User:Sarralaneamon/sandbox

As of October 2015, the United States has the second highest incarceration rate in the world with 698 per 100,000 population. Compared to other locations, 55% of countries and territories have prison rates lower than 155 per 100,000 population. The average cost of incarceration rose to $31,977.65 in 2015.

The war on drugs and longer prison sentences
Beginning in the Nixon administration, the war on drugs resulted in stricter drug laws including longer prison sentences for drug use and possession. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that the drug offender population in federal prisons rose by 63% from 1998 to 2012 and they accounted for 52% of federal prisoners by 2012. 35% of these drug offenders were not reoffenders or had minimal criminal backgrounds.

In relation, mandatory minimum penalties have contributed to mass incarceration. The United States Sentencing Commission found that in 2016, 67.3% of offenders charged of a crime with a mandatory minimum penalty were convicted of a drug offense. The Commission also found that in 2016, the average sentence length was 110 months in prison compared to 28 months for those charged of a crime with no mandatory minimum penalty.