Richard Gunderman in The Atlantic, “The Incarceration Epidemic”:

The U.S. incarceration rate has more than quadrupled since 1980. It’s now the highest in the world, just ahead of Russia and Rwanda. It is estimated that approximately 2.3 million Americans are now behind bars. This is about one-fourth of all the incarcerated people on Earth, though the U.S. represents only one-twentieth of the world’s population. When the figures for those under probation and parole are added, about 1 in 18 U.S. men is under some form of monitoring or control. The figure for blacks is 1 in 11.

This is not the first time I’ve seen articles about this topic. It’s a problem that’s been on the rise for as long as I can remember[1. California’s prison crisis has gotten so bad it’s cutting into the state’s higher education budget. It’s a big reason they’re turning to private providers like Udacity for courses, despite the cost of actually “educating” students not being the real problem.]. The Rockefeller Drug Laws were passed in 1978, so this is really a long time coming.

However, it doesn’t really seem like there’s a whole happening to counter-act the issue. It’s far easier, politically, to be “tough on crime” than smart on crime, so sentence guidelines get stricter and the problem gets worse. It least with marijuana laws, it does appear we’re moving forward, but who knows how long that will take before they legalize it at the federal level and stop clamping down on otherwise law-abiding citizens.