ipl-logo

Bold Change In Our Criminal Justice System Essay

766 Words4 Pages

Bernie Sanders had recently made a statement for all of America to hear: “Overall, we need bold change in our criminal justice system. A good first step forward is to start treating prisoners as human beings, not profiting from their incarceration. Our emphasis must be on rehabilitation, not incarceration and longer prison sentences.” I personally agree with this statement because our criminal justice system has some severe problems with it, it’s used for punitive reasons rather than rehabilitative. Prisons in the United States are tearing apart lives and increasing the rates of mental illness in our country. In this essay, I will be discussing the affects that this system has on our criminals and my theory on how it can be improved. First of all, instead of keeping our justice system as a punitive resource, it should be used to restore the delinquent’s morals and social …show more content…

This is due to the lack of help prisons offer the felons. Instead of helping the criminals, they place them into solitary confinement until it’s their time to discharge. However, according to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, 85% of drug users return back to the drug life after they’ve been released from prisons. I think this is another consequence of not providing the person help. Some judges in court may suggest that the being attends drug counseling or rehab but 70% of the addicts who attend eventually drop out because they are not being supervised. It has been proven that 74% of these prisoners have the ideal thought, “once I am a criminal, I am always a criminal. There is no taking this back because what is done has been done.”, because of this thought they just eventually give up and do what they want. If these fellas were able to earn their individual rights back through getting help then maybe it would encourage them to work

Show More
Related

Analysis Of Why Prisons Don T Work By Wilbert Rideau

541 Words | 3 Pages

How would you feel if you were thrown in an American prison in the horrendous state they are in today? Many people are content with the prison system we have. In the essay, “Why Prisons Don’t Work,” Wilbert Rideau, an African American man who was convicted of murder at age nineteen, challenges this complacency with the system and claims prisons do not change the convict from the person they were when they committed the crime. Putting uneducated people who made silly, impulsive choices in jail is not the way to make a community safer. Prisons do not offer good rehabilitation programs for inmates.

Read More

Angela Davis Are Prisons Obsolete Summary

1396 Words | 6 Pages

In “Are Prisons Obsolete,” Angela Davis, an American activist who served 16 months in prison before being acquitted, argues that today's prison systems fail to address the root causes of crime. Despite their intended purpose, prisons lack the structure needed to rehabilitate inmates. We become so quick to assume that imprisoning criminals leads to a safer environment. As prisons continue to expand and their inmate population rises, they become embedded in society's norms without the consent of the people or critical examination of their effectiveness. Davis argues for reform, noting that the current system has serious flaws in addressing criminal behavior, as she believes crime will continue to persist and keep growing exponentially within

Read More

Summary Of Chapter 19 Of The Criminal Justice System

453 Words | 2 Pages

The prisoners that have struggled with drugs are place in a pre-released program to prepare them for their release. I think the justice system hands are tied a little bit to maintain the prisons and community well

Read More

Remarkable Court Decision And The Future Of Prisons In America, By Jonathan Simon

1084 Words | 5 Pages

Now, approximately four decades later we are in the precipice of yet again a “new common sense”. Unlike the last approach, this will put the human dignity of prisoners back at the constitutional center of the Eighth Amendment, have better approaches to handling mental illnesses that can lead to incarceration, and effective crime prevention strategies. Simone’s use of the federal court challenges and decisions in his book ultimately shows us a way to legally dismantle mass incarceration and prompts our society to examine and change our view of incarceration and our response to

Read More

Synopsis Of The Film 'The New Jim Crow'

894 Words | 4 Pages

It was additional shocking to learn the there is little or no rehabilitative service or training offered to the prisoners, and with the privatization of the prison system has led to longer sentencing time. A man released from prison will have

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Incarcerated Prisoners

1063 Words | 5 Pages

“while the old saying notes that crime doesn't pay, that doesn't hold true for America's system of incarceration, which has seen spending more than triple since 1980.” Aimee Picchi. Our entire country would be filled with prisons. It would be too expensive and take up too much time. If prisoners don’t learn from their mistakes the population of people in society will increase

Read More

Rehabilitation In Shawshank's Redemption

766 Words | 4 Pages

On the contrary, they continue to misbehave as the way that had them chained up. Rehabilitating from crime is similar to recovering from drug abuse, the most effective way to cut off from further engagement is to keep anything related out of reach. Yet, the prison has done the opposite, no prisoner can reform under such circumstance. Prison is supposed to put an end to criminal activities but it turns out to be the extension; crime keeps happening in and out of the prison and criminals stay as

Read More

Pros And Cons Of Mass Incarceration

1579 Words | 7 Pages

“Rather than taking the time to understand the mind and the social environment of individuals who participate in criminal activity and helping to break the ever turning cycles, the criminal justice system is quick to criminalize these individuals, thus failing to realize that, in reality, these acts are just cries for help for necessary resources. There is something from their past that haunts their present and, ultimately, their future” (Johnson-Watkins 2017). And after an individual has cried out and been punished, they are going to constantly struggle because inmates are only punished, not rehabilitated or supported. “Crimes such as domestic violence, drug abuse, and theft are not looked into as actual mental illnesses that could elicit this type of behavior but just as a wrongdoing that must be punished by imprisonment” (Davis 2003). This is a sad future that many individuals in our current criminal justice system are facing.

Read More

How Does America's Criminal Justice System Change

520 Words | 3 Pages

He also believes we should give severe punishments to those who can’t get their act together and just won’t change even after all the less severe punishments given to them. With your help we can persuade the The American Criminal Justice System to give quick and less harsh punishments to our citizens who deserve a second chance. Just like Mark Kleiman I am angry with our criminal justice

Read More

Rehabilitation In The American Prison System

136 Words | 1 Pages

When the American prison system began, it was believed that rehabilitation, the act of restoring one’s character, could be beneficial for criminals to start over. According to Tom Wicker, “The system…began as a reform impulse, the idea that if offenders were isolated, shielded from the public mockery that had accompanied hangings and the stocks, given time to repent, and worked hard, they could be turned away from crime and transformed into useful citizens” (xii). Criminals could become better citizens and have a positive outlook for a future if they worked hard and were secluded from the outside world. Although this idea seems more humane, it did not last long in the prison system because many people believed that any crime committed deserved

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of The Incarceration System

1151 Words | 5 Pages

It has been drilled into our heads since childhood that criminals deserve harsh punishment, that they are subhuman and incapable of change. However, it is important to revisit our biases and how our authority exploits this prejudice to mistreat endangered groups in society. Justice should not be defined by punishment, but by rehabilitation and restoration. The criminal justice system should not be a tool of oppression, but a mechanism for healing and growth. Our incarceration system benefits neither the criminals nor the public, and only further oppresses and endangers our prisoners.

Read More

Persuasive Speech Outline For Prison

679 Words | 3 Pages

Thesis: It is very important for the sake of Americans tax dollars that we change the way that prisons are run and increase the productivity of inmates so when they are released from jail they are ready to be a productive member in society and have the confidence to achieve new goals. Introduction: Day after day, millions of inmates sit in jail doing nothing productive with their lives. We are paying to house inmates that may not even have a good reason to be there. For example, drug offenders are being kept with murderers and other violent offenders.

Read More

Rate Of Recidivism

1135 Words | 5 Pages

I find that kind of intriguing that the same system that is supposed to be allowing these prisoners a second chance at life is possibly the one putting them back in the jail house which in turn raises the rate of recidivism. Jessica Glazer wrote an article titled “Why it Might Be Time to Rethink the Rules of Parole” back in 2014. In this article, Glazer expresses the need to find a balance between the rules that are associated with parole and parolees themselves. She takes into account that parole conditions vary from state to state and further vary from officer to officer. This practically means that their freedom lies in the hands of their probation officer.

Read More

Argumentative Essay On Incarceration In America

874 Words | 4 Pages

Over 2 million people are currently being held in United States prisons, and while the U.S. may only hold 5% of the world’s population, it houses 25% of its prisoners. In the past few years, America’s prison system has fallen under public scrutiny for it’s rising incarceration rate and poor statistics. Many Americans have recently taken notice of the country’s disproportionate prisoner ratio, realized it’s the worst on the planet, and called for the immediate reformation of the failing system. The war on drugs and racial profiling are some of the largest concerns, and many people, some ordinary citizens and others important government figures, are attempting to bring change to one of the country 's lowest aspects.

Read More

Criminal Justice Rehabilitation Essay

887 Words | 4 Pages

A very important aspect of the criminal justice system is to ensure there is a way to rehabilitate offenders, not only incarcerate them. Rehabilitation in the criminal justice system means that there is an attempt by the system to restore a criminal back to a productive and useful member of society free of the life of crime. By rehabilitating an offender, the system is trying to alter their behavior and attitude in a positive way and to make them once again, law abiding citizens (Seiter, 2014). Rehabilitation can come in many forms, such as drug treatment, education, mental health treatment, develop better decision making skills, therapeutic counseling and even job training. An offender does need to be punished for breaking the law, but they need to accept responsibility for their crimes and eventually change their

Read More

More about Bold Change In Our Criminal Justice System Essay

Related Topics

Open Document