Draft Research Paper: Can Criminal Justice Reform truly be effective? Abstract: This essay explores the effectiveness of criminal justice reform systems. Criminal Justice Reform was chosen because it's a global issue and because I have a personal connection to it. By analyzing past and current approaches, my research encompasses the historical evolution of these systems and the ever-rising need for improved reform efforts. By exploring the pros and cons of past and current systems, the potential improvements that can ensure fairness and efficacy in the criminal justice system are pointed out to my readers. Honestly, I was excited to conduct my research and deepen my understanding of the topic. There are various proposed improvements to current …show more content…
Yet, its efficacy has come under scrutiny, with concerns ranging from racial biases to punitive measures that exacerbate rather than alleviate societal issues. In an era marked by debates over the efficacy and fairness of criminal justice systems, the question looms large: Can a Criminal Justice Reform truly be effective? I will endeavor to unravel the complexities of criminal justice reform driven by a personal commitment to seek avenues for improvement for fairness and equality. However, persistent disparities and inadequacies underscore the pressing need for reform. Skeptics may argue that the current system, flawed as it may be, represents the best available option, or that reform efforts could jeopardize public safety. However, in a nation that houses the largest population of prisoners, criminal justice reform stands as a cornerstone of societal order, tasked with maintaining lawfulness and dispensing justice. Practices of reform’s effectiveness have often been questioned, with criticisms ranging from racial bias to punitive approaches that exacerbate rather than alleviate issues. My research sets the stage for a comprehensive examination of the complexities surrounding criminal justice reform. We will review historical evolution, high United States incarceration rates, systemic inequities, societal investments, and potential …show more content…
We lead in racial disparities in arrest rates, sentencing outcomes, and access to legal representation. As illustrated by Hessick (2023), a law professor, “The result is a type of bureaucratic creep, with an especially pernicious outcome – specifically, more people in cages”. Ultimately, globally, highlighting deep-rooted biases that undermine the principles of fairness and equal protection under the law. She further explains, that although the role of democracy in the criminal justice system is failing, there is still hope in reforming it with the inclusion of the American public. Rosenberg (2020) urges reform through scrutiny in grand jury secrecy proceedings, “The prosecutor, an agent of the executive department, can operate in a complete absence of effective scrutiny. What she says to the grand jury, what information she chooses to share with it, what information she withholds from it, and what legal instructions she provides to the grand jury are completely beyond the scrutiny of any other branch of government except in extraordinary circumstances. There is no other instance in which a public servant is given such freedom from scrutiny.” Further exploring violations of a defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights by authorizing hearsay evidence. By implementing reforms
Can Criminal Justice Reform truly be effective? Abstract This essay examines the effectiveness of criminal justice reform systems, chosen due to its global relevance and my personal connection to it. By analyzing past and current approaches, the research encompasses the historical evolution of these systems and the ever-rising need for improved reform efforts. By exploring the pros and cons of past and current systems, the potential improvements that can ensure fairness and efficacy in the criminal
The U.S. sentenced over 1.57 million criminals to prisons in 2013 alone, and increased to 2.2 million by 2015. The country spends over 60 billion dollars building new facilities and maintaining existing ones, and can spend up to $60,000 for the cost of living on a single inmate. After such spending, questions are raised to the efficiency and benefits received from this exponential cost. Is incarceration the most effective method of imprisonment, and does it truly deter crime? Do methods exists in which
Victims have unquestionably been catalysts for a number of the most far-reaching reforms in the Criminal Justice System. Apart from punishing offenders, justice also requires that victims of crime must receive a lot of support in order for them to not be isolated and alienated from both the Criminal Justice System and the community. Historically some victims of crime have not been given enough consideration and therefore have been neglected. Throughout the recent years community awareness in relation
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
industrialized world. (National Criminal Justice Commission) This quote from Dave Kelly shows many of the issues with the United State’s criminal justice system today. The prison population is increasing because prisoners are being taken in at a higher rate than they are released. Also these prisons have become dangerous; inmates are exposed to a great deal of violence inside prison walls. These problems do not result from stingy spending on the prisons, which can be seen from the billions of dollars
that we can take a better path in the future. In the field of law, this is especially important. Specifically in the Criminal Justice System, history is a roadmap that is mainly used a way to examine the cause and effect relationship between policies, laws, and society. Criminal law is a complex interaction between criminal procedures and the sanctions that are imposed on individuals for breaking the law. Legislator use a myriad of analysis tools to determine if laws are as effective as they are
All the laws, which concern with the administration of justice in cases where an individual has been accused of a crime, always begin with the initial investigation of the crime and end either with imposition of punishment or with the unconditional release of the person. Most of the time it is the duty of the members of constituted authorities to inflict the punishment. Thus it can be said that almost all of the punishments are an act of self-defense and an act of defending the community against
“[t]he American criminal justice system holds more than 2.3 million people,” a fifth of which for a drug offense, most nonviolent. Why is it that the so called “Land of the Free” has so many of its citizens behind bars? I clung to the notion that it wasn’t the government’s or society’s fault these people were in jail. It was the prisoners to blame. They did the crime, so they had to do the time. In the article “Prison: To Punish or Reform” Dianne Clemens, president of Justice for All- Citizens
replace them with more humane and effective systems. It is distinct from prison reform, which is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons; however, relying on prisons less could improve their conditions by reducing overcrowding.Some organizations such as the Anarchist Black Cross seek total abolishment of the prison system, not intending to replace it with other government-controlled systems. Many anarchist organizations believe that the best form of justice arises naturally out of social contracts
highest incarceration rate in the world at 756 per 100,000, including juveniles in addition to adults (Purposes of Prisons). The number of prisoners continues to increase yet the correctional system’s mission statement is to reform inmates so that when their sentence is completed they can re-enter society as a “new person”. Prisons offer programs like therapy and jobs to prisoners to help them facilitate their skills and channel their emotions, but, if the recidivism rates of ex-convicts returning to prison
are re-arrested within five years of release (Goldstein, 2014). The fundamental problem with prisons is that they fail to address the economic and social circumstances that make crime the choice of highest utility, emotionally rehabilitate the criminals or dissuade people from committing crime; in fact, they return convicts to those exact circumstances or worse, in the same psychological circumstances or worse.
Many individuals who leave prison are left in worse positions than they were coming in. The U.S. Department of Justice says “67% of the 404,638 state prisoners released in 2005 in 30 states were arrested within 3 years of release, and 76.6% were arrested within 5 years of release” (“Bureau of Justice Statistics”). Recidivism is the term used when someone returns to prison after serving his or her sentence. And to reduce recidivism is important that we promote education in and out of prison. I believe
In the American Criminal Justice System, there are four key attributes in the role of the prosecutor. There are discretion, resource dependence, sequential tasks, and filtering. The prosecutors are lawyers that are accountable for presenting criminal cases in trial. The United States Attorneys are pointed by state or government, and represent the federal government in courts. They prosecute all adults who commit felonies and juveniles who commit delinquent crimes. Conjointly, the prosecutors have
Haag also argues that “justice is independent of distributional inequalities” (Haag, par. 7) We will not be able to truly determine with studies whether or not death is an effective deterrent because we can not enter the mind of a likely murderer, but we can recognize justice, and we should not be appalled at a few exceptions of equality when the termination of the death penalty will create a deprivation of justice. Partisans often use an idealized system of justice when they defend capital
Unless a unit for measuring a juvenile’s risk of recidivism is enacted and used to determine a system to promote effective prevention, than the juvenile prison population will continue to increase. Our court system should not only focus on punishing the said juvenile but also enforce a program or policy that will allow for prevention of recidivism. So the question remains, how can recidivism in the juvenile prison population be prevented so that it is no longer the central cause for increased juvenile