An issue is defined as an important topic that is up for debate or discussion. My issue discussed the alternative energy debate, and whether or not the United States should switch from traditional fossil fuels to alternative sources, remain using fossil fuels, or combine both sources for efficiency. I was able to begin connecting with Austin Heineman’s topic, which was over mass incarceration and its effects on society. Mass incarceration is defined as a large number of people in jails and prisons across the United States. Along with these presented issues, I inaugurated connecting points to Hannah Singer’s topic, vaccines in children. This presenter provided multiple statistics and weighed the costs of vaccinating children. Furthermore, I …show more content…
was able to connect alternative energy to Molly Melton’s topic, the impacts of technology. I weighed the positives and negatives of how technology has helped advanced alternative energy sources. The topic I presented was over alternative energy.
The main points I presented included whether or not to utilize alternative sources, such as: Geothermal, biofuels, or solar. Another stance on the topic is to remain using generic fossil fuels, such as coal and oil. The common ground would be to use both alternative sources and traditional fuels to sustain efficiency. There are multiple benefits to alternative sources. Benefits of biofuels include the fact that they can come from a variety of sources, such as plant materials, crops, and recycled vegetable oils, as per Christopher Cone of Science Progress stated. Another source is biodiesel, which replaces standard diesel. If utilized, it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, secure energy supplies, and promote the standardization of renewable energy. More positives of alternative sources suggest possible tax exempts, lower costs overall, coming from domestic sources, and also the availability of blending with multiple sources at a time. Possible negatives include the disadvantage of being limited or refined by OEM companies (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and scarcity of refueling options. The Environmental Defense Fund suggests, “using alternative sources, as traditional fossil fuels are known to cause health concerns…” (EDF). These health concerns include toxic compounds attacking organs, causing brain damage, or possible death. In parts of the country where lakes and waterways have been contaminated with mercury from …show more content…
electric power plants, fish are no longer safe to eat because they, too, are contaminated with heavy metal pollutants. Alternative energy connects with Austin’s topic of mass incarceration as prisons in the United States use a large amount to maintain their prisons.
In this presentation, it stated that prisons average $520 million dollars per year in costs to run their buildings and send people to jail. A large percentage of that number includes the fossil fuels used to operate the prisons across the United States, such as the heating and providing meals. Linda Poon of Citylab stated that from the 200,000 adults in prison in 1973, has drastically grown to 1.5 million by 2009. “Today, the nation has more than 5,000 such facilities in both cities and rural areas. Many are overcrowded, presenting serious health concerns for the inmates, officers, and nearby communities. Many also produce waste and pollution far beyond local and federal standards…” (Poon). With this connection to mass incarceration, it strengthens the argument that the United States should transition to using alternative sources, as prices will see a downwards trend instead of
increased. Fossil fuels are essential to saving lives just as vaccines are. All machines, devices, and vehicles depend on fossil fuels. While the traditional oils, petroleum, and coal are sustainable for all parts of life, so are alternative sources. The only possible negative to alternative sources being they require more complex processes to accumulate the energy. Vaccines work the same way. Hannah’s presentation stated that many major diseases have been defeated with the help of vaccines. The vaccines given by reliable sources, like doctors, are all approved by the FDA. ProCon suggests vaccines can save lives, as they prove 99.9% effective in dissolving extremely harmful diseases. Along with the development of vaccines and the knowledge of energy comes into the connection with technology, and how technology has impacted these topics as a whole. Molly’s presentation was over technology. Technology has allowed for doctors and scientists to study alternative sources more in-depth, as in comparing prices and sufficiency of all the possible different sources. Along with developments of technology over the last few decades, it has been made easier to obtain oil, coal, and natural gases through processes of combustion. All of the issues presented: Alternative energy, impacts of technology, mass incarceration, and vaccines vary in differences and similarities. Overall, they affect the same audiences.
Land of the Unfree: Mass Incarceration and Its Unjust Effects on Those Subjected To It and American Taxpayers
Mandatory minimums for controlled substances were first implemented in the 1980s as a countermeasure for the hysteria that surrounded drugs in the era (“A Brief History,” 2014). The common belief was that stiff penalties discouraged people from using drugs and enhanced public safety (“A Brief History,” 2014). That theory, however, was proven false and rather than less illegal drug activity, there are simply more people incarcerated. Studies show that over half of federal prisoners currently incarcerated are there on drug charges, a 116 percent percentage rise since 1970 (Miles, 2014). Mass incarceration is an ever growing issue in the United States and is the result of policies that support the large scale use of imprisonment on
Whether or not Supermax prisons, short for super-maximum security prisons, are more crucial and longer lasting, the question has been if these prisons are useful in applying lessons learned into criminals. Supermax prisons hold some of the most dangerous criminals convicted. Supermax prisons have been known to have their pros and cons. The common pros of supermax prisons was the separation of gangs as well as many other prisoners who act out in violence commonly. Although many may say that these kind of prisons are considered “concentration” and “dispersion”, supermax prisons are often needed to maintain relief of the criminals not acting out. The effectiveness of supermax prisons is what many debate on, which have made many different arguments
Most black Americans are under the control of the criminal justice today whether in parole or probation or whether in jail or prison. Accomplishments of the civil rights association have been challenged by mass incarceration of the African Americans in fighting drugs in the country. Although the Jim Crow laws are not so common, many African Americans are still arrested for very minor crimes. They remain disfranchised and marginalized and trapped by criminal justice that has named them felons and refuted them their rights to be free of lawful employment and discrimination and also education and other public benefits that other citizens enjoy. There is exists discernment in voting rights, employment, education and housing when it comes to privileges. In the, ‘the new Jim crow’ mass incarceration has been described to serve the same function as the post civil war Jim crow laws and pre civil war slavery. (Michelle 16) This essay would defend Michelle Alexander’s argument that mass incarcerations represent the ‘new Jim crow.’
In recent years, there has been controversy over mass incarceration rates within the United States. In the past, the imprisonment of criminals was seen as the most efficient way to protect citizens. However, as time has gone on, crime rates have continued to increase exponentially. Because of this, many people have begun to propose alternatives that will effectively prevent criminals from merely repeating their illegal actions. Some contend that diversion programs, such as rehabilitation treatment for drug offenders, is a more practical solution than placing mentally unstable individuals into prison. By helping unsteady criminals regain their health, society would see an exceptional reduction in the amount of crimes committed. Although some
In recent decades, violent crimes in the United States of America have been on a steady decline, however, the number of people in the United States under some form of correctional control is reaching towering heights and reaching record proportions. In the last thirty years, the incarceration rates in the United States has skyrocketed; the numbers roughly quadrupled from around five hundred thousand to more than 2 million people. (NAACP)In a speech on criminal justice at Columbia University, Hillary Clinton notes that, “It’s a stark fact that the United States has less than five percent of the world’s population, yet we have almost 25 percent of the world’s total prison population. The numbers today are much higher than they were 30, 40
There are too many people incarcerated in the United States of America. The U.S. imprisons 724 people per 100,000. In absolute numbers United States has more of its citizens behind bars then do China or Russia combined. (Gallagher 2008). There are about thousand U.S. citizens that become incarcerated in the prison system in any given week. Many of the prisons are so crowded that they have converted the gymnasium into a massive housing unit. These massive housing units hold hundreds of prisoners inside small gymnasiums. The bunk beds are stacked four or five high with every available space reserved for the bunk beds. Even though the prisons are over double capacity they have not added one extra toilet or shower at any of the facilities. Because of this many of the prisoners report tha...
The proliferation of prison overcrowding has been a rising concern for the U.S. The growing prison population poses considerable health and safety risks to prison staffs and employees, as well as to inmates themselves. The risks will continue to increase if no immediate actions are taken. Whereas fighting proliferation is fundamentally the duty of the U.S. government, prison overcrowding has exposed that the U.S. government will need to take measures to combat the flaws in the prison and criminal justice system. Restructuring the government to combat the danger of prison overcrowding, specifically in California, thus requires reforms that reestablishes the penal codes, increases the state’s budget, and develops opportunities for paroles to prevent their return to prison. The following context will examine and discuss the different approaches to reduce the population of state prisons in California in order to avoid prison overcrowding.
In today’s society, we often find people who have a bias against the correctional system. We find these people to have no credible source besides the information the media proposes, third party information, or if they themselves have been locked up. Whether we sit and listen to them preach about the corruptness is up to us.
The past two decades have engendered a very serious and historic shift in the utilization of confinement within the United States. In 1980, there were less than five hundred thousand people confined in the nation’s prisons and jails. Today we have approximately two million and the numbers are still elevating. We are spending over thirty five billion annually on corrections while many other regime accommodations for education, health
According to the Oxford Index, “whether called mass incarceration, mass imprisonment, the prison boom, or hyper incarceration, this phenomenon refers to the current American experiment in incarceration, which is defined by comparatively and historically extreme rates of imprisonment and by the concentration of imprisonment among young, African American men living in neighborhoods of concentrated disadvantage.” It should be noted that there is much ambiguity in the scholarly definition of the newly controversial social welfare issue as well as a specific determination in regards to the causes and consequences to American society. While some pro arguments cry act as a crime prevention technique, especially in the scope of the “war on drugs’.
“Doing projects really gives people self-confidence. Nothing is better than taking the pie out of the oven. What it does for you personally, and for your family 's idea of you, is something you can 't buy." - Martha Stewart. Rehabilitated prisoners programs, for example, in the prisons are one of the most important programs in prison to address the causes of criminality and restore criminal’s self-confidence. Therefore, many governments are still taking advantage of their prisoners while they are in prison. However, some people believe that prison programs ' can improve and develop the criminals to be more professionals in their crimes. In addition, rehabilitated programs help inmates in the character building, ethical behavior, and develop
Overcrowding in our state and federal jails today has become a big issue. Back in the 20th century, prison rates in the U.S were fairly low. During the years later due to economic and political factors, that rate began to rise. According to the Bureau of justice statistics, the amount of people in prison went from 139 per 100,000 inmates to 502 per 100,000 inmates from 1980 to 2009. That is nearly 261%. Over 2.1 million Americans are incarcerated and 7.2 million are either incarcerated or under parole. According to these statistics, the U.S has 25% of the world’s prisoners. (Rick Wilson pg.1) Our prison systems simply have too many people. To try and help fix this problem, there needs to be shorter sentences for smaller crimes. Based on the many people in jail at the moment, funding for prison has dropped tremendously.
Not everyone loves the ideas of alternatives to prison because alternatives to prison seem to work only when there is a limited number of cases that adhere to the sentence, However, when places like California is spending more money on their prison systems than on actual education, alternatives to prison seem to be the best choice (David, 2006).
Shelden, R. G. (1999). The Prison Industrial Complex. Retrieved November 16, 2013, from www.populist.com: http://www.populist.com/99.11.prison.html