Right so lemme explain what's actually causing this issue in my opinion.

• the private prison industry (and prison industrial complex) in America is immensely powerful and it uses that power to lobby the government for longer sentencing, heavier enforcement, mandatory minimums, etc.

• politicians who want to seem "harsh on crime" pass legislation (often) written by these lobbyists which in turn increase the prison population

• people support these policies because they get whipped up into a frenzy by news cycles highlighting crime. They freel vindictive. They want to see these people suffer for their crimes

Also,

• intentionally high recidivism rates

• the war on drugs

Like yes, we all want to lower crime rates but we've tried being "tough on crime" for decades now and what do we have to show for it? The largest prison population in the world. Countless lives thrown away and families ripped apart to satisfy voters animalistic urge for vengeance and filling the pockets of slimy executives.

Im not gonna lie to you and say crime is up because crime has trended down for a while now but we can do better. We could work on redeeming people who commit crimes. We can address the socioeconomic conditions that pushed them to crime in the first place.

It's easy want to throw someone away for life. It's much harder to see the potential in criminals to improve themselves and their communities and redeem themselves by giving back. I think the former lines the pockets of sleazy executives while the ladder provides much more value and healing to the community