...The United States of Incarceration Introduction As we near the end of 2015, racial discrimination remains an issue that can quickly create controversy and heated debate. The ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement has become a common topic for families, which many believing that minorities are treated more harshly than whites in similar incidents. However, this movement should widen the scoop of its focus to include the discrimination not just of law enforcement officials, but also of the criminal justice system itself. Disparities in sentencing have skyrocketed since the 1980s and this increase is pushed by the war on drugs. Despite the clear evidence showing that sentencing reform must become a priority for policymakers due to both the social and economic aspects of this issue, things remain the same. The purpose of this essay is to inform the debate on sentencing reform, race, and education....
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...Along with the famous presidential election, this year has brought many political issues. One of those problems is mass incarceration. Mass incarceration is the problem of too many citizens being imprisoned for unnecessary reasons. Most people know that the United States holds the record for most inmates, with about 2.2 million in prison or jail. Many believe that this number can be lowered if citizens were not subjected to the penalty of jail for unjust reasons or non-violent crimes. Advocates for inmates claim that racial discrimination is part of the reason the number is so high. Statistics shows that about 44% of African Americans living in the United States have been arrested. Others talk about children and if they were not arrested...
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...Women have been in separate correctional facilities from men in the 1870s. Ever since then, there has been rapid growth in the population of women incarcerated. Going back to look at 1990, there were roughly 600,000 women in prisons, jails, probation, or parole. However, just within a decade, the number jumped up to just over one million. Still, the rate of incarceration of women is lower than men; the numbers of imprisoned women have doubled the rate of men since 1980. Most of the women in prison are in for nonviolent crimes that mostly have to do with property or drug related, contributing to the fact that for the most part, a woman’s biological needs, family responsibilities, and unique paths to prison create incarceration experiences that are vastly different from those of men. While simply expanding the existing system has provided a turnkey way to deal with the influx of women inmates, funneling women through an infrastructure whose...
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...following research paper we are going to discuss imprisonment. We are going to discuss why people are incarcerated as well as talk about different alternatives to imprisonment. We will then touch on benefits of each alternative as well as the negative aspects. Alternatives to Imprisonment 4 A look at why we imprison convicts- Imprisonment is defined as “putting someone in prison or in jail as a lawful punishment” (Imprisonment). Ever since the first prison opened in the United States in 1790, incarceration has been the center of the nation’s criminal justice system. The criminal justice...
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...The first recommendation for China’s heroin epidemic is to focus on the justice system. The system is here to help individuals, and hurt them. Placing individuals in a cell until the police feels like they are okay to be release. China can focus on rehabilitation instead of incarceration. China already have a law in place to deal with addiction. According to J. Meng, S. Burris, (2013), China has five laws: (1) Addicts must register and monitored with a tracking device by the police. The pro to this law is that you can tell where your addicts are always, but the con is that China is controlling them as if they were in prison. Here is the problem that China does not realize, it that people need to be in an institution to help with support and...
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...slow decline, it is still practiced not only in the United States, but the entire world. How is capital punishment delivered? In the U.S., the two main ways of execution are by lethal injection, and by electrocution. Throughout history, there have been many forms of executions. During the French revolution, people were beheaded at the guillotine. In the Civil war, men were executed by firing squad. Throughout this form of punishment there are many pros and cons. What are some of the pros to capital punishment? Well, while many people say there are none, it does have a few. For one, it is a way to make sure that justice is served. When executions are done throughout the U.S., the victims are, in many states allowed to witness it take place. For some, this is a way to have closer, and to be at ease that the culprit is dealt with and punished for the crimes. Another pro is that it takes these horrible people off the streets and prisons so they can never do anything again. But with the pros come the cons. Capital punishment has many cons. To start, it is very expensive.There have been many studies on this. In Maryland they estimate that the average cost taxpayers pay for a single death sentence is three million dollars. Which is one point nine million dollars more than the cost of a non-death...
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...This week we were assigned a few articles to read and analyze. Reflecting on this weeks reading, an assessment can be made about the way America has handled crime and prevention within the criminal justice system. As a country the United States is the world’s leader in incarceration with 2.2 individuals behind bars in either prison or jails. Political agendas fueled along with the outcry from the public fueled the legislatures to increase crime sentences thereby increasing the incarceration levels to extremely high levels. By leading the world in incarceration in addition to the crime rates the public can see just how poorly run the system truly is and how we can aim to fix it. Connections can be made between Travis et al.'s (2014) illustration...
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...[pic] English 112 Final Exam Study Questions “The Hypercriminalization of Black and Latino Male Youth” by Victor M. Rios Summarize the essay. Explain what Rios means by “mass incarceration” (41). Rios declares that his article “is to account for the social effects of mass incarceration and the criminalization of young males of color” (41). Based on the evidence he provides, what are those “social effects”? What does Victor Rios mean when he writes “These young adult deviants do not become on their 18th birthday, rather they are systematically constructed as criminals and face the wrath of the penal state and criminalization as early as 8 years of age” (41). In what ways do you think this statement is true or false? Fully explain your answer. Rios discloses that Black and Latino youth have been labeled “deviant” (41). From his explanations, why are they labeled this way, and how does this label affect them? How do the problems they face in the job sector (Rios 42) account for how young Black and Latino males may view their future outcomes? Identify the reason/reasons that the 28 non-violent offenders were treated in similar ways to Tyrone and Jose: the two violent offenders (Rios 43). Explain what Jonathan Simon means by "crisis of ‘governance’" (43). Explain what Rios means by his statement that “the government had become an abusive step-parent figure” (43). According to him, what are the effects of this “abusive” relationship? What does Rios...
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...Id, Ego, and Superego As with personality theories, Freud’s theory and other psychoanalytic theories may be difficult to test and prove in court. Analyze Freud’s theory and discuss the impact that it has on the development of criminal behavior. What roles do the Id, Ego, and Superego play in problematic behavior, and what influence do defensive mechanisms have on the development of criminal behavior? Discuss the pros and cons of Freud’s theory and how you feel it would hold up in court. Sigmund Freud’s tripartite model of self that separates the human mind into id, ego and superego. This model replicates the method where the ego and superego help to regulate and suppress id urges. Id The id is present at birth and is the make-up of the personality that functions to the same degree to the pleasure notion. According to Freud, dysfunctional personality and behavior comes from the failure of the superego to control the inappropriate inclination of the id. “The restraints that the ego and superego place on the id create aggression and resentment that is directed against the self and manifests in disorder and maladaptive conduct” (DeLisi, 2013). Ego The ego grows from the id and is the part of the personality that can change to the restrictions of the real world, dealing with problem solving aspects of the personality that set it apart from fantasy to reality. “As children develop and realize that life comprises more than simple pleasure gratification, they...
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...place for them as well. Overall the taxation of legal marijuana could potentially be a saving grace. A study at International Center for Prison Studies at King's College London found that “The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population, but it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners” (Liptak, 2008). The legalization of marijuana would reduce the number of drug related arrests, court and prison costs. In 2005, 19.1 percent of state sentenced prisoners were drug offenders and in 2007, a staggering 53 percent of federally sentenced prisoners were incarcerated for drug related charges (Bewley-Taylor, Hallman, Allen, 2009). In countries, such as Canada, that focus more on lowering drug demand than apprehension and incarceration, the ratio is considerably lower at just 4.5 percent (Bewley-Taylor, Hallman, Allen, 2009). On the other hand, our roads wouldn’t be as safe with people legally...
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...Victims and Crime Evaluation Paper Criminal Law/CJA/354 An alarming amount of innocent people become victims of crime every year, and the victim’s rights are every bit as important as the offender’s rights. There are certain tendencies that appear within patterns of crime and victimization, such as adolescents are most likely to be victimized, men become crime victims more often than women, and African Americans experience more crime than other racial groups (Newmark, 2008). Victims of crime suffer from physical, emotional, psychological, and financial issues. Some of the issues victims of crime face are physical injury, fear for personal safety, medical expenses, counseling expenses, feelings of fear, grief, shame, and anger, and lost income. Victims of crime needing assistance may believe they are overlooked or even revictimized by the criminal justice system, a system that may appear to be more concerned with the criminal’s rights than with the needs and rights of the victim. This paper will address the role the prosecutor, defense attorney, criminal, and victim play within the criminal justice system and how victimization affects each. The Prosecutor The prosecutor plays a critical role in the criminal justice system and serves many functions throughout the criminal justice process. Some of these functions are as follows: * Investigating * Helping the police build a case against the person(s) * Bringing charges against a person(s) * Arranging...
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...this essay, I will go over the issues of punishment versus rehabilitation for convicted offenders. The issues I will point out will be how punishment and rehabilitation affects deterrence of crime, how it impacts the victims and their families, and the financial impact upon society. This debate will show both pros and cons to punishment and rehabilitation. The criminal justice system and the public have opinions on how each should work and not work. I will go over each side of the issue when it should be time to punish or rehabilitate. The Deterrence theory is if one commits a crime the punishment should outweigh the crime. To prevent crime from occurring the law will show through punishment. The punishment should outweigh the crime. If you put the fear of punishment into the criminal, then he will think twice about committing the crime. Crime has been part of society for a long time, and the usual punishment is to incarcerate. Even though incarceration is a temporary fix for the felon, research shows “recidivism amongst convicted felons following release from prison is as high as 63%” and most of the inmates had arrest records and convictions prior to the incarceration of their current offense “ (Carson & Mulako-Wangota, 1989). Others argue rehabilitation is a deterrence to crime. Rehabilitation has long-term effect on offenders since it would prevent future crime from happening. Also rehabilitation changes the criminal behavior, and gets them back in to society by giving...
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...Punishment Philosophy Paper Amanda Robertson CJS/220 1/19/14 Mrs. Kathy Holder Punishment Philosophy Paper Punishment philosophy has been studied for centuries for it plays a huge factor in criminal justice and the reform of the offenders when entering back into society. Obviously there are many different forms of punishment that an offender can face after being convicted off a crime. The punishment philosophy studies areas of incarceration rehabilitation, and whether or not these punishments hold any type of deterrence from committing crimes again. Punishment philosophy and its effects on the post-conviction process There are specific types of punishment which are deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and retribution. Deterrence is largely used throughout the community and has effects on offenders by deterring them to not re-commit a crime out of fear of facing the same consequence. It also affects the community for when people hear of the punishments one may face for committing a crime, or when a judge makes an example out of a criminal by giving the max penalty, it can deter the community from committing such a crime. Incapacitation is when offenders commit a crime and are then are incarcerated in prison, losing their freedom, their rights, and many then having a criminal record which will in many cases unless pardoned or expunged follow them for life. Rehabilitation is used as a way to in other words give the...
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...Pros and Cons of Legalizing Drugs In a study for the Cato Institute, Jeffrey A. Miron, senior lecturer on economics at Harvard University and a senior fellow at Cato, and Katherine Waldock, professor of economics at New York University, estimate that legalizing drugs would save the government approximately $41.3 billion annually on expenditures related to the enforcement of prohibition. Legalization would reduce state and federal deficits by eliminating expenditure on prohibition enforcement, arrests, prosecutions, and incarceration and by allowing governments to collect tax revenue on legalized sales. Many people are concerned that the legalizing of soft drugs such as marijuana would lead to the legalizing of other harder drugs such as cocaine, heroin, or even crack. Stoned driving and other dangers would be increased. Marijuana use isn't truly a "victimless crime" when you consider all the crimes that may be committed when the user is under the influence of the drug. Drunk driving is still a major problem in our society despite all the education and stiff penalties. "Driving high" would be even harder to detect. Unless the user has been smoking in the car, there isn't as distinctive of a smell as there is with alcohol. Also, there's always the possibility that the lapse in judgment caused by drug use will lead to harder crimes like rape or robbery. Legalization would increase the chances of the drug falling into the hands of kids. Even unhealthy legal items such as cigarettes...
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...3.) Describe the current distribution of power within the United States with regards to civil rights and race. What are the pros and cons of this distribution? Secondly, describe other social events from United States history that show a shift or change in the distribution of economic and/or political power during American history. Introduction Firstly, I will describe the current distribution of power in the United States. I will then weigh the pros and cons of the current distribution. After that, I will describe several events which shifted the power distribution. I will first describe events that disadvantaged black people. I will then talk about events that gave black people more power. Lastly, I will talk about events that shifted power to or away from other minorities besides black people. Current Distribution of Power The current distribution of power within the United States is that white people still have the most power and privilege, although the government has not been as blatantly racist as it has been in the past. The reason that white people have the most power is because in general, they have more money than minorities. In a capitalist society like the United States, whoever has the most money has the most power. White people have benefited...
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