Why Are Road Gangs Important

One way to use restitution is using road gangs. Road gangs not only provide prisoners with skills to use after prison, but also provide an area with a much-needed service better roads - without the high cost of usual repairs (“Paving...”). First off, road gangs are groups of prisoners that are trained to use the proper equipment necessary in order to build and maintain roads. The building and maintaining of the roads that they do are the prisoners ways to pay back the community for the crimes that they have committed. The fact that society can prepare prisoners for life outside of prison while getting necessary aspects of a community repaired is amazing in itself. This used to be a fairly common punishment, yet nowadays is frowned upon. People do not like the idea of helping prisoners and providing them with the means necessary to survive. Road gangs would benefit society substantially with the skills prisoners obtain and the services they provide. The road gangs will also create a better habitat for a society to
thrive in.
Another way that punishments can be bettered in order to better society is change the punishments involved with certain crimes. Some crimes have punishments that do not fit well with the crimes they are placed with. The punishments typically provide the system with asinine excuses to throw people in jail or give them idiotic fines. One of those specific crimes is dealing with the illegal entries of aliens. Illegal entry of an alien is basically fancy wording for a foreigner coming to a country illegally. The foreigners that come to the country are typically people from dangerous areas that not only want to provide a safer situation for themselves, but also for future generations. These people, however, are not welcomed very kindly. They get a “welcome basket” of prison for about 6 months and receive fines for each entry (“8 U.S. Code § 1325...”). It is lachrymose that these people went through hell already to come to the country just to be treated like this; aliens — foreigners — should not be treated like this. Society should have them pay along the lines of retribution. If they possess skills, they will be able to provide for themselves and pay for the entry of the country.
There are, however, numerous people that believe the system is fine how it is. One statement that people make is that the laws are suitable for the crime; that they are all just. In the people’s minds, the punishments are related to the crimes, and the people that commit the crimes should know better to do so. However, they would most likely feel different with their statements if they had committed the crime. Furthermore, their statements are wrong. One law in particular that is not necessarily just is the law that involves copyright infringement penalties. As of now, a defendant can face numerous types of fines on top of imprisonment (“Copyright...”). This is unfair due to the fact that the person is committing one crime — sometimes on accident — and is being punished in various ways. The punishment can stack up numerous fines that involve the same crime and give prison time.
A second incorrect statement that people make is that the laws are always constitutional. This is incorrect because there was the ability to execute the mentally retarded until recently. The fact that euthanizing the mentally retarded is cruel and unusual punishment wasn’t recognized until 2009 (“Death...”). The country allowed the system to euthanize those that can not fully comprehend the aspects of the actions that they commit. It is an unpardonable act that has finally been righted, yet people still have not forgiven the past. There are more laws that are in action that are unconstitutional by any means, yet nobody will change the essence of them.
A third claim that people make is that the laws are reasonable. These people believe that the laws have been based solely on facts versus the opinions of those that make them, and that the laws are passed fairly. These beliefs and accusations are incorrect and here are why. One prime reason why this statement is false being that certain laws — such as drug laws — are too strict. For instance, when a person has a single marijuana plant for the first time, he/she may be charged with a prison sentence of up to ten years (Yeh). It is injudicious that a person that owns one single plant can face such terrible consequences - especially for a drug that has fewer side effects to the human body than alcohol! However, this is not all.
A final step that can be taken to fix the system in order to better society, is not to change the system, but instead it is to inform the people of that the laws and admonish the people of what the punishments are. By doing this, society will be provided with education on the system and how the system works. One subject that the people should be informed on is the fact that mentally retarded can not be executed (“Death...”). Believe it or not, many individuals will not report the crimes that involve a mentally retarded individual. They will let it slide. This is, obviously, worse to do than to report it, for it makes the individual that caused the crime to think that it is okay to commit such heinous acts.
The people can also be informed about the system by relating the number of incarcerated individuals and how many are those individuals are homeless. The fact is, homelessness is an extremely common factor among prison inmates (Greenberg). When looking at the facts, they make sense; people that are struggling yet striving to live will do vacuous acts in order to meet the means necessary to survive. With that being said, in a sense, abating the rates of homelessness in today’s society will ebb the rates of crime.
A tertiary act that may be done in informing the people of the system in order to better society when it comes down to the fact of the criminal justice penal code is to let them know of the laws that are unique to their own areas.
Each jurisdiction — or geographically defined area — can have its own laws. These laws are used in order to better a smaller area, and they are more effective. For instance, in Detroit, it is illegal to assess a property more than 50% of market value. The people of the area were ignorant to this fact, but later found that some properties were getting assessed between 55% and 85% of true market value (“Unconstitutional Tax Foreclosures…”). If the people of Detroit had augmented their knowledge of the subject at hand — the specific laws of an area — than they could have avoided the whole mishap that had occurred. The fact that the people were ignorant proves the point that the public needs to be informed on the laws that affect
it.
All in all, There are numerous changes that can be created within the Criminal Justice system and its penal code in order to better fit society’s needs. The system is corrupted and has asinine laws that lead to inequitable punishments. Without changes, society will be doomed in the act of justice. The criminal justice system and the penal code need changes now.