Sen. Tom Cotton claims the United States is not jailing enough people as experts see an increase in crime paired with a drop in incarceration rates.
Despite mounting bipartisan support for criminal justice reform measures, the Arkansas Republican argued the U.S. has an “under-incarceration problem,” linking to a CNN article to bolster his position. As several measures, including eliminating cash bond and legalizing marijuana, recently passed in some states, Cotton argued the incarceration issue will get worse.
“We have a major under-incarceration problem in America. And it’s only getting worse,” Cotton tweeted on Tuesday.
We have a major under-incarceration problem in America.
And it’s only getting worse. https://t.co/guYdE7aHdb
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) April 6, 2021
The CNN article accompanying the tweet cited a report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association revealing major metropolises throughout the nation saw a 33% increase in homicides, and 63 of the 66 largest police jurisdictions suffered increases in at least one category of violent crimes in 2020.
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Cotton’s comments attracted swift backlash on Twitter, with many users arguing that Cotton, Trump, or other members of the GOP deserved prison sentences for various alleged crimes.
That’s true, Trump did pardon a lot of his criminal conspirators
— Ned Pyle (@NerdPyle) April 6, 2021
Yeah, we do. You should be in jail. For sedition.#GOPLiesAboutEverything pic.twitter.com/Wxs2mMINqR
— Greg “Wear Your Mask” Proops (@GregProops) April 6, 2021
I mean, we all know that Tom Cotton is a blood-thirsty fascist.
But to say that we have an “under-incarceration problem” is absolutely deranged even by his usual sociopathic standards. https://t.co/HDSh8DVBnp
— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) April 6, 2021
Tom Cotton has bad opinions and is a bad person. https://t.co/KrPL65TAYR
— Eliza Orlins (@elizaorlins) April 6, 2021
This is egregious and racist, but Tom Cotton also called slavery a “necessary evil” so it’s not shocking.
We have a wealth inequality problem in America. https://t.co/wQaFsOCQTR
— Ohio Warren Dems (@PersistOhio) April 6, 2021
CNN: “Its impossible to attribute any single reason.”
Bootlicking elitist treason-weasel Tom Cotton: “We haven’t made enough people felons who will struggle to earn a livable wage for the rest of their lives.” pic.twitter.com/fmhKh4YnZY
— Michael Drake (@mikedrake178) April 6, 2021
The most recently available data suggest rates of imprisonment are falling. The combined state and federal imprisonment rate of 419 sentenced prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents in 2019 was the lowest imprisonment rate since 1995, the Bureau of Justice Statistics announced in October 2020. Across the decade from 2009 to 2019, the imprisonment rate fell 29% among black residents, 24% among Hispanic residents, and 12% among white residents, and in 2019, the imprisonment rate of black residents reached its lowest level since 1989.
The U.S. criminal justice system holds almost 2.3 million people in 1,833 state prisons, 110 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,134 local jails, 218 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian Country jails, as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative advocating against mass criminalization.
Despite political tensions, there has been a bipartisan appetite for criminal justice reform in recent years. Former President Donald Trump oversaw the enactment of the First Step Act, a bipartisan law that cut recidivism and urged reforms in federal prisons, and he commuted the sentences of several prisoners accused of nonviolent offenses, such as Alice Marie Johnson, who was sentenced to life in prison plus 25 years in 1996 for her involvement in a nonviolent drug conspiracy.
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President Joe Biden also made criminal justice reform a key objective of the start of his administration. On Jan. 28, he signed an executive order directing the Department of Justice to phase out the use of private prisons, a move which he called the “first step to stop corporations from profiteering” off prisoners.
Democrats at the local level have followed suit, moving toward implementing criminal justice reforms in their own states. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed House Bill 3653, meant to reshape criminal justice and policing, into law in Illinois. States such as New York and New Jersey have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. New York’s reform also expunged some current and past marijuana possession convictions, a major victory for advocates of criminal justice reform.
