It also backs up my other sources with the same research results; by removing the sentencing discretion of judges, and replacing it with mandatory jail sentences, we are sending more offenders to prison instead of programs designed to rehabilitate. Information in this article also supports my argument that mandatory laws violate the Constitution. Taking power away from judges is a violation of the 10th amendment “separation of powers.” As a result, our prison population has quadrupled and is filled with the wrong people. Mandatory sentencing applies so broadly that they sweep minor criminals and drug users along with the major ones, “drug kingpins,” who are the real targets of the statutes. Bender, David L. “America’s Prisons Opposing Viewpoints”4thed.Minnesota.
Yes, an individual should be punished for their crimes but the effects of a felony conviction should not include or affect that person’s right to vote, finding employment, or the pursuance of a higher education. According to Olivares, Burton, and Cullen (1996) upon release these offenders also deal with stigmas, loss of job opportunities, friendships, family relationships, and denial of civil rights. When it comes to the loss of job opportunities, a recent study has shown that most employers have hired at least one person with a felony conviction (Sawnson, Langfitt-Reese & Bond, 2012). Employers encourage job seekers with criminal records to be honest and willing to discuss their involvement with the justice system. Most employers did not have strict policies concerning hiring criminals and this is a plus.
Summary and Response In Peter Moskos’s “In Lieu of Prison, Bring Back the Lash”, he argues that prisons are an ineffective and expensive form of punishment and suggests corporal punishment be used as an alternative. Moskos points out that prisons are severely overcrowded and come at an astronomical cost. He then gives a quick history of the prison system, stating it was created as a more humane option to replace corporal punishment, which was viewed negatively in our new country. Moskos states prisons were intended to rehabilitate criminals much in the way hospitals heal the physically or mentally ill. The author describes prisons as internment camps used for practically free labor and says while some criminals need to be incarcerated, most do not.
Criminals are sent to prison to pay for their crimes and to be rehabilitated. The reality is that prison only makes them better criminals. Many would believe that prison is a place where inmates are reformed. Unfortunately that is untrue. Across the United States penitentiaries inmates are literally forced to join prison gangs.
The second factor that needs to be considered is the routine the inmates faced on a day to day basis and the outcome of the rehabilitation. Prior to Pentonville, prisons were used as holding bays for those on death row and debtors, due to prisons being unfeasible for long term incarceration. Prisons were corrupt environments were ‘prisoners were in the company of criminals of every class and degree’ . Subsequently it can be claimed that having ‘passed time, he returns a greater adept in crime, with a wider acquaintance among criminals’ . During the time of the report the Lords Select Committee had promoted the silent system which had been adopted at Wakefield Goal and Coldbath fields in 1834.
An article in LA Times explains, “In the interim, sending inmates to fire camps is the most cost-effective way to curb early releases of inmates, officials said” (Para 11, 2013). Making sure these non-violent and non-sexual offenders still pay their debt to society and still make room for the serious offenders to stay in prison their whole sentences. Moving inmates to fire camps is not the only way to reduce the population in prisons. LA County Sheriff Department made a deal with the city of Taft in Kern County to outsource some long-term inmates. An article in the Los Angeles Daily News the County Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka said “the additional jail beds are “critically needed” because realignment required inmates diverted from state prisons to serve their entire sentence in county jails, leaving the Sheriff’s Department scrambling for space for its other inmates” (Para 5, 2013).
Donna King (Smart Justice) described her experience in jail as “Each prison sentence I went through, my crimes got bigger. I started to learn new things about crime.” While the criminal is in prison they cannot commit crimes, however, when released a large number (44% of Victorian prisoners) reoffend, are caught, and jailed again. Society needs to accept that for the vast majority of criminals, there is no magic wand that can be waved to make them see the error of their ways and lead a crime-free life. They are unable - and do not want - to hold down a regular job; they see crime as a way of life, a source of
Private prison companies typically enter into contractual agreements with governments that commit prisoners and then pay a per diem or monthly rate for each prisoner confined in the facility. Today, the privatization of prisons refers both to the takeover of existing public facilities by private operators and to the building and operation of new and additional prisons by for-profit prison companies. However, privatized prisons should not exist, because it opens the door to inhumane treatment, corruption of the prison system, and leads to prisoners not being rehabilitated which should be the main goal of the correctional system. With a highly increasing prison population resulting from the war on drugs and increased use of incarceration, prison overcrowding and rising costs have become increasingly problematic for local, state, and federal governments. In response to this expanding criminal justice system, private business interests have seen an opportunity for expansion, and consequently, private- sector involvement in prisons has moved from the simple contracting of services to contracting for the complete management and operation of entire prisons.
Overcrowding has become a major issue in the United States mainly because nonviolent drug addicted offenders are repeating behaviors and ending up in jail. As a result, criminals are receiving early releases, violence in the institutions is on the rise, and non-violent prisoners are not receiving the rehabilitation that they need. The elimination of federal parole and
The Advantages of Becoming a Surveillance Society by Rey A. Oquendo Senior Seminar in Criminal Justice Professor Loyal G. Evans 18 July 2010 Introduction Are we becoming a surveillance society? In a society fixated with punishing criminals with severity a new trend is taking the place of traditional prison or jail terms; electronic monitoring (EM). We still want to see our criminals receive the punishment they deserve for committing crimes. The problem we have is that our jails and prisons are so overcrowded that there is no room to house everyone inside. This is where electronic monitoring comes into play.