Compared to the rest of the world, the United States has an anomalous criminal justice system for several reasons. Though only five percent of the global population lives in the US, the country holds twenty-five percent of the global prison population. The US also holds the record for the highest number of prisoners who were children at the time of their arrest but charged and sentenced as adults. The fastest-growing demographic of imprisoned people in the US is women, whose incarcerated population has risen since the 1980s at a rate fifty percent higher than men’s. These dramatic statistics result from a phenomenon known as mass incarcerationthe imprisonment of great swaths of a population that does not correspond to rises in crime levels. In the memoir, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson, what is unique about the American criminal justice system?
Essay Requirements: Three-five pages, research: three outside sources (cited), thesis, MLA format
