“The ultimate expression of law is not order- its prison. There are hundreds upon hundreds of prisons and thousands upon thousands of laws, yet there is no social order, no social peace” (Jackson, 1975). Over the years, there are many controversial debates whether prisons work or not, and if does work whether it works and serve the purpose that should have. In the following paragraphs it is going to be a critical evaluation regarding the case of abolishing prisons, and whether it is a solution of the “problematic” prison. Firstly it is going to be a critical assessment of the concept that prison does work and the idea of penal expansionism, then the criticisms for this concept. Moreover in the specific essay it is going to be a critical evaluation …show more content…
Michael Howard argued that prison work since it ensures that society is safe from rapists, murderers and gangsters, also it makes people who are tempted to commit criminal act to think about it more, as they know the consequences- prison. From this perspective it is already acknowledged that more people might go to prison (1993). Furthermore, according to Rutherford penal expansionism conducted when the prisons are “full” and there is a significant increase of the population of the prisons. When these occurs there are recommendations to develop more prisons, to hired more prison stuff and to increase the security across the penal estate …show more content…
These are consequently two extents of the crisis of political legality, penal legality and ethical legality (Fitzgerald and Sim,1982) For penal abolitionists, for example Joe Sim, custody could not be comprehended with no references to social context. In other words the social divisions sections and in general the structural inequalities that society have, such as poverty, racism and sexism. Because the imprisonment most of the times are towards the powerless, poor and vulnerable, rather than the most hazardous, in this sense prison does not fulfill its purposes. Thus, it can be said that they are politically
Many changes are made inside the justice system, but very few have damaged the integrity of the system and the futures of citizens and prisoners. Although the story seems to focus more on lockdown, Hopkins clearly identifies the damaging change from rehabilitation in prisons to a strategy of locking up and containing the prisoners. To the writer, and furthermore the reader, the adjustment represented a failure to value lives. “More than 600,000- about 3 times what it was when I entered prison, sixteen years ago. In the resulting expansion of the nation’s prison systems, authorities have tended to dispense with much of the rehabilitative programming once prevalent in America’s penal institutions” (Hopkins 157). The new blueprint to lock every offender in prison for extended sentencing leads to an influx in incarcerated people. With each new person
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 ...
The “pains of imprisonment” can be divided into five main conditions that attack the inmate’s personality and his feeling of self-worth. The deprivations are as follows: The deprivation of liberty, of goods and services, of heterosexual relationships, autonomy and of security.
According to Mark Early, president of the Prison Fellowship International, the Bureau of Justice Statistics report shows that there are 19 states that have prisons operating at 100 percent capacity and another 20 are falling right behind them. There is no wonder why the overcrowding of prisons is being discussed everywhere. Not to mention how serious this predicament is and how serious it can get. Many of the United States citizens don’t understand why this is such a serious matter due to the fact that some of them believe it’s not their problem. Therefore they just don’t care about it. Also, some Americans may say that they don’t care about what could happen to the inmates due to repercussions of overcrowding, because it’s their own fault. In order to cure this growing problem people have to start caring about what’s going on, even if it’s to people who might deserve it.
In Western cultures imprisonment is the universal method of punishing criminals (Chapman 571). According to criminologists locking up criminals may not even be an effective form of punishment. First, the prison sentences do not serve as an example to deter future criminals, which is indicated, in the increased rates of criminal behavior over the years. Secondly, prisons may protect the average citizen from crimes but the violence is then diverted to prison workers and other inmates. Finally, inmates are locked together which impedes their rehabilitation and exposes them too more criminal
Mass incarceration is a massive system of racial and societal management. It is the process by which individuals jailed for the criminal structure. Marked culprits and criminals are put in jail for a long time and after that are discharged into a permanent second-class status in which they are stripped of essential civil and human rights. It is a framework that works to control individuals, frequently at early ages, and all parts of their lives after they have been seen as suspects in some wrongdoing. Alexander discusses the three stages in the cycle of mass incarceration. Those three stages include roundup, the period of formal control, and period of invisible.
The essay is written in a very critical style where the reader will feel like they have been wast...
In today's society, we are facing many changes. Our own family, neighbors, and countrymen are afraid of many dangers which influence their lives. Although many people have fear which resonates in their consciousness and unconsciousness, the United States has a comparatively low crime rate. Despite this low crime rate, America incarcerates it's citizens five times the rate of Canada and seven times that of most European democracies.(Slambrouck, Paul. 24) Our society needs to be changed. We cannot blame the individuals involved in wrongdoing but we can blame our society who raised these criminals. Of course someone who kills another human being needs to be put away in some form; but we need to make changes. We need to help as many maladjusted people as we can. There are some steps which really seem to work. There are many prison inmates who come from broken homes and have low self-esteem. What needs to be done to help these insecure people, who are at war with themselves and society, is to rehabilitate them. The problem is the prison officials do not try to teach the prisoners how to learn from their mistakes.(McGovern, Celeste. 42) What actually happens is that criminals tend to be better thefts, and have the ability to out smart the police. Our politicians need to stress how important vocational, educational, drug-treatment, and religious programs are, in order to improve the attitude and demeanor of these convicted felons. This is the only way to keep ex-con's from jail.(DeLuca, H.R. 38) Another problem with America's prison system is overcrowding. There is a huge amount of young conscienceless offenders who are entering today's prisons. Imagine trying to compact eight gallons of water in a five gallon con...
...ns constitute a structural network of supervision, in which individuals may not only be subjected to power, but also play a role in employing and exercising power. Moreover, individuals internalize such and act accordingly. As such, there has been a greater possibility for intervention in individuals’ lives, not only in terms of illegal actions but also crimes against abnormalities. The aim of contemporary discipline is the transformation of individuals into productive forces of society. The basic functioning of society rests on such. Ultimately, the nineteenth century penal regime- not limited to the judicial system- has been largely successful in exerting disciplinary power. Not only has disciplinary power dispersed outside the walls of prison, but moreover, members of society have remained unaware of its presence, as they conform to and participate in it.
McMurty, John. "Caging the Poor: The Case Against the Prison System." The Case For Penal Abolition. Ed. W. Gordon West and Ruth Morris. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars' Press, 2000. 167-186.
As shown through census' and statistics of prison populations, most offenders in the prison system have been convicted for non-violent crimes, such as drug related charges and theft and robbery convictions (Kitossa 2016). These non-violent crime convictions stem from social and economic inequality. Within the system of capitalism, those at the bottom of the social hierarchy are exploited in the labour wage market and many must turn to what the elite have termed "illegal" means in order to provide for themselves and their families. The industrialization of imprisonment has caused and continues to harm society because it perpetuates and reinforces social inequality, the very thing that causes most crimes. I will focus on three different ways that imprisonment perpetuates and reinforces social inequality in prisons and the rest of society, and how this creates a negative cycle, for those capitalism has defined as poor and weak.
The origin of the word prison comes from the Latin word to seize. It is fair to say that the traditionally use of prison correspond well with the origin of the word; as traditionally prison was a place for holding people whilst they were awaiting trail. Now, centuries on and prisons today is used as a very popular, and severe form of punishment offered to those that have been convicted. With the exception however, of the death penalty and corporal punishment that still takes place in some countries. Being that Prison is a very popular form of punishment used in today's society to tackle crime and punish offenders, this essay will then be examining whether prison works, by drawing on relevant sociological factors. Furthermore, it will be looking at whether punishment could be re-imagined, and if so, what would it entail?
Throughout history, there has been debate as to whether the true purpose of prison is to punish an offender for their wrongdoings, or to focus more on rehabilitation (Burlingame, 2012). In today’s society, there are generally four agreed upon purposes of prison, being incapacitation, retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation (Scottish Centre for Crime & Justice Research, n.d.). However, this begs the question as to whether prisons today are effectively meeting these aims, or if they are in need of serious reform. The purpose of this essay will be to discuss whether prisons in their current form are meeting the aims of incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation, and deterrence, or if they are in need of drastic reform. Discussion of this
Prison was designed to house and isolate criminals away from the society in order for our society and the people within it to function without the fears of the outlaws. The purpose of prison is to deter and prevent people from committing a crime using the ideas of incarceration by taking away freedom and liberty from those individuals committed of crimes. Prisons in America are run either by the federal, states or even private contractors. There are many challenges and issues that our correctional system is facing today due to the nature of prisons being the place to house various types of criminals. In this paper, I will address and identify three major issues that I believe our correctional system is facing today using my own ideas along with the researches from three reputable outside academic sources.
(MoJ). Therefore it can be suggested that prison does not work as well to rehabilitate their prisoners. In addition when talking about prison, other issues arise such as the legitimacy and inequality which is present in the criminal justice system, including prisons. It has been identified that these issues are not visible to the mainstream of society as ‘incarceration is concentrated and segregated.’ Meaning that prisons are seen to be intense and divided, from the public.