In this world we live in many feel that prisons exist to punish, not counsel, offenders. That may be true that Prisons exist for punishment, but they also have an important contribution to make to reducing re-offending by engaging prisoners in rehabilitation programs and purposeful work. Society is flawed in its thinking that by putting criminals in a place away from society we would be better off. To make it worse I am sure that more that 60 percent of Americans are against social reform because they have made up their mind that once a crook, always a crook. This is flawed mainly because it seems to assume that showing people that what they've done is wrong will always accomplish something, that punishing those who commit crimes will deter others from following the same pattern.
The problem of prison overcrowding forces most violent prisoners to serve less than half their sentence ("Punishment"). Supporters believe that the only solution to ... ... middle of paper ... ... not only reduce the number of inmates in the prison system, but would also offer rehabilitation approaches for offenders, enabling them to change their lives. This alternative method gives both supporters and opponents of building more prisons a common ground upon which to stand. It is a solution that focuses on the main problem: punishing criminals. Works Cited "And Punishment: Crime."
Of course all of my stories were morbid with sinister events, but well written. (Maybe because I would spend all the time I could with her, so I would revise and revise until it was perfect- well at least for an 8th grader.) Writing My Past as a Writer was a great way to remind me why writing was alright. This paper was a little easier to write because it was my story. I had to revise it a bit and add some more background to what I was writing in the class, such as my Johnathn story (there are more of them too).
Prisons serve two main functions; separation and rehabilitation. Criminals cannot be allowed to walk around with everyone else without being punished; they must be separated from society. The thought of going to prison helps deter most people from crime. Rehabilitation is the main goal of prison; making a bad person into a good person by the time they are released. These seem like cut and dry functions, but as of late some believe that prisons in the United States have failed in their attempts to separate and rehabilitate.
Many people go into prison for small offences but to survive they must harden themselves and live a way of life that is tougher than they ever imagined. Many prisoners are willing to kill, trade drugs and other offences. Because of the worsening conditions in the prisons the almost non-existent rehabilitation programs are counteracted. Worse than the prisoner violence is the complete disregard of the prisoners by the guards and staff. Once a prisoner has left prison one would think they would be given help to re-enter society.
He also said that most drug offenders go back to prison, because they do not get help with their addictions. They are being put into a place that is just making their addictions worse. People may say that the problem with overcrowding of prisons does not affect them, but if you’re a taxpayer this prob... ... middle of paper ... ...2013. Frantz, Michael. “Federal Prison Overcrowding-Costs, Reasons, and Alternatives!” PRLog.
I agree. Mandatory minimum drug sentences had a great hypothesis and were good enough to make it to the trial round when deciding how to end the war drugs. 20 years and many sad and horrifying cases later, we realize that mandatory minimum drug sentences do not in fact lower the drug crime rate. Instead, they help with overcrowding prisons, taking money away from taxpayers, and keeping nonviolent offenders locked away fro outrageously long period of time while allowing violent offenders to walk freely among the rest of us. Mandatory minimums need to be a done away with and drug sentences need to be handled on a case by case basis due to the fact that the majority of them are not committed with the intent to hurt anyone or
Rather than directly rely on race, we use the criminal justice system to label people of color “criminals” and then engage in all the practices we supposedly left behind.” this tells about, as the Jim Crow laws which were legalized on racial segregation were ending and new racial caste system was begin. In her book, she tells us about a story about Jarvis Cotton. Who was a African American man and was arrested several times. Through the history of USA, African American people have been treated severely discriminated against based on born rights. The author provides an example that how his family rights were being treated wrong in different ways and reasons.
More minorities and poor whites end up behind bars than those who can afford a high priced lawyer. Moreover, only the strong survive in prison while the weak or new prisoners are subject to rape, robbery and beatings. Thus, inmates must resort to survival tactics just to get by from day to day. This makes a non-violent offender worse than before he or she arrived at prison. Prisoners who have committed the same exact crimes do not always get the same time serve.
Support This source provides a history of prisons by going back to when they started to become popular after the civil war. It exposes that their roots are in bigotry and controlling others because of the color of their skin. It then explains how sending people to prison benefits those involved in sending and keeping them there and the effects it has on those who get passed around. Links This source makes me think about how much racism is involved in the amount of people in prison. This source was attempting to explain how the racist history of our country plays a role in the amount of minorities being incarcerated today.