Premium Essay

Criminal Justice Reform

Submitted By
Words 1581
Pages 7
The future of the US Criminal Justice System considering current affairs is influenced by various injustices and disparities. The U.S. Criminal Justice System is mainly influenced by the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights. The assumption of innocence, due process of law, double jeopardy, mass incarceration, inequity and gun law disparities to name a few are constantly at odds with current affairs. The U.S. Constitution shapes the U.S. Criminal Justice System with rights and due process for all citizens. The US Criminal Justice System is currently faced with challenges of prison overcrowding, mental health, drug offenses, inequity and gun violence. American society keeps asking for changes to be made to each part of the system. Changes and the …show more content…
Pre-trial reform is a way of reducing unnecessary non-violent offenders being incarcerated and reducing prison overcrowding. Non-violent offenders can remain free of incarceration to participate in diversion and rehabilitation programs while maintaining employment to reduce the likelihood of recidivism. Reforms to the US Criminal Justice System considering current affairs should include a reevaluation of sentencing laws to cut down on prison overcrowding. Community reintegration support is a key factor in reducing recidivism and prison overcrowding. Reintegrating back into society after incarceration for offenders can be almost impossible due to legal roadblocks and societal stigmas. Community reintegration support programs give former inmates help to transition back into society after incarceration. Community reintegration support programs entail housing, employment, education, and substance abuse treatment. Reintegration programs can also provide interventions for people with mental health issues. The issue of mental health is a current affair in society but also prevalent in prison with inmates having a very high rate of mental …show more content…
Mental health services and the US Criminal Justice System are headed toward improving mental health rehabilitation programs and supporting former inmates. Reforms to mental health, in my opinion, should include the following: psychological interventions, integrated care and rehabilitation programs. Inmates should have access to psychological interventions, like a psychologist, to help inmates with mental illness. An integrated system should be in place in each correctional facility to identify mental health issues to support inmates during and after incarceration. Rehabilitation programs based on continued care in correctional facilities are an important factor in improving an inmate’s mental health conditions. Society has been asking for changes to be made to accommodate an inmate’s mental health in the US Criminal Justice System. Changes and the potential for the changes to follow include prioritizing mental illness in inmates in healthcare. Mental health care services in prisons and rehabilitation programs supporting former inmates to reintegrate into society are also important to reduce drug abuse and drug

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Criminal Justice Reform Research Paper

...Alexia Mersola Professor Kone Political Science Oct, 24, 2017 Orange is the New Red, White and Blue In America, our criminal justice systems list of duties is to keep communities safe and treat people fairly, regardless of the color of their skin or the size of their bank account. In order for our system to do a good job, it must be cost effective by using our taxpayer dollars and public resources wisely. But our criminal justice system is not doing a good job. It has failed on every account: public safety, fairness and cost effectiveness. So what needs to be reformed? What could be done to lower the amount of those incarcerated and the costs of running a prison system? The answer is quite simple, in order to reform we need to empty...

Words: 713 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Criminal Justice And Sentencing Reform Case Study

...In 2015, after the Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner had attended several Summit of Hope Events which are put on IDOC and Illinois Department of Public Health( IDPH), he signed a executive order to create the Illinois State Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform. “The Illinois State Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform will review of the State of Illinois current criminal justice and sentencing structure, sentencing practices, community supervision, and the use of alternatives to incarceration, including, but not limited to, a review and evaluation of”( Illinois Executive Order 15-14): • “The existing statutory provisions by which an offender is sentenced to or can be released from incarceration; • The existing statutory...

Words: 278 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Criminal Justice Reform

...How to reform? Public interest demands that the criminal cases are concluded within a reasonable time so that those guilty are punished. From the point of view of accused also, the right to speedy trial is a fundamental right. People get impatient and frustrated in the system if at every stage there is delay and the process of justice is not allowed to take its normal course. Further, with the long passage of time, whatever evidence is there, it will vanish or eclipse. Oral evidence which in most of the cases is vital to the prosecution, will take a devious or distorted course. Heavy reliance on oral evidence has telling drawbacks. Hostile witnesses and witnesses with faded memories will be writ large in the system, with the long passage of...

Words: 991 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Sentencing Guidelines

...The Impact of Sentencing Guidelines on the Criminal Justice System Public Safety Capstone Project Our criminal justice system has an obligation to impose fair sentences. The United States Sentencing Commission is the result of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 that had laws created to ensure that sentencing was fair from state to state, and a judge provided proof of that sentencing was indeed black and white. To eliminate the possibility of being unjust, the government became involved in creating guidelines on the punishment that was rendered based on the type or types of crimes an individual committed. Sentencing guidelines were imposed to set the terms that would fit the crime some of the sentencing may be a payment of a fine, community service, incarceration, the death penalty, and or probation and parole. Throughout the years there has been a concentrated effort to standardize the sentencing especially in felony offenses, and to diminish judicial discretion in sentencing. Due to this there is a perception by lawmakers and the public that arbitrary or discriminatory practice with fair and just sentencing in certain cases and or crimes. “The Federal Government and 16 States have implemented presumptive or voluntary/advisory sentencing guidelines. Each of these states has established guidelines for different purposes and most of them were asked to meet multiple goals, including punishment, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation...

Words: 1686 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Opportunity Inequality

...opinion on opportunity, inequality, and social justice issues, most (69%) Americans believe the criminal justice system needs major improvements. 86% of respondents say racial and ethnic profiling by law enforcement should be banned, of which 63% see fit system-wide training programs while the rest prefer retraining of individual officers. Regarding reentry policies, 67% of the public favor increased spending on job training and placement for people who’ve previously been imprisoned, 56% support laws restricting housing discrimination against them, and 55% back tax incentives for employers to hire them. With recent tragedies like the deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray that sparked riots in Ferguson and Baltimore, and criminal justice reform as a key topic for the 2016 presidential election, Americans have become more aware of incarceration trends. In its Criminal Justice Fact Sheet the NAACP notes, “From 1980 to 2008, the number of people incarcerated in America quadrupled-from roughly 500,000 to 2.3 million...

Words: 517 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Unit 12 Public Services

...P1 M1 and D1 The crime and disorder legislation act is the current criminal justice legislation covering crime and sentencing, for example Anti-Social Behaviour Act (2003), crime and disorder act (1998), police reform act (2002) and Criminal Justice act (2003) The antisocial behaviour act is designed to address the problems anti-social behaviour in England and Wales. It makes other legislations stronger and gives local councils the power to take action. The antisocial behaviour act impact is to gradually stop all the criminals, and will finally reduce young offenders. Also it will monitor what they are doing and they will eventually stop with the criminal activity. The crime and disorder act places obligations on local authorities, the police, police authorities, health authorities and probation committees (amongst others) to co-operate in the development and implementation of a strategy for tackling crime and disorder in their area. The Police Reform Act 2002 introduced a number of measures with regard to the supervision, administration, functions and conduct of police forces, police officers. It also contains amendments to police powers and provides for their exercise by persons who are not police officers. In addition, the Act includes changes to the law relating to antisocial behavior orders and sex offender orders. The police reform act is to introduce an annual policing plan to set out the government strategic priorities for policing over the years. This requires...

Words: 383 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Criminal Justice Application Essay

...always been interested in crime, criminal justice, and how the system works. My passion for the system began around 3rd grade after watching “Spy Kids” and wanting to be a spy or a cop. I knew then I wanted the bad guys to be put away and find justice for all. This obsession grew and developed into something more in high school when I took Law and Society and Forensics my junior and senior year. These classes had me more interested in the legal side of the criminal justice system, and questions criminals motivates for their crime. After high school I decided that I would be the first in my family to go to college and that criminal justice would be my career path. I am now a senior at The University of Alabama as a Criminal...

Words: 398 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Criminal Justice System Paper

...Criminal Justice System Paper Pablo Zausa CJA/204 September 25, 2012 Professor Brent Kagawa Criminal Justice System Paper In CJi module interactive learning, crime is defined “ a conduct in violation of the criminal laws of the state, the federal government, or a local jurisdiction, for which there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse.” There are many points of view and controversies in defining what crime is, it is complex and very difficult to agree upon. From a sociological standpoint, it suggests that the concept of crime should include many behaviors that are not defined by laws or the political process. It views crime as any antisocial act the needs to be repressed to maintain society. In psychological standpoint, it suggests that the crime is an individual’s way of expressing the inability to follow the social norms. The psychological view does not care about the traditional elements of crime, if a person cannot respond appropriately or effectively to the demands of the environment, then the individual is criminal or maladaptive. Other people define crime that any wrongdoing and action against the law of God whether as revealed in the Bible, the Koran, or the Torah which naturally recognize as against God’s will irrespectively of what the State of law say it is still a crime. My definition of a crime is any unethical behaviors, actions that a person committed against the law whether it is the State, Federal government, local jurisdictions...

Words: 1059 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Punishment Philosophy Paper

...qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmrtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmrtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmrtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmrtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwer...

Words: 423 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Comparative Criminal Justice Systems

...INTRODUCTION As a preface to this assignment I would like to say that it is virtually impossible to inset all the solutions to a nations criminal justice problems in a one page (per county) summary. With the diverse nature of all 4 countries, to be able to “fly” into a foreign land at the request of the leader, and be given “Carte Blanc” to handle their criminal justice problem is about as impossible as implementing all that is needed to fix their criminal justice system issues within the perimeters of this paper. I would actually like to be alive in 2025 and to see this happen (other countries allowing us to handle their criminal justice systems) it might be akin to the forefathers of this country (Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton etc) seeing the implementation of the automobile as a transportation model for the people. I’m sure they could have never imagined people transporting themselves they way we do as people today. This is how I feel about the prospect of the four other nations allowing someone from the U.S State Department handle their individual criminal justice affairs. The problem that we face not only in the United States but worldwide is a highly heated debate. How do we handle this crisis that we are all encountering? It would be simple to only have one nice little problem that when corrected the system worked fine. This would be similar to a car with a flat tire. Nothing is wrong with the main components (engine, transmission, ect) but when the tire is replaced...

Words: 5172 - Pages: 21

Premium Essay

Dna Analysis In Criminal Justice

...Abstract An honorable, honest and reliable criminal justice system is the pillar and support of every prospering society. People essentially rely on their criminal justice system to exonerate a guilty culprit or incarcerate an innocent person. Fuelled by the images of state-of-the-art laboratories and impeccable machines as portrayed in forensic crime dramas, an average person’s faith and trust on forensic evidence is unshakable. In particular, jurors significantly rely on DNA analysis, scientific evidence, and testimonies by forensic experts to help decide the outcome of most criminal cases. Hence, justice and freedom for an individual can depend on the proficiency, reliability and efficiency of a forensic laboratory and their forensic analysts. Investigative or methodological forensic errors either on...

Words: 758 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

What Is Crime

...Criminal Justice System CJA/204 Crime is an omission or act which violates laws that results to punishment of an individual. The specific omissions or acts that constitute a crime are determined by the governmental bodies from the area you live. At any given time you will most likely be subject to three sets of laws. Defined is the first set federal statute. Outlined by the state government where you live is the second set. The third set is laws enacted by local government. If conflict ever arises in local rule or state in federal law generally federal law will control. The crime or offense level will usually be set from how sever the crime. Paying a fine to being incarceration can be the range of punishment. Law means a set of rules, regulations and principles by following which the society runs. Before you can be punished for the conduct most crimes require that you complete an affirmative act. Relationship between crime and law is without the strict enforcement of the law crime cannot be prevented. The two most common models on how society determines what acts are criminal are Due Process Model and Crime Control Model. Due Process highlights rights of a group of people and an individual’s right. Courts, quality, formality and individualization are the important issues that ensure the respect of due process. Crime Control is the efficient maintenance for safety of a community. Police, quantity, informality, and standardization are considered important...

Words: 1287 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Rehabilitation

...Stefanie Dean CJS/230 May 26, 2013 Martin Grill Rehabilitation Although many individuals consider rehabilitation as a form of humane punishment for criminal offenders, it is actually a means of therapy rather than punishment. The objective of rehabilitation is to reform the offender so that he or she can return to the free world with the ability to lead a productive life free of crime. The rehabilitative ideal views criminal behavior as similar to a disease which should be treated with the scientific methods available in order to “cure” the offender. Many criminals suffer from mental and physical ailments, drug addiction, and limited opportunities to become successful; these issues increase the likelihood that they will eventually engage in criminal activity. If we merely incarcerate them while they “pay their debt to society”, they will most likely return to society only with additional difficulties; without the proper tools to know how to live appropriately. The additional difficulties gained from incarceration are: a criminal record that impacts the opportunity for employment, they will be older and still without marketable skills or the education needed, social relationships as well as social skills may have deteriorated during the time spent incarcerated and they may have become acclimated to the criminal environment and culture. Incarcerating offenders may actually increase recidivism rates. A rehabilitative approach, as opposed to a punitive approach, would...

Words: 830 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Unit 12 Assignment 1

...impact of one piece of crime and disorder legislation. | Scenario As part of your interest in the criminal behaviour you have successfully gained a placement at a local magistrate’s court. You have been asked to prepare some materials for an open day for members of the public. Task 1: You have been asked to produce an information leaflet outlining current crime and disorder legislation. In your leaflet you should consider relevant legislation such as: Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Police Reform Act 2002, Criminal Justice Act 2003, Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. This provides evidence for Unit 12 P1 Task 2: In order to expand on this you should analyse the impact of 2 pieces of legislation on individuals (offenders, victims and witnesses), communities and the relevant public service. This provides evidence for Unit 12 M1 Task 3: Finally you should evaluate one specific piece of legislation, whilst looking at the impact on all levels (including individual, society and organisational). Ensure you include a consideration of whether the legislation has had the desired effect. This provides evidence for Unit 12 D1 CONTENT Crime and disorder legislation: current criminal justice legislation covering crime and sentencing e.g. Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003, Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Police Reform Act 2002, Criminal Justice Act 2003 Impact of...

Words: 307 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Criminological Perspectives

...whether victims are at the heart of criminal justice (CJ) considerations for policy reform. It will consider a number of theoretical perspectives, including victimology and critically discuss how the needs of victims of crime, including the services available, are tackled through a criminal justice response and the demands of the victim movement. The essay will demonstrate the impact of politics upon policy and practice initiatives on both a national and local level. Furthermore, there will be a discussion predominately about how probation policy and practice can appropriately respond to the needs and diversity of different victim groups, whilst touching briefly on other criminal justice agencies. To allow this assignment to be focused it will also concentrate largely on issues surrounding women as victims of domestic violence and examples within Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities. The 1985 United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power broadly defined the term ‘victims’ as: Persons who individually or collectively, have suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights, through acts…that are in violation of criminal laws operative within Member States. (cited in Goodey, 2005:10) While Goodey suggests that victims are ‘now at the heart of criminal justice considerations for policy reform’ (2004: 4), the development of a...

Words: 5339 - Pages: 22