Title: America’s Prison System is Flawed | Applied Social Psychology (ASP)
Headings: America’s Prison System is Flawed
America’s Prison System is Flawed
Content: Black men are incarcerated more than white men even though they make up less of the population. Also, five times as many white people use drugs as African-Americans, but black people are imprisoned 10 times more (Lichtenberg, 2016). The third requirement of a good prison system is that similar crimes should be treated similarly, which is clearly not the case in our prisons. Colored people who commit the same crimes are not treated the same way as white people would be. Our prison system has many problems and is in desperate need of reform. Some of these problems include inhumane living conditions, racial bias, and increased risk of reincarceration. We can solve these problems if we meet three requirements of an effective system. Firstly, the punishment has to fit the crime. Secondly, it has to do more harm than good. And, thirdly similar crimes should be sentenced in the same way.