Considering "aboriginals comprise 4.3% of the total Canadian population" (La Prairie, C. 2002), out of that "23% of federal inmates are aboriginal" (La Prairie, C. 2002). Also, only 3% of the total Canadian population is black while 9.5% of federal inmates today are black (an increase of 80% since 2003) (Zinger, I. 2013). Within the past 25 years, a massive amount of literature has been created, documenting the importance of child abuse, poverty, early exposure to substance abuse and other factors of criminal behavior. Findings suggest that individual-centered approaches to crime prevention need to be complemented by community-based approaches (Benson, E. 2003). In other words, without a strong community, potential criminals are created. These criminals are usually small time and come from poor communities with high crime rates. Communities must come together to build a strong foundation for children. To put a halt to this increasing number, these criminals must be extracted from society, and instead of placing them in close quarters with fierce big time criminals (which in turn lights desire for criminal acts), society must educate them. As it is right now, all prisons are doing is setting up its prisoners to come right back into a cell. .
Another overly represented group are psychologically ill people. The mentally ill make up 4% of the American population and account for 15% of state prisoners and 24% of jail inmates (Sweetland, H. 2014). This entire fiasco dates back to the year 1980, where many of the mentally ill who left mental institutions began entering the criminal justice system. This mentally ill plight was ignored by government officials (Benson, E. 2013). They cannot help acting out as they do, people with mental illnesses are 12 times more likely to commit crimes (Sweetland, H. 2014). These people should be sent to institutions rather than being sent to be with serious criminals.