Nadia Keating

Mrs. Wines

Comp 1

March 17, 2021

Over-incarceration has been shown in so many things that many people in this world

have seen. Mostly in movies or documentaries. Most people don’t understand the real definition

of over-incarceration and what it means. Over-incarceration is when you are punished in jail for

longer than what your crime deserves. An example of this is having marijuana on hand. Getting

20 years in prison for having marijuana on you is being over-incarcerated. During the Nixon, era

is when over-incarceration increased due to the “War on Drugs” (Heath 2021). Drugs have been

This essay is to show awareness towards people who are incarcerated for an extended period of

time and to show the effect it has on them. Not only the individuals who are incarcerated but also

the judges or people who have to sentence them to these types of situations.

For this topic, I constructed a survey and sent it to many individuals, and the results came

back from the survey with honest answers. The survey was formed to present to different

individuals, to respond honestly about how they felt towards over-incarceration, and certain

questions dealing with prisons, race, and legislatures. In my survey, the most answered were by

16-18-year-olds. One of the questions asked in my survey was “Do you think over-incarceration

affected your mental health” and 100% of the individuals who answered this question selected

yes for that question. (Over-incarceration 2021) The reasoning behind asking this question was

to show how being in prison longer than what your crime deserves can really affect your mind

and your way of thinking towards certain situations emotionally. Another question that stood out
to me was “What race do you think is impacted the most.” I feel this question is a big one

because in our world today race has been a big aspect of many things in the criminal justice

system. Looking at the results from this question, I made it an open answer question so any race

that the person taking the survey felt they put down. There were no options listed. 7 out of the 11

people who answered this question felt people of color were the ones who were impacted the

most by over-incarceration. (Over- Incarceration 2021) This I strongly agree with considering

most of the sentences happening during this time have had some sort of racial. Another response

that came through was “I think all races are treated equally.” (Over-Incarceration 2021). This

one stood out to me the most because most people would strongly disagree with this, especially

since the BLM movements came out more. Overall, I feel this survey was a good way of helping

the individuals who took this survey understand a little more about over-incarceration and what

maybe they didn’t know.

An interview was also conducted and questions were answered by Judge Heath of the

Stark County Court of Common Pleas. Questions of the same type were asked to him but in a

more advanced form to get better information. After reviewing the answers that came back from

the interview Heath gave his definition of over-incarceration as “Over-incarceration is the

disproportionate sentencing and incarceration of individuals particularly African-American men,

for crimes that do not necessarily warrant incarceration.” (Heath 2021) How you feel about

over-incarceration is based on experiences or if you have known anyone who has been sentenced

longer than what it should have been. A question was asked to Heath stating, “What if any

experiences have you had with over-incarceration.” His answer was “I have been required to

impose some mandatory sentences with which I did not agree. I have attempted to utilize all

treatment options in our community before resorting to incarceration” (Heath 2021) No one
wants to be forced to sentence someone to something they don’t agree with and that has seemed

to be one of the hardest things for judges, especially during this time where drugs are being used

more. One question that was asked to judge Heath was, “Do you believe over-incarceration is a

local issue or a national issue, and why?” His response to this question was “It is both a local and

national issue although some states are worse than others. This is just based on my review of

statistical data.” (Heath 2021) This answer to me is the best answer you could give to this

question. The reasoning behind why this is the best answer is, not every place is the same. Some

cities or states may have different data to which is worse, national or local. Some states and cities

are bigger than others, which means more or less population compared to others. Judge Heath

also described how he felt over-incarceration was a political statement because it was “instituted

to create fear” (Heath 2021). This seems to be very true because anyone who hears of

over-incarceration automatically thinks of being in jail for an excessive amount of time.

In conclusion, there are essentially three things affecting incarceration. Race, legislation,

mentally, and history. Going off of these three things and how they have affected incarceration

the most, interviewing judge Heath and getting responses from people who were not very

familiar with over-incarceration could help anyone reading this essay understand more about

over-incarceration and how it can make someone feel.

Work Cited

Heath, Judge. Personal interview. Data conducted. 11 March 2021

Keating, Nadia. “Over-Incarceration”. Canton South High School, 11 March 2021