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Crime control legislation in america
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Who knew it could be possible to be payed to stay out of prison? The age old saying that crime doesn’t pay could prove to be true in an ironic way, pending a bill being passed by the D.C. Council. According to McDermott (2016), “the D.C. Council gave preliminary approval Tuesday to an anti-crime bill that includes a provision that would pay residents who might commit or become the victims of violent crime to stay out of trouble.” My stance on the proposed anti crime bill is clear. I am whole heartedly for the concept of paying potential criminals to stay crime free. At first glance, I was astounded that Washington was considering the bill. The proposed plan is named the anti crime bill and its purpose is to lower crime rates and help victims. …show more content…
The proposed plan was put into use previously in Richmond, California. According to Murphy (2014), “So far, the results have been promising: As this story went to press, 65 of the 68 "fellows" enrolled in the program in the previous 47 months were still alive. One had survived a shooting and three had died. In 2007, when Boggan 's program began, Richmond was America 's ninth most dangerous city, with 47 killings among its 106,000 residents. In 2013, it saw its lowest number of homicides in 33 years, and its homicide rate fell to 15 per 100,000. Rates are dropping nationwide, but not so steeply. (In 2013, nearby Oakland 's homicide rate was 23 per 100,000; Detroit 's was 47 per …show more content…
There are numerous negative aspects to the proposed bill. Firstly, the question of ethics and morals comes into play. In my opinion, it is wrong to pay someone to stop them from committing crimes. The notion of paying criminals to stay crime free almost equates to bribery. Furthermore, paying criminals to stay crime free is not fixing the problem but rather just sweeping it under the rug. The anti crime bill might be even un-ethical because according to Murphy (2014), “white folks like to pat black folks on the head, give 'em a few bucks, and think that their problems will go away. It never happens.” Secondly, when you look at the previous program in Richmond, California, there was the problem that most of the mentors were prior criminals themselves. So they did their best to keep their mentees out of prison which poses a problem. According to Murphy (2014), “Boggan proudly notes that ONS staffers have never testified for or against anyone in court.” Thus, the program’s mentors could be covering up for their
Is people going to forget what happen in Ferguson? How about George Zimmerman being proven not guilty? Or that Eric Garner was screaming “ I can’t breathe” before his death? There are lists of African Americans all over the world who were not given the justice that they deserved. In todays, news African Americans are being treated unfairly compared to any other demographic groups. America is the greatest country in the world, but it is difficult to believe that being in the 21st century racism still does exist. For instance, when it was time to remove the confederate flag, some demographic groups had a hard time letting go. People who argue that “blue lives matter,” which states that police are justified when using force and being unfair. These reasons are not justifiable enough to kill someone. Black Lives Matter alleges that police target and use
Cohen (1985) supports this sentiment, and suggests that community based punishment alternatives have actually led to a widening and expansion of the retributive criminal justice system, rather than its abolishment. The current criminal justice system is expensive to maintain. In North America, the cost to house one prisoner is upwards of eighty to two hundred dollars a day (Morris, 2000). The bulk of this is devoted to paying guards and security (Morris, 2000).
American prisoners receive free medical attention, housing, meals, utilities, use of exercise equipment, and laundry services. The cost of these services amount in the billions of dollars a year and government budgets are straining to accommodate these fiscal requirements. “There’s special urgency in prisons these days,” “As state budgets get constricted, the public is looking for ways to offset the cost of imprisonment” (Brown). This economic concern requires work programs to aid in the relief of financial burdens incurred from convicted criminals. Once found guilty of a crime the prisoner needs to take responsibility for the costs incurred. Prison labor has evolved from the day of hard labor, breaking rocks, and making license plates to manufacturing, data processing, electronics, farming, construction, and even customer relations. Prisoners in America need to work, not to be confused with slavery, for economical, recidivism, and responsibility concerns. Work programs are crucial if taxpayers are tired of paying the cost for prison's financial liability, prisoner's family support, and release support programs.
The United States is one of the only few democratic countries that disenfranchises convicted felons. An estimated 5.85 million people charged with a felony are banned from voting. Moreover, felon disenfranchisement laws are a form of racial discrimination because a large percentage of felons are Hispanic, Latino or African American that have been incarcerated as a result of racial profiling. Denying felons from voting is unconstitutional since the right to vote and cast a ballot is supposed to be the cornerstone of democracy. Felons who have completed their sentence should be restored their right to vote as they should be able to participate in elections just like every other citizen. Despite being charged with a felony, felons are also American
Young, white, upper-class males who engage in crime are significantly less likely to serve jail time or even be arrested, than their black male counterpart. That being said, lower class white males are more likely to be arrested than their upper-class white counterpart. Is money truly the root of all evil? NO, it’s not. It is however what drives both sides of the criminal justice system. Of course, those with a higher SES or less likely to be arrested in general but there is more to it. In class, we discussed the issues of privatized jail and the revenue they make only when filled to capacity. The “If you build it, they will come!” mentality is fully functioning in the prison part of the criminal justice system. Many police forces are set up with numbers in mind, and in order to be successful a certain amount of arrest must be made. The War on Drugs spurred this ideology as the higher amount of arrest led citizens to think that crime was being lowered. Additionally, those with high-class status can afford to be represented properly in the criminal justice system and do not have to fear the extra fines placed on prisoners or even those just convicted of crimes. VICE – Fixing The System showcased stories of returning citizens who faced the stigmas of jail, the fines of the court, and were lead back into a life of crime just to make ends meet. This vicious cycle leads back into the criminal justice system with these returning citizens being rearrested or by violation of parole/payment, due to financial
President Barack Obama, the United States of America’s 44th president is on his second term of presidency and has addressed more social and financial issues during his tenure than crime control policies. President Obama came into office in 2009 and continues to serve as President of the United States. As one evaluates the policies that are in place during his administration a conclusion can be made that his primary focus has been that of health care, civil rights, and foreign policy amongst other agendas that don’t necessarily address his crime policy. President Obama has not proposed any majorly significant crime policies or drastic changes in the crime policies that were in place prior to his appointment (Marion & Oliver, 2012).
Today, half of state prisoners are serving time for nonviolent crimes. Over half of federal prisoners are serving time for drug crimes. Mass incarceration seems to be extremely expensive and a waste of money. It is believed to be a massive failure. Increased punishments and jailing have been declining in effectiveness for more than thirty years. Violent crime rates fell by more than fifty percent between 1991 and 2013, while property crime declined by forty-six percent, according to FBI statistics. Yet between 1990 and 2009, the prison population in the U.S. more than doubled, jumping from 771,243 to over 1.6 million (Nadia Prupis, 2015). While jailing may have at first had a positive result on the crime rate, it has reached a point of being less and less worth all the effort. Income growth and an aging population each had a greater effect on the decline in national crime rates than jailing. Mass incarceration and tough-on-crime policies have had huge social and money-related consequences--from its eighty billion dollars per-year price tag to its many societal costs, including an increased risk of recidivism due to barbarous conditions in prison and a lack of after-release reintegration opportunities. The government needs to rethink their strategy and their policies that are bad
We must take actions to reform police behavior! The problem is not the police nor the people of the United States, but the Federal Government system in which we all have to abide by. In order for a police reform to be implemented, the system has to be fixed and reconstructed. The people of the United States want to feel protected by the police, but on the other hand, they receive limited training on how to effectively interact with the people in the community they serve. Police officers are ordained by the power of the government. Police reform should start by giving proper training to new recruits and veterans, enforcing community policing and police accountability.
Would you believe that America has spent around five hundred billion dollars on prisons.(Butterfield) Why are the tax payers of America spending so much money on prisons and not other effective solutions to stopping crime? The American legislation is closed minded about reducing crime. They believe that prison is the one and only solution. Since crime keeps occurring, more and more prisons need to be built and kept running for the increasing numbers of inmates that are pouring into prisons. Prison may be part of the solution, but there are other alternatives to help criminals. If we were to incorporate facilities like drug rehabilitation and job training into the criminal justice system then crime would be greatly reduced. Prisoners would commit fewer crimes after the experience of these facilities, therefore reducing the cost of building and maintaining prisons. The end result will be that the American tax payer's dollars will be available to go to more productive things than prisons.
With prisons growing at the rate they are now, there must be more funding. 1 out of every 131 U.S citizens is incarcerated. The rest of the citizens have to pay for this person to have a place to sleep, eat, and exercise out of their taxes. These taxes can and should be used for more important issues. I...
Today, almost 70% of all prisoners are serving time for nonviolent offenses. U.S. States are spending an average of $100 million per year on new prisons and all U.S. taxpayers front the bill for a system that is not working (Carson). Why should we force taxpayers to pay to keep nonviolent criminals sitting in prison cells where they become bitter, aggressive, and more likely to repeat their offenses when released? The answer is we shouldn’t, there are more reliable forms of punishment available, and rehabilitation and restitution are two alternatives I firmly believe are most effective than incarceration.
Throughout human history, society tries to find the right way to deal with juvenile delinquency and problems of children who are abandoned, left without parental care, or abused. In the 19th century, the United States began to move in the direction of important social reforms that ultimately led to great changes in the ways of solving these problems. Various states have passed laws on child labor, which protected children from heavy-duty, the laws on social assistance to children who were working when the parents abused the children and did not care about them, the laws on education, which guarantees the right of every child to receive education.
Sherman, L., Gottfredson, D., MacKenzie, D., Eck, J., Reuter, P., & Bushway, S. (1998). Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising in Brief, Report to the United States Congress. National Institute of Justice.
There prison population is overpopulated with people just like these. The people in these cases needed help, whether it be employment opportunities, rehabilitation, an alternative to prison, or even a lesser sentence. We have learned that throwing everyone who has a problem in prison and letting them rot behind bars is not the answer. We have only created another problem that our prisons have become overcrowded, and when these offenders finally come out of prison they have a high risk to go right back in. We have to put funding back into communities, society needs to stop spending so much money on sending people to prison, and spend more money trying to keep them out. Society has to put funding back into creating employment opportunities, affordable rehab, and focus on low income communities who need the most help. We need to leave the violent offenders that we are afraid of for prison, and for the people that really need help we can 't put them in jail. Mandatory Minimum sentences are not the answer, this bill needs to be reformed. We have learned that our prisons are filled with people just like Angelos, Echols, and Lockwood who didn’t deserve such harsh sentences and would have benefitted from a judge 's discretion. These people lives would not have been ruined by these sentences if they had better
...nce at almost any cost. My planned proposal will take millions of dollars and a long time to implement. However, Texans need the program because society cannot function with the overwhelming amount of violence in today's world. The programs call for drastic changes in education, apprehension of criminals, the judicial system, and the prison system. It is unreasonable to expect to be financially able to hold a juvenile prisoner for a long period of time. However, with this program, the prisoners would be released on an incentive program. They would have to serve a reasonable amount of time in a strict prison, but they would be eligilble to be released at the earliest possible time, if they completed their programs. By improving these areas, we would still not be able to solve the problem, but I think it would be the best program that could realistically be implemented.