
1996: President Bill Clinton signed into federal law Megans Law,
which required communities be notified when sex offenders
return to their neighborhoods.
1998: the governor of New York (George Pataki) signed Jennas
Law into effect, which ended discretionary release on parole. This
basically means that anyone who is convicted of a violent felony
cannot be released early on parole in New York.

Solution
We need to stop spending money on the corrections and prisons
and parole and instead spend more money on education, child
development programs, and even community development
programs.
If we spend money toward child therapists and they talk about
something that is going on at home, we can put the true
monsters away forever: the parents who hurt their own children.

Works Cited (in order)

Jacobson, Michael.Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime and End Mass
Incarceration. New York and London: New York University Press, 2005. Print.
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/binah/polly.html
http://thedevilandthedeathpenalty.com/richard-allen-davis-three-strikes-killer/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2707602/We-sacrificed-lot-hopefully-s
ave-lot-Parents-girl-inspired-Megans-Law-tell-grief-just-strong-20-years-rape
-murder-hands-convicted-sex-offender.html
http://murderpedia.org/male.T/t/timmendequas.htm
http://www.erikkonsmo.com/403/worship-the-creator-not-the-creation/four-hap
py-children/