My father was incarcerated for seven years on a non-violent drug offense, which has drastically affected my life. If an offender serves any amount of time, it can influence their employment status, housing, and relationships. The more time an individual serves, the more detrimentally these factors could be influenced. My father's choices, which lead him to face felony charges, pulled apart our family and drove him to use and abuse substances upon his release. It is easy for me to see the effects of incarceration because it drastically changed my life. Mass incarceration does not only affect the inmate, it affects everyone in our society. One method of addressing this social problem is to revisit and revise our laws regarding sentencing. It is true the incarceration and crime rate has slowly declined in recent years. This is attributed largely to cuts in funding and policymakers leading the way in making changes to the minimum sentencing laws. This is a large step in the right direction and encourages me to take a more holistic approach to addressing the
My father was incarcerated for seven years on a non-violent drug offense, which has drastically affected my life. If an offender serves any amount of time, it can influence their employment status, housing, and relationships. The more time an individual serves, the more detrimentally these factors could be influenced. My father's choices, which lead him to face felony charges, pulled apart our family and drove him to use and abuse substances upon his release. It is easy for me to see the effects of incarceration because it drastically changed my life. Mass incarceration does not only affect the inmate, it affects everyone in our society. One method of addressing this social problem is to revisit and revise our laws regarding sentencing. It is true the incarceration and crime rate has slowly declined in recent years. This is attributed largely to cuts in funding and policymakers leading the way in making changes to the minimum sentencing laws. This is a large step in the right direction and encourages me to take a more holistic approach to addressing the