Mr. Rideau goes on to say that prison is not a cure-all. He describes what prisons do as “isolating young criminals long enough to them a chance to grow up” (31). I agree when he says that prison should only be a temporary arrangement, not a way of life. As well as many criminals are kept there for too long making the prison a way of life and not allowing them to readjust to normal society. The prisoners are potentially being held hostage longer than rehabilitation should allow.…
Although criminals should pay the consequence for their behavior, it should not mean that they should live in overcrowded prisons. An example of an overcrowded prison is shown in Angola, where the max occupancy was for 800 prisoners, yet they had 1,750 prisoners (Stern, 2006). When this happens, the lack of resources, space, and training from needed officers increases. Therefore, conditions become hazardous and prisoners and officers are at higher risk for diseases such as HIV and Tuberculosis (Stern, 2006). Although society feels safe with criminals locked up, they have to realize that a main purpose for prisons is to help reduce crime by showing prisoners that breaking the law will cause them the loss of freedom. Ultimately, leading those criminals who are able to get out, to come out with a sense of a change behavior. However, the system that puts these women, men, and young people in overcrowded prisons are not even worried about the criminal. Instead, they keep increasing the definition of “crime”, which increase the number of criminals in an ineffective prison…
Even though incarceration should be about rehabilitating prisoners and releasing them back into society as productive members, unfortunately it has become about politics. Those running for office always want to appear to be tough on crime, and indeterminate sentencing appears to some to be too soft. Allowing prisoners to earn their freedom before they have served their maximum sentence is not punishment in the eyes of those that believe prisoners should be locked up and made to do hard…
In society today, it is commonly known that crime rate has increased dramatically by the years. This is where many of us look for ways to solve such issue. It is the last place anybody would want to be in. but unfortunately we have hundreds of thousands of them, if not millions around the world. Thousands in just the United States, Those are prisons. Just hearing that word makes us think bad things right away. Murder, theft, violence, and everything bad that happens in this world. We live in a world where prisons and jail are very important and almost every country, state, county, or city must have at least one. Prisons now are much more crowded than they were 20 years ago. The number of inmates in just the United States has doubled between the years of 1992 and 2011. The question many of us should ask ourselves is why do we need prisons? Are prisons effective in any way? Are prisons causing economic issues? Are prisoners getting proper treatment while incarcerated?…
Throughout the centuries, both the system and the concept of prison have undergone many radical changes that eventually led to the formation of the prison as we know it now. In the 16th and 17th centuries, prison tended to be a place where criminals were kept in it while awaiting their punishment. It was a place, where criminals were held, rather than a means of punishment. In fact, criminals, at that time, were publically punished, rather than imprisoned, in the most torturous ways such as whipping, and slaughtering. However, in the 18th century, people in charge decided to put an end to these cruel methods of punishing. They came up with new methods of punishing instead of using torture in punishing criminals. In fact, the incarceration with hard labor was the new method of punishing criminals. Thus, the prison itself became a tool of punishment.…
The inmate prison population of the BOP increased over the past few years due to federal sentencing of drug offenses and immigration. Changes in sentencing policies have increased the mandatory minimum sentencing as well as changes in the federal criminal code in which it increased the amount of crimes seen as federal offenses, also the repeal of parole. Since these changes certain crimes are now deemed as federal offenses, which require a longer period of prison time. War on drugs has cause an increase in the prison populations due to high level of harsh prison sentencing’s. Although the attempts at the three strikes system was an effort in decreasing the prison population it did not work. Focus needs to be placed on rehabilitation of inmates…
America’s prisons have a major importance in modern society. They are a huge contributing factor to the safety of our country and allow for proper and humane punishment for those who commit crimes. While America’s streets continue to be plagued by crime and dangerous people, prisons help significantly in decreasing the crime rate and removing those people from society in order to create a safer place for people to live. Although there are many pros that come with prisons, a handful of cons come with them as well, which allow for arguments to rise about whether prisons should be allowed in America or not. Prisons are a necessity in modern society that punishes and rehabilitates those who commit crimes with the purpose of protecting…
Not only has mass incarceration contributed to the depletion of economic resources, but it has also not been proven as an effective means of lowering crime rates. Our current prison system is designed to spend massive amounts of money on warehousing and punishing criminal to then just place them back into society without any of the tools needed to become a constructive member of society, thus resulting in criminal behavior to reoccur. Multiple studies conducted have manifested that “rehabilitation programs, education, therapy, and vocational training have a profound effect on not only bettering the inmate as an overall individual, but on society as well” (….) because these offenders can now become productive citizens that can add to the community.…
What are the anti-immigrant policies? The anti-immigrant policies are congressional acts, that regulate the conditions under which residents of foreign countries, may enter the U.S. to live permanently. Five years ago, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an American immigration policy was established by the Obama administration in June 2012. This policy allows some individuals who entered the country illegally as minors to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit. The purpose of DACA is to protect eligible immigrant youth who came to the United States when they were children from deportation. Approximately 800,000 individuals, referred as Dreamers were enrolled in…
In, “Beyond the Prison Bubble,” published in the Wilson Quarterly in the winter 2011, Joan Petersilia shows different choices about the imprisonment systems. The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any free nation (para.1). The crime rate over a thirty year span had grown by five times since 1960 to 1990. There are more people of color or Hispanics in federal and state institutions then there are of any other nationality. The prison system is growing more than ever; the growth in twenty years has been about 21 new prisons. Mass imprisonment has reduced crime but, has not helped the inmate to gradually return back to society with skills or education. But the offenders leaving prison now are more likely to have fairly long criminal records, lengthy histories of alcohol and drug abuse, significant periods of unemployment and homelessness, and physical or mental disability (par.12).…
Our country is already spending around 80 billion dollars per year on prisoners and yet, somehow, failing to supply a good education program and rehabilitation system. Our prison system is so fixated on punishing inmates that it fails to apply methods that can help lower the crime rate. Rehabilitation techniques differ according to the nature of the criminal and the type of crime committed. However, if applied, both education programs and rehab techniques have a positive effect on prisoners instead of punishment. Some deserve a second chance, and with education, it can be achieved. If the purpose of prison is punishment alone, prisoners are going to build up so much anger and negativity that they will become only more dangerous to our society when they are…
Around the world there are many different types of prisons. There are a few reasons why imprisonment is a good of a form of…
Smith, Jordan (2008, October) The Austin Chronicle. Reefer Madness: Drug Laws are So Fifties. Retrieved February 16, 2009 from http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=689798…
With citizens forced to pay their taxes, it is unnecessary to have these long sentences in place. Overcrowding in prisons due to these lengthy prison sentences, has caused health and safety problems all across the board while crazy amounts of expenditure has been spent on prisons. The cycle of prison continues as people go to jail, are released, can’t find a job, and end back up in jail with no actual solution on how to fix the issue. With all these recurring problems, the truth lays at hand, mass incarceration has negatively impacted stakeholders economically and will further hurt the economy until the necessary changes are…
The prison system is an institution of social control. America and its politicians emphasizes punishment, the tough on crime method seems to only help the careers of most politicians in the United States, but still has not made us safer in society (Huber & Gordon, 2004) . An example of how the federal government and several states use the social control model is by changing and getting laws passed. One of the most rigorous is the California’s three strikes law just like baseball “strike out three times and you are out”! No matter what crime you commit, whether it is minor or not, the offender must be sentence to either 25 years to life in prison or triple the standard sentence (Greene & Heilburn, 2011). This law would not only increase prison population but would mostly likely lead to individuals in prison for crimes that would not fit the crime they are punished for (Greene & Heilburn, 2011). Majority of the offenders are in prisons for nonviolent crimes. This has contributed to the increase of individuals in prisons. Some states in the U.S. the federal government has ordered state prisons to reduce their prisons by 40,000 inmates (Pew, 2008). This makes me sick in the inside, because it makes me wonder maybe these individuals didn’t need to be in prison in the first place, if they are releasing such a large number of…