USA has the highest incarceration rate among developed countries. The incarceration rate has skyrocketed in past few decades, not because of better policing, detection and judicial work, but because of longer, more harsh sentences being imposed even on minor offenses. The American correction system is focus on punishment, instead of reforming prisoners and integrating them back into the society. Private "for profit" prison companies support high incarceration rates and long prison sentences because this improves their profits. Private "for profit" prison firms lobby with politicians to support laws that maximize incarceration rates (and their profits).



