In Chapter one, ‘Crime Control in America,” Rieman suggests that the criminal justice system has been designed to fail. Although there has been a slight decrease in crime in the more recent years, more specifically since 1992 the overall crime rates are declining; however a review of the criminal justice literature proves that prisons and police played quite a limited role in the national crime decline. He started off discussing the “Tough on crime” policies in which led to the largest prison expansion the U.S has ever known[i]. From 1980 to 2000, the U.S. built more prisons then it had in all of its history,[ii] creating what has been called an incarceration binge, mass incarceration, hyper incarceration, and a Plaque of Prisons. [iii] Rieman went through our history of recent Presidents, and there multiple failed policies they out forth in order to fight the war on crime.
The number of people behind bars has grown substantially in many countries over the past 20 years.” (para. 9). Better policing can also be attributed to the decline in crime rates as evidence of the growing prison population. According to Mitchell (2010), "In Denver, 30 of the 2009 murders — almost 80 percent — have been solved, according to Mary Dulacki, records coordinator for Denver police.” Per a Denver Police spokesperson, another factor in the reduction of murders is the improvements with emergency medical treatment and services. First responders are able to save more lives than in the past (Mitchell, 2010).
There has been no consistent evidence that crowding is associated with mortality, morbidity which is defined as clinic utilization), recidivism, violence, or other pathological behaviors (Gaes 1994). In addressing any problem area, one first must define the terms or operational definitions. The United States Supreme Court on November 30, 2010, heard oral argument in Schwarzenegger v. Plata about whether a federal court in California properly ordered the release of 40,000 prisoners to relieve the severe overcrowding in the state's prisons that has led to inadequate medical and mental health care for prisoners (Equal Justice Initiative, 2010). America’s prisons now hold more than 2.3 million people, and many of the facilities are overcrowded, with serious implications for both health and safety. 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).
For instance, the criminal will think twice before killing for fear of receive the strongest punishment. Death penalty actually is not an effective crime deterrent. This is because majority of people do not anticipate they will be caught. Some states in the United State such as New York, Hawaii, Alaska and Michigan do not use the death penalty had proved they had lower murder rate than the states that do. For example in 2004, crimes rate for states do not use the death penalty had 4.08 murders per 100000 inhabitants compare to states use death penalty had 6.32 murders per 100000 inhabitants.
The number of inmates released early from prison to community supervision or parole has dramatically decreased. Types of crimes for which offenders are convicted and sentenced to prison has not changed significantly since early 1990s. Almost 70 percent of all convicted offenders admitted to DOC have been sentenced to three years or less and most of those (47 percent) for one year or less. The court has not significantly changed its sentencing practices in imposing prison terms, but recently there has been an increase in the number of sentences of between five to 10 years and a decrease in sentences of one year or less. Violent crimes generally receive the longest prison sentence (about six years) and drug offenses the next longest (almost four years).
Death Penalty Nearly half of Americans say that the death penalty is not imposed often enough (Newport). Yet the number of executions in America continues to drop. There was about half the number of executions in 2009 than 1999 (Thornburgh). Some say that the death penalty should not be used at all because we are not sure if the person is guilty. In fact, the death penalty needs to be imposed more often because it prevents the murders of innocent people, and the punishment should fit the crime.
Much of the argument over stop and frisk lies in numbers.” For instance, the NYPD says its policy has led to a falling murder rate and more gun seizures, with homicides down 21 percent this year and the number of illicit guns seized up 31 percent from last year”(Huffington post). If this tactic results in this much of a drop in homicides and an increase of thirty one percent in illicit guns seized, why not use it. This tactic obviously helps keep the streets a little safer. Most if not all cities that imply stop and frisk experience a dramatic drop in crime rate. “The reality is that crime has gone way down in New York City and that stop and frisk has certainly contributed to it.
Another example that shows that guns aren’t so dangerous is that in any given year there is one drowning of a child for every 11,000 residential pools as compared to 1 death for every 1 million guns, or 175 children killed for the over 200 million guns owned in the U.S. (Levitt 150). Statistics like this show that pools could potentially be even more dangerous than guns. Those that believe guns are so dangerous may want to consider focusing on things that are taking more lives, such as autmobiles. They should
These global crimes are not influenced by violence, but cause major damage to those affected. Global Drug Trade According to the United Nations Drug Report 2013, in 2011 between 167 and 315 million people consumed illicit drugs at least once last year. Around 10% of users are considered “problem drug users”; this is a disturbing percentage because more than 100,000 people die each year as a result of illicit drug use (Wolf & Pham, 2012). There are several problems linked with the illegal drug trade as it continue to grow globally. Global drug abuse and ease of access have become extremely complex, as trafficking routes are shorter, varied, and easily traversed, and as the demand for heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and amphetamines become increasingly global, so does drug trafficking (United Nations
Decrease in Juvenile Crime In 2001, according to the FBI, juveniles accounted for 17% of all arrests and 15% of all violent crime arrests (Snyder, 2003). In the late 1980s, juvenile violent crime arrest had a substantial growth then peaked in 1994. However, between 1994 and 2001, the juvenile arrest rate for Violent Crime Index fell 44% and as a result, the juvenile Violent Crime Index arrest rate was the lowest since 1983 (Snyder, 2003). Furthermore, in 2001, the rate of juvenile arrests for Violent Crime Index offenses that included forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault and murder declined for the seventh consecutive year. The juvenile arrest rate for each of these offenses has been declining steadily since the mid-1990s; for murder, the rate fell 70% and manslaughter arrest rate fell 40% from its 1993 peak through 2001.