The differences between Americas mass incarceration rates compared to Research Paper

The differences between Americas mass incarceration rates compared to one other country - Research Paper Example This essay compares US and Canada incarceration rate and the costs, in an attempt to provide viable recommendation on how the government should conduct its incarceration. Incarceration refers to the arrest of suspected criminals before their conviction and to confine them from the public. Incarceration in US was started as a security measure that aimed at safeguarding the public from potential criminals. The US imprisons many types of criminals including drug offenders and non-violent offenders. This situation is different in Canada as the government imprisons only those with high risk of violence. Statistics shows that the US has five times higher the rate of incarceration as compared to Canada. Approximately, the US incarcerates about 750 people per every 100 thousand which is much than the rate Canada which about 117 people per every 100 thousand individuals. In total, there are about 1.6 million prisoners in America. 90% of the prisoners in the US comprise young males at the age bracket of 20 to 30 years. In Canada, 70% of males of young age are in prison, and the rest is composed of women. By race, the percentage of blacks and Latinos in prison is much higher than that of the whites. Per every 100 thousand people in US, 3,074 blacks, 1258 Latinos are imprisoned while only 459 whites are victims (Cox, 2012). This is different in Canada where the ratio of whites to blacks in prison is fairly balanced. From the statistics, it is clear that the incarceration rate is much higher in US and more biased than the case in Canada. Evidently, the US spends a lot in maintaining their prisons as compared to Canada. Many scholars have come up to criticize the hefty spending of the US in maintaining prisons. The average cost of maintaining a prisoner is between $20 thousand and $30 thousand each year. Canada prisoner maintenance cost is much lower by 30%, which ensure that the nation spends little on incarceration. This shows that the US