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Problems with our justice system
Articles or essays on abolishing the death penalty
Psychological effects of prison
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Recommended: Problems with our justice system
To say our judicial system is flawed is an understatement. Even with that being said, there is plenty of room for improvements. To run and operate a prison cost tax payers entirely too much money. This money could go towards many other things that could help out our society as a whole. For example, we could build better schools or even set up more funding for daycares or something along those lines. In order to accomplish some of these options, our judicial systems has to make some reforms to how it operates. The treatment of inmates in prison has monumental effects on how a person will act once they are released back into the general public. One aspect that needs much more attention is the violence that occurs in prison needs to be reduced.
As stated in the text, there’s always a chance they could have killed the wrong person. There are advances in forensic science all the time and considering so many have already been exonerated simply due to the advances in DNA testing alone. I think it is a safe assumption that we could do away with the death penalty altogether. Most of the other countries in the world have already abolished it and with good reasons. It saves the country money in the long run and it allows those to suffer the rest of their days in prison which contrary to some popular belief is not an environment where one wants to live out their days. Another way in which the criminal justice system can be improved upon that rarely gets talked about is holding prosecutors responsible for their dereliction of duty. Their negligence could be the direct reason why someone is falsely convicted and yet nothing is done to them for it. They find ways to circumvent crucial evidence and suffer no punitive repercussions. Some prosecutors have even been known to completely piece together or even make up evidence that makes the defendant appear guilty. How is it possible that these individuals get away with these types of activities and experience no legal
Throughout his novel, Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire, author and professor Robert Perkinson outlines the three current dominant purposes of prison. The first, punishment, is the act of disciplining offenders in an effort to prevent them from recommitting a particular crime. Harsh punishment encourages prisoners to behave because many will not want to face the consequences of further incarceration. While the purpose of punishment is often denounced, many do agree that prison should continue to be used as a means of protecting law-abiding citizens from violent offenders. The isolation of inmates, prison’s second purpose, exists to protect the public. Rehabilitation is currently the third purpose of prison. Rehabilitation is considered successful when a prisoner does n...
The criminal justice system has been evolving since the first colonists came to America. At first, the colonists used a criminal justice system that mirrored those in England, France, and Holland. Slowly the French and Dutch influences faded away leaving what was considered the English common law system. The common law system was nothing more than a set of rules used to solve problems within the communities. This system was not based on laws or codes, but simply that of previous decisions handed down by judges. Although rudimentary, this common law system did make the distinction between misdemeanors and the more serious crimes known as felonies.
...rulson, Marquart, Vaughn, Bever (2010). Additional research has revealed that individual-level risk factors, like gang history, recurrent prison confinements, active criminal justice status, previous arrests and convictions, substance abuse history, and others are associated with prison misconduct and violence among inmates (DeLisis, Caudill, Trulson, Marquart, Vaughn, Bever (2010). In other research inmates’ psychological characteristic were studied such as anger in relation to their criminal history, these variables also relate to misconduct in prison.
Saint Augustine once said, “In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?” The criminal justice system in America has been documented time and time again as being a legal system that borders on the surreal. We as Americans live in a country where the Justice Department has failed to collect on $7 billion in fines and restitutions from thirty-seven thousand corporations and individuals convicted of white collar crime. That same Justice Department while instead spending more than 350% since 1980 on total incarceration expenditures totaling $80 billion dollars. America has become a place where a 71-year-old man will get 150 years in prison for stealing $68 billion dollars from nearly everyone in the country and a five-time petty offender in Dallas was sentenced to one thousand years in prison for stealing $73.
There are several fundamental problems within America’s penal system. First, the name “penal” system indicates that the main focus is punishment. Punishment is meant to “teach them a lesson,” i.e. deter the convicts from future crime. Reasonable or unreasonable, punishment often results in the punished resenting and holding negative feelings for the punisher. If society is the punisher, inmates will not be motivated to go back into the general populace as a valued and productive member of society. Furthermore, prison has been commonly known to be both a training ground for more sophisticated crime as well as psychologically hardening nonviolent or innocent inmates that were falsely accused.
Throughout history into today, there have been many problems with our prison system. Prisons are overcrowded, underfunded, rape rates are off the charts, and we as Americans have no idea how to fix it. We need to have shorter sentences and try to rehabilitate prisoners back to where they can function in society. Many prisoners barely have a high school education and do not receive further education in jail. Guards need to pay more attention to the well being of the inmates and start to notice signs of abuse and address them. These are just a few of the many problems in our prison systems that need to be addressed.
It is said that prison should be used for more serious crimes such as rape, assault, homicide and robbery (David, 2006). Because the U.S. Prison is used heavily for punishment and prevention of crime, correctional systems in the U.S. tend to be overcrowded (David, 2006). Even though prisons in the U.S. Are used for privies on of crime it doesn 't work. In a 2002 federal study, 67% of inmates that
Every civilization in history has had rules, and citizens who break them. To this day governments struggle to figure out the best way to deal with their criminals in ways that help both society and those that commit the crimes. Imprisonment has historically been the popular solution. However, there are many instances in which people are sent to prison that would be better served for community service, rehab, or some other form of punishment. Prison affects more than just the prisoner; the families, friends, employers, and communities of the incarcerated also pay a price. Prison as a punishment has its pros and cons; although it may be necessary for some, it can be harmful for those who would be better suited for alternative means of punishment.
Everyday, the American prison system becomes more crowded and over-burdened. Prison bed space cannot keep up with the prison population. While presidents and governors call for a “tough stance” on crime, the infrastructure is inadequate to contain all offenders. However, even if there were enough room to fit every individual that commits a criminal act, would this be the best move for the community and the offender? Placing an individual into a prison removes them from the general population, thus making the society they live in safer. But, separating individuals in a community does indirectly injure the community as a whole. These individuals obviously are no longer contributing to the local economy, but on a basic level, their absence places a hole into a community. Offenders have been shaped by the values and pr...
The criminal justice system in America is comprised of not just one but of a set of organizations and procedures that have been created by governments in order to mitigate crime and impose penalties for those people who choose to break the law. The United States has many individual criminal justice systems and each jurisdiction i.e. city, county, state, federal or tribal government or military has the ability to dictate how the system works as well as have different laws. With that being said, people in the United States rarely have contact with the criminal justice system and subsequently get much of their ideals and knowledge of what the criminal justice system is and how it works from the media, especially through entertainment television viewing. (Albany) Even though I have been to countless court hearings as a police officer, attending a jury trial as a student was different as I was able to step back and look at it through the eyes of a learner and not an agent of the government.
Longitudinal research has been conducted comparing the rate of violence in male and female prisons. It is important to do research on this topic because it does not only lead to the conclusion of where is violence prevalent, but focuses on other aspects as well. It focuses on the psychological, social, and sexual side of the inmate. This topic does not only focus on who has the highest rates of violence, but why does that sex have a higher rate. This topic looks deeper at the differences between male and female inmates and what causes them to have high rates of violence. Most people would say that male prisons have a higher rate of violence due to biological reasons. People tend to think that males are more aggressive therefore violence is prevalent in male prisons, yet there is a lot more to this idea.
The criminal justice system has a lot people and organizations incorporated within it. Within this system there are police, correctional officers, offenders, lawyers, etc. The criminal justice system is set up for people to keep the society in order. For my semester project I interviewed a friend of mine who I gave a pseudonym of Bart Malone. Mr. Malone was unnecessarily arrested a few months ago while in the passenger seat. He was accused of committing illegal acts which caused him to become a victim. I conducted an interview over the phone with Mr. Malone so he could share his story and give detailed information through the questions I asked him. After the interview I replayed the tape and really focused on the answers he gave to the questions. I was able to gain knowledgeable insight about the criminal justice system.
There are many different problems that plague the prison system today. The biggest issue today is overcrowding. This is a major problem that is effecting every prison system throughout the country. There are many people that say that the judges are the biggest reason for this. However, if people would not commit crimes, then the judges would not have as many people that need to be punished, and that would mean that there will be less people going to prison, and more people that are better citizens by staying out of trouble. If we could all learn to stay out of trouble, then the prison system, the judges, the law enforcement officers, the courts, and all the rest of the divisions inside the justice branch, will have less work to do, and will have less people that are needing to be punished. At the same time, the law makers need to figure out some way to make the punishments for the crimes different so that we can keep people from being repeat offenders. The people that are the issue here are those that are repeat offenders. What this means is that people that are getting out of prison have not
Introduction Due to the nature of the criminal justice system, the history of the treatment of those with mental disorders and the history of the criminal justice system have been intimately intertwined. Both the criminal justice system and treating mentally ill individuals can be traced back to the beginning of human existence. Over the ages, both systems have evolved and expanded with the changes within society. In some ways, the criminal justice system has become more tolerant of those with mental illness, while in other aspects, the criminal justice system has become less tolerant of those with mental disorders. Now more than ever, the criminal justice system interacts with mentally ill individuals.
Human services provides help to individuals, families and children that are in crisis or have needs that are not being met. One of the systems within human services focuses on upholding the law to the fullest extent. According to the National Center for Victims of Crime “The criminal justice system is the set of agencies and processes established by governments to control crime and impose penalties on those who violate laws”. In other words this system seeks out to provide justice and safety for victims of horrendous crimes while also prosecuting those who commit these crimes. This system is in place in order to protect and serve the many individuals in the U.S be it at a local, state or federal level.