Before proposing a reform to the American criminal justice system, we must first examine the problems that plague the process of justice on all levels. American society plays an important role in shaping the criminal justice system. Their beliefs and values determine the type of deviants and the consequences of the crimes. Often their beliefs contradict each other. Americans believe that the more serious a crime is, the longer a person should spend in a prison. In reality it means that a law at discretion can sometimes just set a number of years that a person should spend in the jail, regardless of the situation. The time in the prison is often very long (Randall, Brown, Miller& Fritzler, p.216) because some states have definite sentence or mandatory sentences which leave little room for the judge to decide on the merits of the person. For example, California favors “Three Strikes and You’re Out”(Randall & et al., p.216) stance on the laws which means after third felony crime, a person must spend 25-year-to-life sentence in the prison. They believe that the deprivations of basic needs, isolation from the society, and in extreme cases, death are consequences of committing a crime. The process of the court in America values efficiency and tough punishments. Since there are a lot of arrests, the court is overburdened and pressed for time. The prisoners are processed through like animals for the slaughter, quickly and with no mercy. The inequality in the terms of power and money influences the court. People with deep pockets are able to bail out or negotiate for a lesser term than a person assigned to a free lawyer by the state. Those consequences Americans believe will serve as deterrence or warning to people to obey the law... ... middle of paper ... ...not the answer to all of the problems that America is experiencing in the criminal justice system, but however it may take the pressure off the state to provide the help to people. The reduction and the reform in the prisons are strongly recommended before using this new model. Works Cited Shelden, R.G., Brown, W.B., Miller, K.S., & Fritzler, R.B. (2008). Crime and criminal justice in american society. Long Grove, Illinosis: Waveland Press, INC. Bohet, A.K. & Wadhwa, T. Beyond the prison walls: reforming through silence. Indian Psychology Institute. http://ipi.org.in/texts/nsip/nsip-full/toolika-tihar.html Doleschal, E. (1977). Rate and length of imprisonment: how does the united states compare with the netherlands, denmark , and sweden?. Crime & Delinquency, 23(1), p. 51 -56 http://cad.sagepub.com/content/23/1/51 doi: 10.117/001112877702300105
Throughout the history of law enforcement within the United States, theories has been explored and implemented as polices in addressing deviant behaviors produced by humans. Models such as Crime Control through the Conflict perceptive suggest the human nature is persuaded by social opportunities and considered a fundamental aspect of social life (Schmalleger, 2009, p. 347). However, social disorders must be addressed in a cordial and civil procedural fairness; thus, individual rights guaranteed by policies such as Due Process ensure that individuals under allegations are treated equally and just. Although crime and deviant behaviors exist within our communities, policies are intended to reduce such disorders by following cohesive criminal justice frameworks with the intentions of protecting individuals accused of crimes. Crime Contro...
It has many benefits to this system. For one of the good things, it reduces long sentences for low-level offense. This causes less people to go to overcrowded prisons. If someone goes to this place for a drug problem, it helps with rehab and full recovery. They will have to go to court many times, have a lawyer, and may even do time if the crime is too bad. Many people are against the Justice System because they feel as if it’s very racist. Saying, “they punish blacks more aggressively than they do white people. This has caused a riot. They feel that this system is very broken. All of the shocking deaths of the police. There are more police searching for cars, since this system has started. These systems are both good, and can help in many
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.
Complete silence was required in the prisons. The confinement’s goal was to create a need for work strong enough that the deprivation of labor was worse than the punishment of prison (Lowenstein).The early prisons eliminated other types of punishment like execution. This system became the center for criminal reform in the late 1700s. In these days of the system, it was effective. No discharged convicts returned to the penitentiary, now known as a jail. However, a lot has changed in the past years. The United States currently has the largest number of imprisoned people in the world. The correctional population has grown by 700 percent since the 1700s, creating the epidemic of mass incarceration. This increase is believed to be the result of the required sentences correlated with the increase of crime associated with drugs (Shigekawa). About one-third of the 1.5 million Americans arrested for drugs spend time in prison. It is also believed that the increase of prisoners is caused by the new sentencing guidelines. These guidelines decrease the judge’s influence on if someone should be convicted or not and increased the length of sentences. The three-strikes law causes nonviolent repeat offenders to serve long
Peterson, R, Krivo, L, & Hagan, J. (2006). The many colors of crime. NY: New York University Press.
The U.S. has various populations that have problems with incarceration, such as the elderly in prison and pregnant women inmates. However, with these evident cases of overpopulation and need for change to address the medical concerns or implications of a family it is not being addressed. Despite, some policy/law creations to help mass incarceration, the U.S. system and government do not seem to believe in the power of rehabilitation and change in offenders, even those who are too weak to leave their bed. The U.S. has a model that leads one to think, “once a criminal, always a criminal,” leading them to be jobless, homeless, isolated from society. Therefore, once policymakers first encourage and support these changes, then America could be successful in implementing the changes. Despite the division in punishment styles of individuals it is evident that change needs to occur, which is why a new approach must take
America by many is known or considered for justice, equality, and a land of freedom but it 's the contrary . In the U.S it promised equality, justice, freedom, safety, etc. The criminal justice system however shows any of those characteristics due to their strict policies which are unethical. The criminal justice system has a negative effect on society because it focuses on putting people in jail for petty crimes, it targets people of color, and destroys families and communities.
Studies have shown that the U.S prison systems are continuing to rise tremendously. Eliciting questions such as, what do we do to those who commit crimes? Since the 1970s, the United States
Racism within the Justice System. Living in the twenty first century, Americans would like to believe that they are living in the land of the free, where anyone and everyone can live an ordinary life without worrying that they will be arrested on the spot for doing absolutely nothing. The sad truth, with the evidence to prove it, is that this American Dream is not all that it appears to be. It has been corrupted and continues to be, everyday, by the racism that is in the criminal justice system of America. Racism has perpetuated the corruption of the criminal justice system from the initial stop, the sentencing in court, all the way to the life of an inmate in the prison.
Schmalleger, F. (2009), Prentice Hall, Publication. Criminal Justice Today: An introductory Text for the 21st century
According to society in the United States of America, the economic costs of the number of prisoners are highly expenses because of the outgrowing number of prisoners in which the death penalty will be enforced close to fifty percent of the time. The expenses of putting the amount of individuals are difficult to handle the heaviness of the fundings for putting prisoners in justice from the department of justice. the spread of criminals turn dramatically dysfunctional because of the way of how most states that include federal laws due to criminal law reforms that the areas where prisons are in the effect of outnumbered prisoners that they have to create more death penalties that are unexpected. Compares to other countries the United States of America have been determined that the federal law of the Constitution depending the amount of prisoners in jail for Life sentenced without parole as non-violent offenders due to the weakness of the credibility towards the
Chapter one discusses crime and the criminal justice system. this chapter is broken down into four themes: Crime and Justice as Public Policy Issues, Defining Crime, Types of Crime, and The crime problem today. A brief explanation of each will be provided.
(Schmalleger and Smykla, 2011). When prison and jail rates are combined, The United States imprison 756 people per 100,000 population, up from 684 in 2000, and 601 in 1995. Crime rates, however, depending on some states that have identical population, surprisingly have widely different rates of incarceration. Bowman and Waltman did an investigation on felony sentencing and in their investigation they found that the preference of the public weigh heavily on the sentencing of violent offenders. According to prison administrators, levels of imprisonment are frequently influenced more by political decisions than by levels of crime or rates of detection of crime (Schmalleger and Smykla, 2011). Bowers and Waltman also concluded that the choice of high or low imprisonment rates are decided by jurisdictions. That choice is reflected in the sentencing patterns that are adopted by
The American correctional system has its flaws like anything else. Many people argue today that our system does not work and we are not the land of the free because of it. This partly the fault of society but also the blame can be put on our leaders who don’t see the criminal justice system as pressing issue. When in all reality if we cleaned the criminal justice system up it would solve many other issues facing the issues. As we all know if you have conviction record it becomes next to impossible to find employment after the fact. With that being said America still has the highest imprisonment rate in the entire world along with a shockingly high rate of recidivism and lack of programs that will truly help law breakers.
Five Works Cited The effectiveness of the United States' criminal legal system has been questioned and scrutinized by the media and legal analysts for decades. Even with laws to lengthen sentences and to try younger offenders as adults, the overall crime rate in the nation is still on the rise. But why is it that in places like Iceland and Singapore crime rates are so low yet both countries have very contrasting criminal laws? It has been brought to my attention that Congress will attempt to create an entire new criminal legal system for the states to adopt in an effort to finally make the streets of America safer for its citizens. Assuming that all states will forfeit their own policies to take up the system Congress builds, it is my duty to shed light on the criminal legal system and differing views of the United States and other countries legal systems and differing views of the United States and other countries of different governments, geographies, and legal systems. I will also explore the common ground they share when prosecuting criminal offenders. The information I will discover will be taken into consideration by legislators when designing a new and improved criminal justice system.