Determinate sentences involve sentences that have a fixed or flat time (Jirard, 2009). Determinate sentences play a large part in the increasing number of individuals in prison, which, as you can imagine, puts more strain on prisons financially. In the past two decades, we have become increasingly “tough on crime” which has helped to decrease crime to a certain extent. According to an article in the New York Times (2008), the US has fewer than five percent of the entire world’s population, but almost twenty five percent of the world’s prisoners (Liptak & , 2008). The author of the article goes on to say that people in the US are sentenced to do time for crimes that would not produce such a sentence in other countries.
Since the mid-1970s, the prison population in the nation’s largest state has risen by more than 750%, from about 20,000 to more than 160,000 (Equal Justice Initiative, 2010). California’s prison system is among one of the worst in the system and part of it is due to their adaptation of their “Three Strikes” laws. The laws are harsh and the criminals, especially the ones already having two strikes don’t seem to care about the seriousness of committing crimes. California’s prisons, 33 total, are operating at almost twice their design capacity. Overcrowding is a very serious issue that worries the state officials such as Governor Schwarzenegger.
One of the main reasons Colorado refuses to pass the law is due to the cost of jail and lifetime surveillance - money of course outweighing the safety of children - enough said. Also, the reduced prison sentences are worth every cent because every year a violent sex offender or pedophile is in prison is a year protecting children from them. An understandable pitfall of Jessica’s Law is that it makes it nearly impossible to find homes for registered sex offenders due to the clause that states they cannot live within 2,000 feet of a school zone, park or where children gather. I concede that this makes it difficult and could be counterproductive since many become homeless and unable to keep under a close watch. This is a valid concern and can be dealt with state by state, the government spend astronomical amounts of tax payer dollars on nugatory programs.
Nelson Mandela once said, (QUOTE) “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” (END QUOTE) It is because we agree with this account that we negate today’s topic. Resolved: For-profit prisons in the United States should be banned. We have seen that the best way to provide for the basic needs of our criminals and still be mindful of the common people is through for-profit prisons. Observation 1: A definition from Webster’s 2014 of a private or for-profit prison is a prison controlled by a third party that is contracted by a government agency.
In his argument, Jacoby does furnish a good amount of evidence, yet he seems to choose many wrong proofs. He points out that about 1.6 million Americans were in jail that year (1997), and that this number was 3.5 times larger than that of 1980 (Jacoby par. 4). This seems, at first glance, to demonstrate the weakness of the federal justice system. However, does the dramatically increased number of prisoners necessarily verify that the prison system is not working?
These eye-popping numbers came about for many reasons: mandatory minimum sentences, three-strikes legislation, illegal drugs, gangs, immorality in all its modern forms, the war on drugs, the decline of marriage and families, high rates of recidivism, incarceration of the mentally ill, the decline of capital punishment, problems with the criminal justice system and all the forces pushing tough crime policies. Difficult economic times focus attention on the increasing costs of keeping all these people - 93% of them men - behind bars. Each prisoner costs about $32,000 per year, and the average prisoner does little to offset the cost of confinement. The social costs may be even higher. Breadwinners are lost, families destroyed, more kids grow up without fathers or mothers, welfare costs increase, the entire sex ratio is thrown out of balance and prisoners face grim prospects when released.
However, recent reports show that such problem is worse in the State of Illinois. It is true, however, that the people incarcerated in the said state are less than in the other jurisdictions. Nevertheless, overcrowding in prisons remain a huge problem in Illinois in view of the fact that correctional systems therein are made to withstand a very small capacity of inmates (Hoffman, 2015). According to Hoffman (2015), there is no question that the design of the correctional facilities in Illinois contributes greatly to the problem of overcrowding in the
that takes us to the second term disconcerting. Disconcerting is defined: to make (someone) upset or embarrassed. It is extremely disconcerting that America is at the top of the totem pole in the category of incarceration. We could never deny that the United States prison is over populated and is known to be the Prison
RUNNING HEAD: THE ISSUES 1 The Issues of Overcrowding in Prisons By Barbarito Capote ENGL107-1203B English Composition 2 July 29, 2012 RUNNING HEAD: THE ISSUES 2 Outline: I. Intro a. Overcrowding in prisons a huge issue i. Not enough prisons to reduce overcrowding b. Solutions to prison overcrowding c. Prisons as an end result have suffered from overcrowding causing higher suicide rates as well as increased diseases, sharing of beds and toilets, etc. Because of this overcrowding of prisons is a big issue.
Carlson, P., (1998) expresses all correctional workers are categorically aware of unbelievable explosion of the prison population in the United States. The system is overcrowded, understaffed, broke, and with a strong public demand for harsher sentencing puts pressure and responsibility for the court administrators to fix. The economy is struggling, tax cuts and budget cuts, and government programs cutbacks, are all continuous struggles for the administrators to confront. One trend to reduce the financial responsibility is to seek out other administrations such as a privatization correctional institution. This type of correctional institution has specific services such as guards, medical, and food services provided to the inmates shifting the budget, food, and medical responsibility onto their administration.