As crime rates continue to serve as a hot-button political issue, campaigners have increasingly held a "get tough on crime" stand. While attempting to take a bite out of crime has become a bipartisan pastime, America's prisons have filled with more than murderers, rapists, and violent gang members.

According to The Economist, there are currently approximately 200,000 inmates over the age of 50; this is roughly the total number of prisoners of all ages in 1970.

If you or anyone in your family is arrested, it is important that you are read your rights. You are entitled to hear your Miranda Rights by law.

The police must advise suspects of their "Miranda Rights" - their right to remain silent, their right to an attorney, and the right to an appointed attorney if they are unable to afford counsel - prior to conducting a custodial interrogation.