Essays on Incarceration

- Racial discrimination in sentencing, incarceration and policing of black as opposed to white

Criminal Justice Policies and Black Incarceration

- Influence of criminal justice policies in incarceration patterns - Drug policy and incarceration pattern of the black as opposed to white - Influence of social inequality on rate of criminality

Policing, Arrest and Conviction Patterns

- Policing, arrest, and conviction patterns of black, white, and Hispanic tend to differ in various states - Criminal penalties for crack and powder cocaine offenses indicates the disproportional effects criminal justice system on black and Latino IV) Conclusion - The mass incarceration of black as opposed to other ...

Short and Long-Term Policies: Prisoner Overcrowding 3

Prison Overcrowding Reduction Policy Stakeholders 4 Prison Overcrowding Reduction: Short-Term Goals and Solutions 5 Prison Overcrowding Reduction: Long-Term Goals and Solutions 8 Creation of Jail Capacity Management Boards and Oversight Committees .8 Alternatives to Incarceration .9 Private For-Profit Prisons 11 Conclusion 12

References .13

Short and Long-Term Policies:Prisoner Overcrowding Overcrowding in jails and prisons is a complex problem that is difficult but imperative for the nation to solve. The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world; while countries similar to the U.S. have an average rate of 100 prisoners per 100, ...

Rehabilitation versus Incarceration

JUVENILE OFFENDERS 2 Introduction Crime is a prevalent factor in American society, and is committed among all individuals regardless of age, race, gender, or socioeconomic status. The majority of American juveniles, individuals under the age of eighteen, have admitted to committing some type of crime throughout their young life. While the majority of crimes by juveniles are considered petty, non-violent, and overall minor offenses, youths also commit dangerous and heinous acts of crime identical to what we see in the adult penal system. In the last 30 years, Sociologists, Criminologists, and Penologists have witnessed both major and minor ...

Incarceration versus Intermediate Sanctions

Introduction Less than five years ago more than eight million individuals were currently incarcerated, probated, or paroled in the United States (Cullen, Jonson, & Nagin 49). Understandably, incarceration and immediate sanctions are both prevalent concepts within the field of Criminal Justice and Criminal Law. Incarceration is a type of penal control used to detain criminals viewed as posing a threat to public safety. Intermediate sanctions are types of punishments that purposely keep the criminal offender from being incarcerated while their actions are still monitored and regulated. Both types of criminal sanctions vary depending upon the crime committed, victims involved, and numerous ...

Abstract

The United States has the highest use of incarceration; which is attributable to incarceration of non-violent offenses. Non-violent offences are those that involve public disorder and drug abuse without any harm actually being inflicted on a victim. It has always been argued that incarceration of non-violent drug offenders in the U.S.A has resulted in an unwarranted high prison population and consequently high budgetary allocations to prison departments in order to meet the cost of maintaining the high population of prisoners at the expense of more pressing needs. However, incarceration of non-violent drug offenders is a necessary evil needed to fight the ...

Introduction

Life in a prison at a glance looks haunting and horrifying that comes along with an added burden of issues related to esteem, mental disorders, financial constraints and exposure to high risk behaviors. United States has two major types of prisons; the state and the federal prison where each of them have different security levels depending on the severity of the crime, punishment and facilities provided to the offenders. Although the reason behind incarceration differs from one individual to the other, imprisonment leaves a lasting adverse effect on the life of the prisoners. The life before imprisonment completely changes when a person is ...

Theory

Since the start of the 21st century until 2012, the homicide rate of Colorado, USA has been in a declining rate. There is a need to discuss how incarceration rates affect the society, especially how it influences crime in the area. Incarceration assumes that the offender is prevented to further commit crimes by incapacitation. Strategies of incapacitation focus on reducing crimes by interruption or disruption of the offender’s career (Piquero and Blumstein, 2007). In addition, incarceration affects not just the present crime rate, but it is also believed that the future of the community is being influenced by the ...

Statistics from the American department of justice reveal massive disparities in the numbers of incarcerated people among the Hispanic, African Americans and the whites (Caucasians). Going by statistics, a considerably large number of African Americans (10%) were behind the bars as opposed to only 2.4% and 1.2% of Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic whites respectively (Travis, Western, Redburn & National Research Council U.S, 2014). The aforementioned figures give a big picture of the incarceration disparities as of the year 2003.In addition, these statistics attest to the fact that at the age of between 25 to 29years, African American males are more likely ...

The high prevalence of incarceration history among Black men who have sex with men in the United States: associations and implications. Brewer, R. A., Magnus, M., Kuo, I., Wang, L., Liu, Y. Y. & Mayer, K. H. (2014). The high prevalence of incarceration history among Black men who have sex with men in the United States: associations and implications. Journal of AM J Public Health. 104(3):448 54 Aims of the study: The study was aimed at examining the lifetime incarceration among 1553 black men who have sex with men (BMSM). It is for a fact that black ...

Balancing Values

Attitude Towards Incarceration Introduction Law stipulates specific punishment guidelines to be applied on offenders; the paradigm shift in incarceration and the public’s attitude towards the subject is a major an issue that the justice system and the public are struggling to resolve. One of issues arising from the growing number of incarcerated individuals is the ability of the state is the cost of operating correctional facilities considering budget cuts and shortfalls. The public on the other hand is skeptical on the matters of keeping the offenders locked away to sustain public safety while thinking about where their ...

Introduction

Incarceration refers to the act of detaining a person in prison as a form of punishment from a wrong thing done. Parent incarceration forms one of the most serious problems with a long-lasting effect in the American society, especially to their children. Research findings show children separated from parents by death do not suffer as much as the children left behind by incarcerated parents. The higher rates of incarceration indicate that more parents are being imprisoned today that before. Children left by an incarcerated parent become needy of basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter. In additional, the child’s emotional and ...

For example Elizabeth L. Angeli, Department of Psychology, State University.

This research was supported in part by a grant from the Sample Grant Program. Angeli, Department of English, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 55555 The Criminal Re-incarceration Problem in the US The highest number incarcerations are in United States. It is estimated that about 2.2 million people are behind bars. It is a 500% increase over the past 30 years. This resulted in an overcrowding prisoners in the prison. The government is desperately dealing with expanding penal system. There is evidence that large scale incarcerations is not ...

Incarceration Disparities among American Ethnic Groups

Introduction Since the 1970’s, the jail and prison population in the United States has been increasing at an unprecedented rate. The total number of incarcerated individuals has risen by a whopping 500%. This massive increase has resulted to a total of 2.2 million people in the nation’s jails and prisons (Mauer & King, 2007). This stupendous growth in the number of incarcerated individuals has been accompanied by an increasingly unbalanced racial composition. There have particularly been high incarceration rates for blacks with this section of the population making up more than 10% of the total number of incarcerated individuals. ...

Introduction

USA has the highest percentage of prison population than any other country in the world. Over the last 35 years, USA has seen a boom in the rate of incarceration by increasingly relying on its strategy of building and filling prisons for crime reduction. USA took about 160 years to gather its first 1 million inmates and another 1 million just took 12 years. It is estimated the prison population witnessed a 321% hike between the years 1980-2000 when the total number of prisoners went from 315,956 to 1,329,367 (Kovandzic & Vieraitis, 2006). Statistics show that prison population has ...

Incarceration among the Blacks

INTRODUCTION: The general introduction about incarceration and its effects on the basic level towards the blacks and its relationship to poverty There are numerous existing weapons to incarcerate poverty in the modern day society. The most considered weapon especially in this modernized world is education. There are so many reasons that make people consider education to be the only key weapon to fight against incarceration. However, there is rapid increase in campaign from an unrecognized group of individuals in champion against education as a tool to fight against poverty among the urban areas (Alexander, 2010). In this regard, some ...

The empirical explanation postulates that the crime rate is higher in America and the incarceration rate reflects this. The second explanation is that public opinion in the United States demands the harsher sentencing laws and the incarceration rates simply reflect the demands of the American citizenry. The third factor is the journalistic issue that crime and punishment is one of the divisive issues employed in conservative politics. The fourth explores the extent that politicians can use an emotional issue such as crime to garner broad based support. The fifth explanation postulates that historical trends result in cycles of greater ...

Introduction

Asked to stereotype a criminal, many people are likely to go for a certain gender (usually male), a certain social class (usually low class), a certain race (usually black) and a certain age (usually under the age of 30). In the early days, courtrooms exclusively comprised of white decision makers. Today there is more racial diversity in the composition of judicial benches. In spite of this progress; race, class and gender still play a critical role in numerous criminal justice outcomes. The role of these issues usually comes in handy in the sentencing of convicts. More than 40 studies have been conducted in regard to ...

Question one

American crime rates are disproportionately high in comparison to other Western countries. The likelihood of someone being a victim or committing a crime in the US depends on a number of demographic factors and their positioning in the country (Reiman, 14).

Overall, minorities, men and people in less favorable economic conditions are more likely to commit crimes in most parts of the world (Garland, 25). The American population is highly multi-cultural an issue which complicates the societal challenges that contribute to crime. The higher the number of cultures in a country, the more diverse are their needs and reactions to their immediate environments ( ...

Introduction

According to the report released by the United States of America (USA) Justice Department in 2003, approximately 10.4 percent of all African American men in all the states were incarcerated, imprisoned or jailed between the ages of 25 to 29 as compared to 2.4 percent of Hispanic men and 1.2 percent of Non-Hispanic white men incarcerated. This data is also closely related to the incarceration rates in the year 2001 whereby 46 percent of all the inmates sent to prison were African American while 36 percent Non-Hispanic white men and 16 percent were Hispanic men. In this and other ...

Law

Executive Summary This essay will present recommendations on how to improve the present policies and programs for children with incarcerated parents in Florida. One of the major program types for incarcerated parents is the Special Parent-Child Visits. This special type of program will provide opportunities for the parents to spend extended time with their children on-site inside the prison grounds. These types of visits may be in the form of overnight or special occasion visits which cover special programming efforts, meals and crafts, camping in a structured and well-supervised area inside the prison (Ferro, 2007, p. 27). This report ...

Summary

Florida is one of the states with the highest crime rate in the United States of America. Moreover, in 2010 the violence and property crimes rate in Florida was even higher than all over the country. This report is devoted to the issue of crimes in Florida. The report consists of two major parts: literature review and recommendations. Literature review part contain information on data, statistics and is aimed to outline the problem of crimes in the state. Besides, in this part I outlined the main reasons for such high crime rate. Besides, I have made a research on the ...

Question 2

Rios emphasizes on both cultural and structural aspects that have majorly contributed to the incarceration of the young men in the urban setups. The fact that the young men in the urban centers have lost hope in the police and the criminal system is enough to qualify this (Pettit, Becky and Western, page.154). They feel that the systems are not in place to protect them but to harass them. This is apparent from the questioning that they receive from school teachers to the authorities around them to establish whether they are involved in any crime related activities. Dropping ...

dates and time Part of each country’s criminal justice system is to both punish and try to rehabilitate offenders, either convicted in prison or under community supervision, so they can return to the society and be integrated with it in the smoothest and most effective way. Actually, punishment and rehabilitation are part of a four-objective criminal system that also includes deterrence, which alongside punishment and rehabilitation will be further researched throughout this paper in terms of which is more effective. The aforementioned objectives will be discussed taking into consideration the effect they have on the victims and their ...

Introduction

In the book addicted to incarceration, Pratt takes an evidence based approach to argue that America is addicted to incarcerating its population more than any other developed country in the world. This is at the backdrop of the fact that America is the most violent and crime laden industrialized country in the world, despite having the biggest prison system in the world (Platt, 2009). The modern America’s crime policy on incarceration follows the 20th century policies, which were characterized by the endless imprisonment of the population. These were the effects of the general consensus of opportunistic politicians, bureaucrats ...

This researcher intends to investigate the effects of life experiences on a person’s behavior.Specifically, the study shall focus on the effects of incarceration or imprisonment on a person’s behavior. Using qualitative research methods, the study shall look into the different aspects of one’s behavior being affected by incarceration. The following sections present materials that are relevant to the present study. These documents are derived from published books and journals, many of which were available online.

Bui, H. & Morash, M. (2010). The impact of network relationships, prison experiences, and internal transformation on women’s success after prison release. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 49, pp. 1-22. doi 10.1080/1050967090343581.

In this study, 20 former women inmates who were paroled, were interviewed about their life experiences before incarceration, during, and after their release. ...

Oshinsky claimed that the farm penal system is worse than slavery because , the farm system was derived from the plantation model of imprisonment. An overall philosophy of punishment that rooted from racist assumptions regarding the abilities of the black prisoners in the South (Fisher-Giorlando , 2012, p. 1). The farm system is basically a combination of incarceration and working on a plantation as a slave. This system possesses elements of agricultural work, the population of black workers, neglect of rehabilitation, plantation mentality, isolation, the worthlessness of the prisoners and emphasis on the the economy (Forster, 1995 as quoted from Fisher-Giorlando , 2012). The condition ...

The resolution by the United States to increase the number of people who get incarcerated has come with abnormally high cost that has become quite difficult to manage. Compared tony other country, the number of people who get incarcerated in the United States has been on a steady increase. It has fueled the United States budget with substantial values. The cost of managing the incarceration is very high. As reported in the year 2008, more than 2.3 million American was serving prison terms while out of every 48 working age men, one was behind the bars.Precisely, the cost of correcting ...

In the recent past, Alaska has experienced overcrowding in its correctional facilities. Although this is a problem that has been there for quite some time, the population growth in Alaska’s prisons sky-rocketed very fast as compared to the rates in other states. Though this is the case, it is very difficult to attribute this increase in incarceration to definite causes. As at now, Alaska is among the eight states of the highest growth in prison population. Currently, its rate is one out of 36. As at today, there are over 6000 people in prison, either on electronic monitoring or ...

Incarceration of Women

The number of incarcerated women has increased at a dramatic rate in many US correctional institutions (Talvi, 2007). The increased rise in the number of women in prisons can be attributed to increased cases of minor property crime and change in sentencing policies such as mandatory prison sentences. The Bureau of Prisons is an arm of the Department of Justice in the United States. The bureau consists of 6 regional centers, nine divisions and the National Institute of Correction (Talvi, 2007). The jurisdiction of the Institute of Correction covers community correctional facilities, jails, prisons and the academy for training prison ...

Criminal Trials in Drug Courts in Europe

Introduction According to Langbein, the modern European Trial is an investigation into the truth, but not a stage battle of partisans committed to distortion. This is true with regards to prosecution and rehabilitation of drug offender that is now revamped in European countries. The criminal justice system is critical in the formation of any civilized society; it is required that the criminal justice system should be robust and in a position to protect the interests and rights of the various groups within the society. It comprises of three distinct elements; these are the law enforcement officers, the courts, and the ...

Abstract Reports from the U.S. Justice Department, in 2003 revealed that approximately 10.4 percent of African American men between age 25 to 29 were incarcerated, in comparison to 2.4 percent of Hispanic men and 1.2 percent of Non-Hispanic white men (US Justice Department, 2003).This has created some measure of concern within the African Diaspora in and out of United States of America. Why are Black men in this age group so much more likely to be in jail than people of White or Latino descent? (US Justice Department, 2003).What are the comparative incidences of criminal prosecution, ...

(Course/Major) (School/University)

Incarceration or Intervention: Costs and Benefits

In the work of leading global research organizations RTI International, by sending substance abusers to community-based programs rather than hauling these people to jail, the United States criminal justice system stands to save billions of dollars, in a study of the RTI International and Temple University. In the study of the groups, almost one half of the prisoners in the Federal and state prison system are incarcerated for drug abuse or substance addicts. However, even with the high rate of drug and substance abusers in the prison, it is estimated that only one out of ten get ...

Introduction

In the following project I have researched and summarized the main provisions of the statutes as they relate to the questions of arraignment, state sentencing issues and sentencing alternatives in the state of Virginia. Another part of this research covers the issues of practical application of these statutory provisions in the everyday work of courts and correctional institutions. In the Lesson 1, I have researched the initial procedure of arraignment in the light of its practical application during the work of the court.

In the Lesson 2, I have summarized the statutory provisions which regulate the issues of probation, parole and sentencing alternatives.

In the Lesson 3, I have briefly outlined the community correctional programs and how the ...

Introduction

The Unites States of America has one of the most multicultural societies in the world. The nation is home to people from all races. In recent decades, the nation has become very democratic and racially tolerant. However, this has not always been the case. The United States has historically had a tendency of suppressing racially unique groups through racially motivated policies. The first example of this was the loss of liberty and land of the Native Americans to white settlers. The other action that comes to mind is the Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation between blacks and whites. There ...

The United States is a multi ethnic, multi racial society. It is majorly comprised of the Hispanic, African-American, Native American and Asian people. Since the country was founded, racism has been a major issue. An insidious problem it is because there is a battle about which race is more superior of inferior than the other. Racism has been primarily steered by the Whites majority directing it against the other ethnic and racial minorities. According to history, the white have always shown disparities that are of racial nature when it comes to employment housing, and criminal justice. Racial disparity refers to is ...

The convicted felons deserve a second chance in the society as they have already paid for their crimes in the prisons. The sources of this paper focus not only on the proportionality and fairness of punishment, but include the means by which the ex-convicts can be helped to avoid the stigma of their criminal records and blend well in the society. Millions of people in the United States have been imprisoned for conviction crimes and the rates of incarceration have been increasing. Every year, thousands of people all over the United States confront their personal and social challenges that ...

Debates continue to rise concerning the best way to reduce crime rates in America. Some of the methods that have been employed in crime punishment are argued to be in violation of human rights. However, some individuals and groups insist that they are effective in reforming the behavior of inmates. This paper will address punishment and rehabilitation as approaches used to reduce crime rates and which is more effective.

Punishment

There are various forms of punishment in the U.S. correctional system. These include incarceration, solitary confinement, and the death penalty. Solitary confinement refers to the segregation of inmates as a form ...

Boot camps began in the United States first in the adult prison in 1983 and were later introduced in the juvenile prisons. It is a program where the offenders are in a camp and there are vigorous activities during the day such as drill, ceremony and physical training. There are correctional officers in charge of the offenders who are given military titles. When the offenders do something wrong, they are punished by physical activities such as push-ups. The juvenile boot camps are less intense in terms of physical activities. The juveniles are given academic education and therapy sessions. At the ...

Introduction

Proponents of longer sentencing have put forward that longer sentences achieve higher deterrence levels in criminals. Longer sentences have been recommended for violent crimes such as armed robbery crimes. These are crimes where the thief is armed and dangerous while conducting the robbery. Often, the robbery results in the injury or death of one of the victims. The question is what does research show about the impact of longer sentences on the deterrence levels in the individual.

The impact of longer prison sentences on criminals

In the deterrence theory, a few assumptions hold. The theory assumes that all individuals are rational beings who calculate the costs and benefits ...

Introduction

There is no doubt that incarceration of parents is one of the greatest punishments children suffer when they are incarcerated from their parents. The additional challenges that come as a result of parental incarceration include material hardship and financial instability, instability in family relationships, poor educational results among children, and social problems such as stigma. Many a time, children of incarcerated parents are termed as the forgotten victims of imprisonment. Statistics show that there were 1.7 million children of incarcerated parents in the United States as of 2007 (Shlafer, Poehlmann, Coffino, & Hanneman, 2009. P. 508). Several million other children have ...

For a long time now, incarceration has often been hypothesized as the primary way in which those found to be guilty of different criminal offenses are sentenced. However, the costs in managing prisons have spiraled up in a significant way. Coupled with the increasing prison populations, this places immense pressure prisons; hence, the need for alternatives of incarcerations. Speaking of alternative of incarcerations, this connotes to other options that can be utilized instead of imprisonment (Mays & Winfree, 2009). Notably, there exist a number of sentences that can act as alternative of incarcerations. More importantly, criminal offenders such as those who are ...

Introduction

America has an elaborate correction system that has existed for many years. It has not been established when the first correction facility (prison/jail) came into existence in America, but historians and other scholars have suggested that it was established in 1700s. Since its establishment, the American’s correction system has undergone tremendous transformation and changes in terms of reforms to enhance its operations, efficiency, and functions with the intention to curb crime, punish criminal offenders, and maintain status quo, and social order. Before the establishment of prisons and modern correction facilities, the criminal justice system employed punitive and cruel ...

Literature Review

Individual Effects of Incarceration

Prisons are becoming an increasingly hostile place, which leads prisoners to undergo various psychological changes in order to cope (Haney, 2002). In particular, Haney (2002) posits that prisoners tend to become too dependent on the institutional structure and contingencies that they lose their sense of independence or self-initiative. They also tend to lose their personal value and self-worth. In addition, they tend to become hyper vigilant, suspicious, and distrusting (Haney, 2002). They tend to be too controlling of their emotions, feel alienated, or psychologically distance themselves. They tend to withdraw from other people and to ...

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper was to argue for the use of intermediate sanctions compared to prison sentences. The paper highlighted the potential benefits of using intermediate sanctions as a replacement for prison sentencing. It was established that intermediate sanctions are cost effective, ensure offender rehabilitation, reinforces public safety and serves to address the problems associated with the prison sentencing such as overcrowding and recidivism rates. The paper also discussed the nine types of intermediate sanctions used in the United States including Intensive Supervision Programs, Fines, Community Service, Day Reporting Centers, Remote location monitoring, Residential Community Centers, Boot Camp ...

Introduction

In the recent years there has been a high growth in the number of people who are getting incarcerated. This has led to a lot of debate on the legitimacy of the penal system. Is it really working to reduce or deter criminal behaviour? Is there anything in the punishment system that needs to be changes? The penal system should be revisited in order to address the high incarceration rates in the country.

The Legitimacy for Penal Punishment

There are theories that have contributed to the penal system. The choice theory in criminology has contributed over the years to justifying and specifying penal punishment. Each man ...

Rehabilitation is defined as something that inspires positive change in someone during their confinement period (Foster 2006). Rehabilitation is seen as a humane and progressive form of punishment that intends to reform a convict to lead a productive life. Rehabilitative theories believe that prison is not the ideal way to achieve corrective behavior of offenders because it seeks to isolate offenders from life’s realities which in essence they should be trying to learn how to cope with. Prisoner imprisonment encompasses drug rehabilitation behavior change and vocational training.

The origin of rehabilitation in the United States goes back to the late 18th ...

2014-11-21

The Irony of the Age of Obama The concept of massive incarceration and making of the citizenry has become rather prevalent within societies throughout the globe especially within the United States. For years, Africans, primarily males, have endured and suffered the wrath of unbeknown acts, trickery and ploys of blame from situations within the work place that did pertain to them, as well as fictitious rape cases that of which was the most common. Unfortunately, these particular heinous acts still exist but within a new society and a new America. This is known to be one of the unhappiest ironies ...

Provide an overview of the emerging trend of privatization of jail and prison facilities.

For the past few decades the government correctional institutions started outsourcing their different jail and prison functions to the private agencies. The government took the initiative to privatize the jail and prison facilities to curtail the escalating correctional expenses and to reduce the pressure of inmates from overcrowded prisons. In 1991, number of private prisons was 44, in 1994 it was 88, and in 2000 there were 184 private prisons. (Perrone, D., & Pratt, T., n.d.). From1990 number of inmates in private facilities rose from 7771 to 129336 in 2009, which is an increase of 1664%. The quantum leap of ...

- Juvenile Delinquency - Theories of Delinquency Throughout history, communities and experts have varying opinions when it comes to explaining why there are juveniles or minors violating rules and laws. According to Martin (2005), early experts and communities tried to explain juvenile delinquency with two theories: demonism and naturalism. Naturalism pertains to the ‘practice of linking human affairs with the natural world, justifying human behavior with the influence of nature.’ For example, if the change due to lunar and solar cycles, human behavior is also affected by these forces. Ancient civilizations in the Mediterranean use this theory ...

AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER WOMEN

Question 1: Parameters of the Research The topic selected for this research is “The rates of incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.” The researcher’s interest in this topic stems from the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are over-represented in the Australian Criminal Justice system (NATSILS 2013). In particular, they are incarcerated at a rate fourteen times higher than non-Aboriginal and Torres Islander peoples (NATSILS 2013). According to statistics (NATSILS 2013), the incarceration rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men increased by 35% in 2010 while the incarceration rate for Aboriginal and Torres ...

Provide an overview of the emerging trend of privatization of jail and prison facilities.

For the past few decades the government correctional institutions started outsourcing their different jail and prison functions to the private agencies. The government took the initiative to privatize the jail and prison facilities to curtail the escalating correctional expenses and to reduce the pressure of inmates from overcrowded prisons. In 1991, number of private prisons was 44, in 1994 it was 88, and in 2000 there were 184 private prisons. (Perrone, D., & Pratt, T., n.d.). From1990 number of inmates in private facilities rose from 7771 to 129336 in 2009, which is an increase of 1664%. The quantum leap of ...

The Unites States of America has one of the most multicultural societies in the world. The nation is home to people from all races. In recent decades, the nation has become very democratic and racially tolerant. However, this has not always been the case. The United States has historically had a tendency of suppressing racially unique groups through racially motivated policies. The first example of this was the loss of liberty and land of the Native Americans to white settlers. The other action that comes to mind is the Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation between blacks and whites. There ...

Introduction

Through the years, debates have risen over the efficiency of incarceration in stopping and preventing a recurrence of criminal behavior in the society. Many doubt if it is a significant response to crimes, and does little in preventing the increase of recidivism. In some cases, the incarcerated criminals return to the society worse than they were; they engage in more serious and even violent crimes. It results in their return to prison; this depicts the justice system’s failure in helping the former inmates’ reform and fit back into the society. An increase in the number of people who commit more ...

- Reasons for and against parole and probation officers having arrest powers and the right to carry firearms. Parole and probation officers engage with aggressive offenders and work in high risk and hazardous areas. They usually experience violent incidents including threats, attacks by the offender’s dogs, physical violence and resistance from arrest, so they need to carry firearms for personal defense and have arresting authority. According to the National Center for Policy Analysis, criminals under community release commit approximately 15 murders per day hence proper arming and arrest powers is necessary in defensive situations. Arming probation and ...

Introduction

Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California is a book that is authored by Ruth Gilmore. The content in the book is as a result of research that was done in California Prisons (Gilmore 34-45). The author takes an ironic reproach to the conservative politicians and self-proclaimed criminologists who argue that prisonisation is the rational process to end crime rates and dispel fear from the streets. She takes a sharp critique at the unprecedented prison expansion in the United States. California is nicknamed ‘the Golden State’ since it houses natural beauty within rectangular borders. The power of the ...

The State of African Americans in the American Criminal Justice System

A nation’s justice system is more often than not the only body that ordinary, and sometimes, powerless citizens could rely on in times of political, civil, and criminal conflicts. For centuries, justice systems from all over the world have been established in an effort to maintain equality among the masses and prevent civil unrest. The criminal justice system may also be considered as a vital extension of a law enforcement system . This is mainly because most, if not all, processes involved in a criminal justice system are necessary for law enforcement and law enforcement-based penalties to be enforced.

In the past ...

Report on Prisons and Contemporary Issues

Prisonner's Rights to DNA Testing

A person convicted of a crime would nonetheless lose his constitutional rights for freedom. The objective of court trials is to weigh the evidence that all parties have presented to justify arguments of innocence or guilt. A court trial is the best time for any accused to prove his innocence of a crime and he should maximize that opportunity to do his best to defend himself. However, trials are not just about facts and evidence it's also about possibilities. Possibilities that the accused is actually innocent, despite the evidence pointing at him. As soon as the ...

Arthur Benaive (2008) like many concerned modern scientists in the American society consistently criticizes attempts by law markers in covering up the real deal of the drug trade claiming to have begun a “war on drugs.’ The author defines this situation “holy war’ comparing it to ones fought in Islamic nations for the purposes of religious freedom or acknowledgement of God. On the other hand, institutions set up to fight ‘war on drugs’ are actually means to building the business since there are benefits to be gained from sustaining it in the name of God classifying it ‘holy.’ From further ...

Should Criminals Be Punished With Lengthy Jail Terms Or Re-educated And Rehabilitated Using Community Service Programs For Instance, Before Being Reintroduced to Society?

Public opinion concerning criminals and punitive actions has always been one of the most disputable, arguable and ambiguous issues. At the time when some groups of people speak about the necessity of lengthy jail terms, the others believe in rehabilitation and effectiveness of treatment. In my opinion, if we want to achieve positive results, eradicate evil and prevent future crimes, incarceration should be viewed as a necessary and an inevitable punitive action.

In terms of this paper, ...

Criminal justice research project

Overview The respect and application of the rule of law is the integral function of the criminal justice system. Criminal justice system can be termed as collective institutions of implementing justice through upholding the constitution. Such institutions aid in mitigating and preventing crime, in the line of maintaining integrity, transparency and coexistence of the society. What is more, criminal justice institutions incorporate powerful structures, which propagate quality implementation of criminal justice. Similarly, criminal justice system is a process that entails arresting, investigating, prosecuting and imprisonment of criminals who violate the rule of law. AS a result, criminal justice system can ...