According to the New York Times, “The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.” Let's face it, the United States imprisons far too many people, for three main reasons: harsher sentences for drug crimes, lack of resources for prisoners, and racial profiling. The first reason why imprisonment rates in the United States are too high is harsher penalties for drug crimes. In the early 1980s, large quantities of cocaine were shipped to the United States. What happened was that drug traffickers extracted a powder from the leaves of the Coca plant and turned it into a smokable powder. This resulted in a massive “crack epidemic” which led to a crackdown on drug traffickers. It has also led to harsher penalties for drug crimes. What the United States should do is lower the sentencing standards for drug crimes. However, drug offenders still need to be sentenced. The United States should lower the maximum sentence for drug crimes because according to www.drugwarfacts.org: “As of December 31, 2012, there were 196,574 prisoners sentenced under federal jurisdiction. Of these, 99,426 were serving sentences for drug offenses. This means that half of the people incarcerated in 2012 were for drug offenses, and a good way to reduce this figure would be to reduce the maximum sentence for drug crimes. This is the first reason why imprisonment in the United States is too high. The second reason why imprisonment in the United States is too high is prisoners' lack of resources. Often a person can rob someone, well, because they're a grade 12 dropout, who barely has enough money to get by. What do you think will happen if you put a 12th grade dropout with no money in the middle of a paper...... February 2014. Tsai, Tyjen and Paola Scommegna. “The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.” The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Np, and Web. February 24, 2014. “Incarceration Rates in the United States.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, February 22, 2014. Web. February 24, 2014.Western, Bruce and Becky Pettit. “Downsides of America’s Prison Boom: A Scholar’s ​​Research Brief.” RSS resource for journalists. Np, February 20, 2014. Web. February 24, 2014. “Incarceration in the United States.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, February 24, 2014. Web. February 24. 2014.