Guest opinion: U.S. must reform criminal justice system
Originally appeared in: Billings GazetteAmericans make up fewer than one in 20 of the people on Earth, yet our prisons and jails hold about one in five of the world’s prisoners.
That adds up to 2.2 million people behind bars in this country at any one time, costing us $80 billion every year. Meanwhile, 70 million people (about one-third of working age Americans) have some type of criminal record, a burden that prevents many from obtaining a job, a home, or an education.
This level of over-incarceration is staggering — not just because of its sheer size, but because of its sheer senselessness. Mass incarceration does not make us safer. A large number of incarcerated Americans, for instance, are serving long sentences for non-violent drug crimes. Conservatives and progressives alike have consistently pointed out that we would all be better off investing much of that money in our communities: sending young people to great schools, creating economic opportunity for families, and breaking cycles of poverty and broken homes.
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