Stern’s (2006) book, “Creating Criminals: Prisons and People in a Market Society”, gives us the black and white truth about important topics that are not usually talked about in the media, nor acknowledged by most in American society. The author explains that she is in no way defending criminals with her literature, rather researching and informing society about the ineffectiveness of the criminal justice system and the market society. She argues that many policies go in favor towards those who have money, leaving people who don’t have money behind, which ultimately leads to creating criminals. She explains the dangers of overcrowded prisons, who are the people more likely to be imprisoned, and the role of a market society within…
In the book, A place to Stand, by Jimmy Santiago Baca, Baca writes about prison and how being incarcerated can have impact on a person and their family. With the most beautiful, strong and poetic language, Baca tells us the story of all the people who faces difficult times in order to find their place in the world. Baca always felt like he had no place to stand in society because, all of his life he was put down by his family and friends. From the age of five Baca experienced his dad and uncles going in and out of jail from being addicted to alcohol. Baca knew he would eventually end up in jail sooner or later because that’s what he had experienced all of his life. Baca writes, “Whether I was approaching it or seeking escape from it, jail always defined in some way the measure of my life” (3). Baca felt that his life would always head in the wrong direction because of his family issues. Baca shows being in prison can cause a lot of emotional impact on a person’s life, as well as affect the community.…
The Prison Service encompasses three central aims; holding prisoners securely, decrease risk of offending and lastly offer safe, well-ordered institutions in which prisoners are treated humanely, decently and lawfully (Cavadino and Dignan, 2007, p.193). When the state incarcerates, it must accept accountability for the basic care of those it detains. Although prisoners should not expect luxuries during their time of incarceration, they should not be deprived of the basic goods and comforts of life. Certification of access to enough goods should be available to help them develop as the citizens expected to be. Lord Justice Woolf (1991) claimed three necessities for the prison system to maintain steadiness: security, control and justice. In terms…
The US correctional system punishes offenders in different ways, because each offense is on a different level some can be felonies and some can be charged as misdemeanors. In our correctional system they punishes offenders, by putting them in jail/prison. But in its early years prison punishments for offenders were cruel. In the early year of the correctional system offenders punishments were very different from their punishments now in this day and age.…
The penitentiary rivalry has cause a lot of changes within our American prison system. The rivalry implemented design changes every so often which led to better prison population and control of the inmates within them, because every state wanted the best prison system. A few of the changes that came from these rivalries were how they built the inmate cells, they built them so that the inmates or criminals inside them could not see the other inmates or have contact with them. They also allowed inmates to eat with each other rather than separate but this had to be done in complete silence. This rivalry made different types of prisons come about, rather than put all offenders together regardless of crimes committed they…
The Prison system has been under scrutiny for years. They have tried every way imaginable to keep the prison system from failing. Experts have come and observed our criminal system from all over the globe “Our prison system has always been a closed institution, and that very secrecy has intrigued visitors to our country” says an article in the magazine America called “Reforming the system: rehabilitation needs a chance”. The prison system has remained an intriguing issue. The prisons have been kept quiet and no one really knows about it outside the system.…
There are several issues issues in American jails today . Clear , Cole and Reisig present four issues considering the management of American jails which is legal liability, Jail standards, personal matters and jail crowding . I will be example the why each of these issues is a problem and the consequences of an institution failure considered those issues. Legal Liability have force attention to sheriffs , jail managers and local governments officials. When a Government official use his authority on a citizen of civil rights , the victim is in entitled to sue the to halt the violations and to collect damage and recoup legal sentence.…
Would you believe me if I told you that prisons were originally built to reform prisoners? With they way the criminal justice system works and how high the rates of mass incarceration are, in today's day and age, I, myself, would not believe that prisons were built with a positive outcome in mind. If someone would have told me that in the eighteen hundreds prison were used as a place to reform individuals, I would have given them a nasty looking face full of disbelief. But now that I have this information, the question is, what changed? Why is this method still not being practiced in today’s society? However, while asking these question, I realize that it is absolutely amazing the way things change and how easily things are tainted.…
This memorandum serves as a proposal and examination about a significant issue; that has influenced the United States prison system. Because criminal activities are at an incomparable high, an expansion inside the prison population has incurred, resulting in a financial burden within the system. According to a review directed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), they anticipated by 2018, overcrowding would move to over 45% over the BOP's maximum capacity. In addition, the prison cannot keep up such influx making a consequential problem for prison guards and inmates. As communicated by James, the quantity of the detainees housed in state and government correctional facilities climbed faster than facility capacity expanded. The…
The United States prison system is not a suitable place for nonviolent drug offenders. The high rate of recidivism is caused by one thing and one thing only, prison sentences. Nonviolent drug offenders will have no choice other than to socialize with other inmates, some who have committed irreprehensible crimes, thereby greatly increasing their chance of becoming violent. The population of prisons in the United States is on a steady rise. One way to stop this is by reevaluating the three strikes law, because the proof that this law discourages repeat offenders is simply not there.…
Learn to recognize the influence of socially sanctioned hatred. What I mean by socially sanctioned hatred is simple: We human beings seem to have a built-in temptation to objectify other groups of people in order to feel superior to them or to find a scapegoat for all our problems. It's reflected in language, in words like "nigger," "Faggot," "slant-eyes," "gook," and so on. Certainly, among most of us, that kind of prejudicial speech is not acceptable. And yet, among decent people, from liberal to conservative, it is still socially acceptable to call criminals "scum," "sleaze bags," or "animals." We hear that one demented soul kidnapped and killed a little girl, and a few weeks later, when a teenager steals our car radio, we are ready to strap the two of them together in the gas chamber. "I'm sick of these animals," we say. "They're all alike. Let them…
From the mid-1980s drug offenses increased primarily due to the pressure put on by the war on drugs (Neubauer & Fradella, 2014). This has contributed to overcrowding of prisons across America. In order to ease the overcrowding in prisons, rehabilitation through court sentenced drug treatment programs is a practical and economical alternative. Assigning offenders to applicable drug treatment programs would decrease overcrowding caused by drug offenses, lower recidivism rates, and provide savings for the criminal justice system.…
It has become a growing concern for many Americans, as well as a political platform for many public figures in the past years. Evidence supports the fact that prisons in America are severely overcrowded. This evidence establishes a need for prison inmate rate reduction through the reduction of long prison sentences and the increase of rehabilitative options in the criminal justice system. Through the process of reducing prison sentences and offering more rehabilitative programs, there would be a significantly lower rate of incarceration in the United States. This would lower the current cost of managing prisons as well as increase the quality of living within the prisons. Without as many inmates, prisons could put the money towards probational programs and the inmates currently residing in prisons and jails would receive better attention, more living space, and a better chance at getting into prison programs meant to aid prisoners in getting out and staying…
The prison system is just as corrupt as the prisoners inside them. We live in a world where it is deemed acceptable to punish a criminal by taking away their humanity, and only release them when they find it themselves. It is apparent that the methods of handling prisoners and their sentences is costly and not effective. The recidivism rate in the United States prison and detention facilities are incredibly high, much higher than their Scandinavian counterpart. Recidivism “refers to a person's relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime.” (National Institute of Justice) According to the National Institute of Justice, “within three years of release, about two-thirds of released prisoners were rearrested; and within five years of release, about three-quarters of released prisoners were rearrested.” (National Institute of Justice) Unfortunately the statistics are only the tip of the iceberg in the severely flawed and failing prison. We must reform the flawed prison system, only than can we correct the criminal way of life.…
In the United States of America, the federal and state governments should share some power, while completely controlling others. Certain responsibilities have acquired traits that can only be provided for by the federal government, such as a national defense system. To run and maintain a standing military it takes an incredible amount of resources and manpower, as well as high-levels of leadership. However, there are other areas of policy that the states should control. The process of judicial hearings and incarceration should belong solely to the state government. The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, and at least 60% of all inmates in the U.S. are affected by some degree of mental illness. The variety of…