The concept of plea bargaining became a common means to resolve criminal cases in the early 1900s because not everyone that was accused of a crime had a lawyer to represent them in a trial. As the criminal justice system evolved, and there were more and more cases to prosecute, plea-bargaining was used more often so that all parties would have a faster resolution to the case, as opposed to going through a lengthy trial. The definition of plea bargaining is “the process whereby the accused and the prosecutor in a criminal case work out a mutually satisfactory disposition of the case subject to court approval [that] usually involves the defendant’s pleading guilty to a lesser offense or to only some of the counts of a multicounty indictment in return for a lighter sentence than the possible for the graver charge.” (Siegel, Schmalleger, & Worrall, 2011, Chapter 12, Plea Bargaining and Guilty Pleas).…
David Farabee starts off by looking at crime rates and the public’s perception of crime from the media. The media focuses on high profile cases for severe acts of crime which is not that common compared to other criminal acts. He states that the society’s reaction from the media produces an affect that the crime rate is increasing at an alarming rate. The public’s perception and voice has major influence on what happens with the criminal justice system. Society wants the policy makers to aim for rehabilitative and counselling efforts rather than locking up the criminals. They would rather see them be back on track and reintegrated into society to have a better life. What the…
What happens to people when the seemingly simplest parts of life become a question of survival? In Steven Galloway’s “The Cellist of Sarajevo” people are forced to make decisions that will decipher whether or not they will remain alive and whether or not they will remain altruistic. Often, when people are forced into conditions like the ones outlined in Galloway’s novel, they may have to choose to focus on simply enduring to the end, even if doing what it takes to survive outweighs remaining genuine to their morals and to their humanity.…
Should rehabilitation be valued over retribution in the United States criminal justice system? This is a very subjective question which calls for opinions and doubts. Retribution operates under the belief that the criminal cannot be reformed or rehabilitated and that the punishment serves the purpose so that the criminal will not want to commit the crime again or in the first place. However, that does not always work. There will be no deterrent effect if the public considers the punishment to be discrimination or persecution. Rehabilitation should be most definitely be valued over retribution in the United States criminal justice system at least…
Given current trends in society today, the next era of corrections will be a hybrid model between the rehabilitation and punitive model. Thousands of studies show the positive and negative components of each of these models. The rehabilitation model was not properly measured years prior due to the lack of technology and society was critiquing the process because they were not able to see the benefits of the program first hand. The punitive model on the other had has had plenty of evidence on its success in increasing incarceration rates and creating issues with overcrowding and lack of funding. Nevertheless, each model has something positive they can bring to the table.…
Anyone who watches television or even reads a newspaper has seen examples of the lack of justice in America. Our jails and prisons have become warehouses for criminals. Many who are repeat offenders or substance abusers. Are these people receiving the rehabilitation that they need to become an upstanding citizen? They are being released with no marketable skills for life on the outside. This can lead to many of the people returning the life of crime and thus, becoming one of the many repeat offenders. In many cases of substance abusers, they are released with not treatment for the addictions. Instead they are courts ordered to seek the treatment themselves.…
Rehabilitation ideology seems to focus more on the actual idea that when someone is imprisoned that their time there will actually change who they are as a person. they believe that your time spent in prison will mold your personality to not wanting to commit crimes and make you a more accepted member of society following the social norms that will make you a better person.…
"A good writer is one you can read without breaking a sweat. If you want a workout, you don’t lift a book—you lift weights. Yet we’re brainwashed to believe that the more brilliant the writer, the tougher the going."…
After doing a bit of research myself and viewing different sources I have learned a few things about the different types of jails and prisons. Again I thought a jail was a jail. I’ve learned that Inmates are people who are held in an institution such as a prison or jail. They may have committed crimes, been captured in war, or been denied bail, leading to detainment until they can be tried in a court of law. Prisons typically range from minimum to maximum security, and are often…
Generally, most people that are coming out of prison are going to face all kinds of issues, first and foremost, because they are a convict. They will have issues getting a place to live, possibly government assistance and employment. Most prisons do provide inmates with programs to assist them with integration back to society. Most inmates in prison, based on their race or ethnicity, tend to stay with their racial group, but these reintegration programs should be race-neutral. When the convicts are released back to society, more than likely they will go back to their communities where they are all the same race/ethnicity, however, some of them will try to get employment elsewhere or even try to live somewhere other than were they came from.…
Education is a powerful tool that can transform an individual’s life and provide better options. The crime rate may also decline if a greater number of individuals are educated. The objective of incarceration should be rehabilitation, not punishment. Studies have shown education programs and rehabilitation methods in prison to be effective in terms of preventing re-offense. Rehabilitation is a goal that all prisons should try to achieve. Education and job training for prisoners can result in positive outcomes, including greater stability, independence, and lower recidivism.…
In the 1700’s before there were correctional systems to incarcerate offenders, people were brutally beaten as a punishment until they became a little more humane and started putting them in jail to serve time as a punishment. In the early 1800’s the first real prison in the United States was available to put offenders away, this prison was called Philadelphia’s walnut street jail and this prison was viewed as the perfect opportunity for offenders to think about the crimes that they have committed and admit to what they have done. In the Mid 1800’s the Cherry Hill penitentiary was opened and this prison was said to be humane and gave the inmates the opportunity for rehabilitation.…
Research Question: Should mentally ill convicted offenders be incarcerated in jails and prisons or institutionalized in mental health treatment facilities?…
At 2.2 million inmates, the United States currently has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Approximately 1 per every 130 people are imprisoned and over 4 million people are on probation or parole. Despite the amount of people locked up, the U.S. has wildly fluctuating crime rates and the number of offenses per year has steadily been going up since the year 2000 (Henry). While the current prison system is highly debated amongst different groups, it is generally agreed that crime rates are still out of control. The current U.S. criminal justice system need drastic change because they currently fail to control crime, rehabilitation efforts are not working, and they unrightfully target people of color.…
There was a case in Arkansas where a man that was classified as a paranoid schizophrenic murdered a shop keeper. All they did in prison for him was offer antipsychotic, and they did not make sure that he was taking this medication. Without the proper treatment and care this inmate was still considered a danger to himself and others. He got a lethal injection ending his life (McLellan, 2004). If this man would have been the proper care by the jail they would have been able to keep his paranoid schizophrenia in check. It was not right to end this man’s life because he committed a crime because of his mental illness, and then not give him a proper treatment to control his illness.…