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.
However, some experts believe the rates have declined because the baby boomer generations are aging, so the percentage of young adults has declined. Some believe that the tougher or harsher sentences for crimes are a cause and there is evidence of this based on the increased prison populations. According to "Where Have All The Burglars Gone?" (2013), "Could more criminals being locked up be the answer? The number of people behind bars has grown substantially in many countries over the past 20 years.” (para.
Before the birth of the modern penitentiary at Walnut Street (Philadelphia) in 1790, prisoners endured unimaginable squalor” (Roth, 2011, p. 86). With the implementation of the new correctional system many changes took place including the way the prisoners were housed, treated, and the way they spent their days. As we have learned the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia is considered the birthplace of the American penitentiary. As the article Walnut Street Prison states most prisons were typically built in a U shape with large rooms. The original role for prisons was just to hold criminals and no regard was given for an inmate’s well-being.
Prison Industrial Complex Today in the United States we are seeing a change in state of incarceration, according to prisonpolicy.org, since 2010 be have seen the prisoners released exceed prison admissions. This in fact is a major transformation because since 1977 releases have not exceeded admissions. One can view this in a positive aspect by thinking that the United States has finally started shifting their policies away from this asinine system of incarceration but in fact this may only be ploy to systematize a greater portion of our population. Even though release rates have grown, the United States still imprisons the highest percentage of its population. So in actuality, today, we are institutionalizing the greatest number of citizens in our history.
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.
The Need to Develop a Management Strategy for Use of Military Equipment being given to Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies Joseph P. Garland Jr. Liberty University CJUS 300 D01 LUO 7 December 2014 Professor Larry Wine Abstract In the growing wake of civil unrest witnessed in the past several months thru out different localities in the United States from American Citizens. And the potential for Domestic Terrorism or Terrorism perpetrated from sources outside of the United States. Local, County and State Law Enforcement Officials and Departments due to budget reductions and constraints placed on them by an already politicized Department of Justice (DOJ). Have had to implement ways to stretch what little equipment these forces
In the course of a year, there are 12 million admissions to secure facilities. Enough people are admitted to prisons and jails every two days to fill the New Orleans Superdome to capacity. The administrative manning and cost to house and provide care for prisoners has skyrocketed. Prisons are so overcrowded that prisoners are being released early to provide for more serious offenders. This increase is largely due to added staffing levels, new prisoner programs and rights, care of the elderly, and less lenient laws.
Criminal offenders who are sentenced to jail usually carry a sentence of less than one year. If an offender gets a sentence for longer than a year, then they are usually sentenced to a prison. Prisons are a confinement facility that is either, military, federal, state, or privately run. Prisons are given the custodial authority over the offenders sentenced to their facility. Not only is there four different types of prisons, there are different security levels for different prison as well.
Prison Overcrowding Angela Thompson Trident Technical College Prison Overcrowding Introduction Discussions of overcrowding frequently merge concerns about state and federal prisons together with municipal and county jails, which in states such as Pennsylvania, are confusingly referred to as county prisons. With the exception of Alaska, Hawaii, and a small number of north-eastern states that operate integrated jail/prison systems, state and federal prisons or penitentiaries house exclusively sentenced felons, usually committed for a minimum of one year. Jails typically holds varying proportions of felons and misdemeanants sentenced to less than one year. However, they also house pre-trial detainees who have not yet been convicted but are held pending prosecution and disposition of their cases, usually because they have not been able to secure pretrial release by posting bail. Because the extent of crowding, along with the reasons, consequences, and potential remedies can vary considerably depending upon whether the focus is on prisons versus jails, it is important to separate the two.
The difference between the numbers of criminals who reoffended considering the length of their time in jail is 7.2%. These numbers are so small, that instead of justifying the prison system, it works against it. There are other arguments against jails. Jails are expensive, since they support a large number of socially incapable individuals for many years. Furthermore, far too many institutions are overcrowded.