Why are so Many Americans in Prison? Author Michael Stoll on America's Ridiculous Incarceration Rates
HD Download"Every ten or eleven people that you meet, someone is going to either know someone in prison, has been in prison with a record, or you met them and they are going off to prison," says Michael Stoll, co-author of Why are so Many Americans in Prison?
ReasonTV's Tracy Oppenheimer sat down with Stoll to discuss why incarceration rates and associated prison costs in America have exploded in the last few decades, and possible ways to reform the system.
"That increase [in incarceration rates] that we saw, 80 percent of that through our analysis, was driven by policy changes, not by the increased criminality of citizens in the United States," says Stoll. "One of the things that I think needs to be done—and we know that this is politically difficult—is there has to be reform in sentencing."
About 7 minutes.
Edited by Tracy Oppenheimer. Camera by Zach Weissmueller and Sharif Matar.
Scroll down for downloadable versions and subscribe to ReasonTV's YouTube page to receive updates when new videos go live.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?