Basic Issues In The Criminal Justice System

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Criminal Justice System – TeenPact 2016 Our Criminal Justice System is falling apart. Our prisons are overcrowded and filled with the wrong people, and our incarceration rate is twice as high as any other country and is growing at an unheard of rate. We have a very high recidivism rate. Why is this happening? How can we fix it? Or can we even fix it?
First, we need to define what the Criminal Justice System is and what it’s purpose is. Is its purpose rehabilitation and correction or justice and deterrence? The official Criminal Justice defines its purpose as “to deliver justice for all, by convicting and punishing the guilty and helping them to stop offending, while protecting the innocent.” Or another definition; “The central purpose of the Criminal Justice System is to deliver an efficient, effective, accountable and fair justice process for …show more content…

Recidivism is one of the most fundamental concepts in criminal justice. It refers to a person 's relapse into criminal behavior, often being in prison or jail or some type of corrections facility. Recidivism is measured by criminal acts that resulted in re-arrest, reconviction or return to prison with or without a new sentence during a three-year period following the prisoner 's release. Recidivism is a huge problem for our Criminal Justice System. A study done by the Bureau of Justice Statistics have shown that within three years of release, about two-thirds (67.8 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested and within five years of release, about three-quarters (76.6 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested. This same study found that property offenders were the most likely to be rearrested, with 82.1 percent of released property offenders arrested for a new crime compared with 76.9 percent of drug offenders, 73.6 percent of public order offenders and 71.3 percent of violent

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