Mayeux agrees with Gopnik’s ideas about incarceration, and she hopes that many people will read his argument. Gopnik strongly believes that America’s criminal-justice system is not properly punishing criminals. He reports that criminals with minor offenses should not be so harshly punished, suggesting that the justice system should eliminate mandatory sentences and that a judge should decide the criminals sentence by using common sense. The author also supports his argument by describing how being in prison is like locking oneself into their bathroom and living there for the next ten years, and by pointing out that in prisons, “more than seventy thousand prisoners are raped each year” (Gopnik). Clearly Gopnik is trying to get as much attention on the …show more content…
Mayeux also hopes that there will be a large audience reading Gopnik’s argument. Mayeux expresses her feelings of Gopnik’s writing, stating that she is delighted to know that society is becoming more aware of the incarceration. However, Mayeux does mention that people already know the facts Gopnik provides, insisting, “nothing Gopnik says is news to anyone who already follows these issues.” That being said, she still agrees with Gopnik’s ideas and is glad that other people who were not aware of the mass incarceration problem are more informed about the issue.
Although Mayeux agrees with Gopnik’s ideas about incarceration, Mayeux disagrees with the comparisons of incarceration to slavery in the nineteenth century. In Gopnik’s article, he compares nineteenth century historical events such as slavery to America’s prison system. Gopnik blames these