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Mass Incarceration in the US

2014-04-04 · explainer · Hank · 3:41 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: heavy topic, guest or collab

Hank argues that US mass incarceration is a cruel, costly, short-sighted failed experiment: America is good at punishment but neglects corrections, though today's prisoners are tomorrow's neighbors.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Visually asks Hank to pick any issue for an animated video; he picks incarceration in America

  • ★★ Hank says the company Visually asked him to pick any issue for a high-quality animated video; he chose incarceration in America because it is messed up. — 00:00:02 · United States

00:00:19 — Purposes of prison (punishment, corrections, deterrence); today's prisoners are tomorrow's neighbors, so corrections should matter most

  • ★★ Hank says crime is also messed up: bad things happen to good people, and something should be done about it. — 00:00:19
  • ★★ Hank says prison serves to punish, to prevent reoffending and to deter others: punishment, corrections and deterrence. — 00:00:25
  • ★★ Hank says millions of prisoners are released each year, so prisoners are not external to society. — 00:00:47

  • ★★★ Hank argues that because today's prisoners are tomorrow's neighbors, corrections should be the most important part of incarceration, but it is not. (hedged) — 00:00:47

    “today's prisoners are tomorrow's neighbors”

00:01:01 — The US is good at punishment: incarceration statistics, child life sentences, solitary confinement

  • ★★★ Hank says the US, 'really good at punishment', has about 4% of the world's people and about 25% of its incarcerated people. — 00:01:01 · United States
  • ★★★ Hank says the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world, up over 400% over the last 30 years. — 00:01:10 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says 41% of American juveniles and young adults have been arrested by age 23. — 00:01:17 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says children as young as 13 have been sentenced to die in prison, and US prisons violate international standards. — 00:01:22 · United States
  • ★★★ Hank says solitary confinement increases instability and violence, is torture under international law, yet in the US is regulated only by prison officials, with no appeals. — 00:01:30 · United States
  • ★★ Hank calls solitary confinement arguably the most devastating punishment the US uses, yet one with no appeals process. (hedged) — 00:01:42 · United States

00:01:49 — After release: job barriers, ineligibility for benefits, recidivism, homelessness, suicide

  • ★★★ Hank says the US deliberately makes it harder to get a job with a conviction; convicts are ineligible for welfare, student loans, public housing and food stamps. — 00:01:49 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says former convicts, often cut off from community and family support, have high recidivism and very high rates of homelessness and suicide. — 00:02:01

00:02:10 — Tough on crime is not tough on criminals: costs, limited effect on crime, 'wars on people', a $75 billion failed experiment

  • ★★★ Hank says the US came to think being tough on crime meant being tough on criminals, but they are not the same thing. — 00:02:10 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says punishment is one expensive piece of crime reduction, with some institutions paying more than $100,000 per prisoner per year. — 00:02:18
  • ★★★ Hank says long sentences helped decrease crime, but no more than 25% of the decrease can be attributed to incarceration. — 00:02:29
  • ★★ Hank says the cost goes beyond dollars, to people, communities and families; the policy seems to be giving up on anyone who has committed a felony. (hedged) — 00:02:38

  • ★★★ Hank says the wars on crime and on drugs are wars on people. — 00:02:47

    “These wars on crime, wars on drugs, they are wars on people”

  • ★★★ Hank says politicians appeared tough on crime by raising minimum sentences, arresting and imprisoning more people; the results show it is cruel, short-sighted bad policy and continuing would be foolish. — 00:02:51

  • ★★★ Hank calls US incarceration a massive $75-billion-a-year failed experiment. — 00:03:10
  • ★★★ Hank says 2010 was the first year in nearly 40 years that the US incarcerated population did not increase; policymakers are starting to see the failure, but there is a long way to go. — 00:03:16 · United States

00:03:30 — Sign-off

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description thanks Visually for facilitating the video, Kurzgesagt for the animation and the Prison Policy Initiative for research and fact-checking. — video description
  • ★★★ Hank writes that America's 40-year policy of mass incarceration is deeply unethical, not very effective, and secures the few at the expense of the many. (hedged) — video description · United States
  • ★★ Hank writes that, as someone born into privilege, he finds it hard to imagine the challenges convicted criminals face, often for utterly non-violent crimes. — video description
  • ★★★ Hank says he made the video mostly as an informational resource and to encourage people to think of felons not as bad, scary people but just as people. — video description
  • ★★ Hank says the Prison Policy Initiative was very helpful in making the video and points viewers there to learn about its work and how to get involved. — video description

Threads in this video

  • restate · Is mass incarceration justified? — Hank: US mass incarceration is bad, cruel and short-sighted policy, a $75-billion-a-year failed experiment; 'tough on crime' is not the same as tough on criminals. (00:03:00)

Mentioned

Central: mass incarceration · United States

Also: torture · War on drugs

Only in the description or credits: Kurzgesagt · Prison Policy Initiative · Visually

Also centred on mass incarceration: I Don't Even Know

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