Privatization
In Taft, California, with a perimeter of razor wire, armed prison guards, supervise hundreds of medium security level federal inmates. Welcome to one of America's newest and fastest growing trends in the area of corrections. This new phenomenon is termed, The Corporation of Modern Corrections. Faced with an increase in prison overcrowding and aging institutions, court orders demanding immediate reform coupled with a straining budget, mandatory minimum sentences, and the public's attitude toward "getting tough on crime", America's justice system is in need of an overhaul. Thus, government leaders are ready to consider different options to help reduce the strain, while still meeting is legal responsibility to provide services. The option to emerge to the forefront is Prison Privatization - " the transfer of asset's and of production of public goods and services from government to the private sector."1 in other words, private interest is being given the opportunity to help alleviate the strain of taking care of a growing population more economically and efficiently than the government.
The expansion of the private sector into the prison system began to generate considerable interest and controversy in the mid - 1980's. Currently, almost all prisons' contract some type of service from the private sector to provide support, such as, construction, medical and religious services. However, the concept of relinquishing controls of adult offenders to profit seeking companies fuels a very controversial and heated debate. Most arguments center on whether private companies can truly provide a more efficient service at a lower cost than public institutions while not sacrificing quality. While others focus on the philoso...
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...hn D. The Privatization Decision, Public Ends, Private Means, New York, 1989 (INGLEWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY)
Smith, Phil. Private Prison : Profits of Crime,1993 Fall Issue Covert Action Quarterly. (Internet:http://mediafilter.org/MFF/Prison.html)
Logan, Charles. Prison Privatization: Objections and Refutations (Internet:http://www.ucc.uconn.edu/~wwwsoci/fraser.html)
Kicenski, Karyl L. The Corporate Prison: The Production of Crime and The Sale of Discipline, 1998 (Internet:http://speech.csun.edu/ben/news/kessay.html)
Hunzeker, Donna. Private Cells, Public Prisoners, 1991 State Legislatures (Inglewood Library)
Lemov, Penelope. Jailhouse Inc., 1993 Governing Magazine (Inglewood Library)
Unknown Author. Assessing the Issue: The Pros and Cons of Prison Privatization. 1996 (Internet:wysiwyg://24/http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/6465/assess.html)
Many young criminals are less likely to become career criminals if punished through public embarrassment than through prison. Prison can be a sign of manliness or a “status symbol” (Jacoby 197). He says “prison is a graduate school for criminals”, providing evidence that criminals want to be convicted and be in prison, to strengthen their status (Jacoby 197). Jacoby knows how to properly get his view across to the reader, by saying that prison is not as effective now, as it used to be.... ... middle of paper ...
California has one of the most dysfunctional and problematic prison system in US. Over the last 30 years, California prison increased eightfolds (201). California Department of Correctional and Rehabilitation (CDCR) does little to reform prisoners and serve as human warehouse rather than a correction institution. California's prison system fails the people it imprisons and society it tries to protect. In many cases, California's prison system exacerbates the pre-existing problems and aids in the formation of new problems for prisoners. This paper discuses the criminogenic effects of overcrowding, and reduction/elimination of programs and how it negatively affects California and the ballooning prison population and possible remedies.
The early American dream was first introduced by early settlers’ who aspired to move West and find land to start a new life and business, this eventually gravitated into a materialistic vision that evolved around lavish mansions, fancy cars, and expensive clothing, thus indicating great accomplishments
Stickrath, Thomas J., and Gregory A. Bucholtz. "Supermaximum Security Prisons Are Necessary." Supermax Prisons: Beyond the Rock. Lanham, MD: American Correctional Facility, 2003. Rpt. in America's Prisons. Ed. Clare Hanrahan. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
A private prison or for-profit prison, jail, or detention center is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically have contractual agreements with the governments that commit prisoners and then pay a per diem or monthly rate for each prisoner confined in that private facility. Private prisons have been part of the system for quite some years now, specifically for involvement in corrections. Private for-profit prison management started rising in the 1980s, they represented a qualitative shift in the relation between corrections and private business. The question is there really a difference between private and public facilities, since the two are suppose to be different when it comes t cost and efficiency, also are the private facilities being run as a correctional facility at all?
Disagreeing the theory that early bilingualism caused delays in lexical development, De Houwer (1995) suggested that bi-and monolingual children's lexical abilities developed very much alike. Meisel (1993) stated that the grammatical development of bi-and monolingual children was the same.
First we must try to establish a causational relationship so that we know it is the stimuli of bilingualism that causes the plasticity to occur. One journal tries to establish whether bilingualism can promote experience-dependent plasticity, in a similar way as musicians developing heightened processing in subcortical structures (Krizman, Marian, Shook, Skoe & Kraus, 2012). Specifica...
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.
Poverty continues to grow in America. The average minimum wage in the United States is $7.35 an hour- far too low in today’s society. Key expenses, for example, gas and housing prices, have gone up significantly since the minimum wage was last changed in 2007 (Wagner 52). The laws creating the minimum wage were intended to improve the standard of living and decrease poverty. Raising minimum wage is a vital step in decreasing poverty and giving every family the opportunity to survive and succeed. Millions of hard-working Americans are below the poverty line and need an increase in pay. Minimum wage must be raised because it will diminish poverty and assist the working class to support their families.
Asbury, Neal. “Raising the Minimum Wage Brings Minimum Benefits.” Money News. Newsmax Media, Inc., 14 Mar. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Since the beginning of our nation, literature has attempted to define “American Dream.” For the Puritans, living the American dream meant building God’s kingdom in this world and practicing their faith without persecution, whereas other settlers sought adventure and financial success. But within the last one hundred years the concept of the American Dream has taken on new meaning as the values and principles of cultures have changed. The modern man has sought security in the unachievable goal. Throughout the twentieth century literary periods, authors have unearthed the corrupt nature of an evolving American Dream, which has led to loss the moral values and fulfilment in the present reality.
Individually, when bilinguals bear in mind the fact that their ability to speak two languages helps their cognitive skills in strengthening development and function of attention, their self satisfaction should escalate. This is a blessing, not a hindrance. In America, people wrongfully look down upon foreigners as they arrive in the States, learn a second language, while also cling to their native language and cultural values. Monolingual Americans unjustifiably believe they have the advantage over these future bilinguals. What they do not know is when bilinguals master two languages and put into practice brain plasticity and cognitive development they will surpass and excel monolinguals with flying colors. It is proven through research that bilinguals outscore their monolingual peers again and again by more quicker, attentive, and accurate results. They should take pride in their hard work and consistent pressing motives to master a new language, hold onto their first, and do not compare themselves to the native monolinguals surrounding them. The Associated Press reports that up to 66 percent of the world’s children are raised bilingual (2001). Consequently, with those numbers society is humbled in understanding the bilingual advantage. It is comforting to be reminded of such an enriched advantage in bilingualism, even though monolinguist society disputes otherwise. Honestly, respect and acceptance in understanding the role of bilingualism plays an influential performance in bringing individuals and society
According to the estimates, bilinguals make up more than half of the global population (Grosjean, 2010). Bilingualism can be described as the ability to use two with certain degree of proficiency, whereas linguistic skills of monolinguals are restricted to just one language (for further definitions of bilingualism, see Moradi, 2014). Being bilingual means that both languages are always active to some degree, even in contexts that require just one of the languages. The ability to manage attention to two languages the entire time requires higher involvement of the non-linguistic executive control system (Abutalebi & Green, 2007; Bialystok, Craik, & Luk, 2012). Numerous behavioural studies have demonstrated a beneficial effect of bilingualism
What do we know about the effects bilingualism has on cognitive development? Our world is becoming progressively bilingual; in the US 21% of school age children between the ages of 5-17 years old can speak other than English at home and this number is expected to increase in the coming years. On top of social reasons, the positive effects to the cognitive development of the brain when introduced to a second language are of many. The age of acquisition is vital due to the plasticity of the brain, which according to the critical period hypothesis, begins to level after five years of age. In addition to plasticity, bilingual speakers are more capable of focusing their attention to solve complex problems compared to monolingual speakers. Therefore an individual will have more of a cognitive advantage if he/she is more adept in his/her languages. Bilingualism itself can be held responsible for increased levels of executive control; in order to maintain a balance between two languages the bilingual brain depends on a monitoring system of general cognitive abilities that includes attention and inhibition processes. Furthermore, studies have proven that bilingual patients suffer less from dementia and other aging diseases in the brain versus monolingual patients.
Giving the fact that metalinguistic awareness is not a single unit; different aspects of metalinguistic awareness reveal different correlates. While research about lexical awareness supports monolingual superiority (Chin & Wigglesworth, 2007), phonological awareness studies show discrepancy (Adesope et.al, 2010). It follows that not all research findings support bilingual superiority in all metalinguistic aspects. Some, report disadvantage or no difference between monolinguals and bilinguals, despite the fact that null significance is rare because journals interested more in dramatic findings (Bialystok, 2001; Adesope et.al, 2010).