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.
The incarceration system in the United States has inflicted much damage on societal well-being, caused by privatization of prisons, war on drugs, and overcrowding of prison cells. The safety and well-being of society lies in the efficiency of prisons. The lack of a productive system will continue to harm the nation and further the deterioration of the lives of those affected. However, with a few reformations the problem can be solved and societal safety restored. Eradication of private prisons and promotion of drug rehab can benefit both society and the incarceration system and result in a more successful
Prisons are consistently overflowing with repeat offenders and minor criminals. In addition to repeat offenders and perpetrators of minor crimes clogging up the system, the cost of keeping a prisoner is astronomical compared to the author’s suggested form of punishment. However, I do see the need for prisons, or someplace comparable, to keep the most violent criminals out of society. I believe Moskos should have stated hard facts regarding the ineffectiveness of prisons and given pertinent details about the productive use of corporal punishment. I’m not sure there are any “appropriate” forms of punishment.
In some states, the individual must be convicted of two serious felonies for the three strikes law to apply, while in others any felonies count towards the third strike. Critics of the three strike law express many strong arguments against their harsh legal statute. Our society has ultimately had an issue with the three strikes law. Some people have said that the law “destroys the flexibility of the courts and the judge, it is unjust in certain conditions, and it adds more criminals to an already crowded and expensive criminal system”
Does imprisonment fulfil those aims and purposes? Studies worldwide have shown that imprisonment does not work in terms of stated objectives. The stated objectives are to reform the criminal. In the majority of cases, the prison population is largely made up of re offenders. Donna King (Smart Justice) described her experience in jail as “Each prison sentence I went through, my crimes got bigger.
This sentencing mechanism has certainly contributed to the increase in prison population. It has also placed harsher punishments that often times do not fit with the crime. Repeat offenders are getting sentenced to long prison terms for low priority crimes. “And if structured sentencing was designed to provide consistency in the type of sentences handed down for specific crimes, the habitual felon law does exactly the opposite, as the offender’s status as a “habitual felon” determines the sentence more so than the severity of the most recent felony”
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.
The prisons in America seem to cause more problems than assistance in today's society. The country's penal system is overcrowded, expensive, and some argue that is ineffective as well as inefficient. The costs to staff and support these facilities increase dramatically every year. Prisons, which are supposed to be correctional facilities, are currently filled with violence and hostility. These institutions are created to control crime by deterrence, incapacitating criminals, which protects society from potentially dangerous criminals, but it is hard to tell if this is being
Prisons have been utilized as a means to punish individuals for crimes committed since 1790 in the United States. The philosophy behind how punishment should be administered to inmates has flip-flopped back and forth from the harsher forms of retribution to the milder forms of rehabilitation. Prisons have experienced a booming population, worker exploitation, and medical reform for the inmates. Prisons serve a well needed part of the criminal justice system, yet they are the least thought of part of the criminal justice system. References Banks, C. 2005.
Reintroduction to society II. Conclusion: Recidivism in the United States has tremendously grown and the reason for its criminal or antisocial behavior is due to its treatment program, or detention program. As many of us find it hard to cope with the real world, inmates is struggling to live from day to day basic. Prison is supposed to reform inmates however due to the traumatic environment; the possibility of rehabilitations is not likely. However, the implementation of; Prison improvement program has made it possible for prison to preserve the basic human rights of inmates.