Abstract:
The United States—the land of the free—has held the title
for highest incarceration rate of any country in the world for
fifteen consecutive years. Though the United States makes up total prison population. Moreover, the state of Louisiana has the
highest rate of incarceration of any country or U.S. state in the
world, and it imprisons nonviolent offenders at much higher
rates than other southern states. Louisiana’s reliance on
imprisonment to reduce crime has had a disproportionate impact
on minority and indigent communities and cost taxpayers billions
of dollars.
