War on Drugs and Prison Overcrowding Thomas K Anderson University of Memphis Prison overcrowding has been a social phenomenon that has led to a variety of reforms. One of the major causes for overcrowding in the prison systems today began back in the early 1970’s, when President Nixon declared War on Drugs. There were dramatic increases in the prison population in the 1980’s and 1990’s. These increases were projected due to trends of harsh punishments. Political
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It has been known that the federal government has documents that it tries to hide from the people. But one man was able to get around that and leaked hundreds of classified documents to the press. That man’s name was Edward Snowden. Edward Snowden was born in 1983 in Elizabeth City, NC. He later moved to Maryland with his mother who worked at the Federal Court in Baltimore, Maryland as a chief deputy clerk. Snowden failed to complete high school and dropped out of a local community college twice
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In today's society, the prisons of America appear to cause more problems than assistance. The country penal system is expensive, overcrowded, and some argue that it is ineffective as well as inefficient. The cost to build, staff, and support these facilities increases dramatically each year. Prisons, which were created to be humane correctional facilities, are currently filled with violence, hostility, and a communal fear. These institutions are meant to control crime by deterrence, incapacitating
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offenders in prison and under community supervision. Punishment and rehabilitation both are effective with the deterrence of crime, effects on victims and offenders, society and the fiscal effect on society. Deterrence Deterrence is the act of preventing a particular act or behavior from happening. In the criminal justice system deterrence is used to prevent an individual from committing a future crime. Punishment can be an effective deterrence when an individual is sent to jail. Prison is a form
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Week 9 Research Paper COM/156 August 11, 2013 Week 9 Research Paper “Marijuana is the finest anti-nausea medication known to science, and our leaders have lied about this consistently. [Arresting people for] medical marijuana is the most hideous example of government interference in the private lives of individuals. It’s an outrage within an outrage within an outrage”. Peter McWilliams Author and Advocate for Medical Marijuana Medical
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staggering; the Institute on Women & Criminal Justice reports that the past three decades has seen an explosion in female incarceration rates, growing 832% from 1977 to 2007 with an astounding 4% of women in state prisons and 3% of women in federal prisons pregnant at the time of admittance (Women’s Prison Association 4). Lives are at stake. Every court decision, every judgment cast, effects more than just the individual involved. The future is dependent on how society treats the present. In order to combat
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When it comes to the prison system, the majority of Americans only know what they've seen in the movies and on TV. They believe that in prisons only the most dangerous and violent offenders end up locked behind bars for decades. For the most part whatever happens to these individuals in prison is off no concern to them. It’s a society of out of sight, out of mind. What people don't realize is that in reality it is a smaller percentage of inmates that are incarcerated that are violent and dangerous
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Week 9 Research Paper Medical Marijuana COM/156 August 11, 2013 Medical Marijuana ~“Marijuana is the finest anti-nausea medication known to science, and our leaders have lied about this consistently. [Arresting people for] medical marijuana is the most hideous example of government interference in the private lives of individuals. It’s an outrage within an outrage within an outrage”~ ~Peter McWilliams~ Author and Advocate for Medical Marijuana Medical Marijuana has found its place
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how and why society uses prisons. Prisons are intended to meet a variety of social goals, including incapacitation, deterrence, discipline, punishment or retribution, and rehabilitation or reformation. Some have argued that public prisons are better at all of the above while most support private prisons. The term prison privatization commonly refers to the policy of contracting out the management and operation of prisons and jails to private, for-profit companies. Prison privatization is a controversial
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Gun Control Congress continues to debate the efficacy and constitutionality of federal regulation of firearms and ammunition. Various federal laws have been enacted since 1934 to promote such regulation. Gun control advocates argue that they curb access by criminals, juveniles, and other "high-risk" individuals. They contend that only federal measures can successfully reduce the availability of guns. Some advocates seek broad policy changes such as near-prohibition of non-police handgun ownership
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