“The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984” The article, “The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984” (2015), written by Eric Girault, persuades the audience that the enactment of the law did not reduce crime in societies, but was misappropriated, which caused a negative impact on families and their communities. Girault describes this by sharing his personal anecdote on receiving a harsh prison sentence for a non-violent crime as a first time offender. He uses trustworthy resources in order to substantiate his claim. Girault’s intended audience for this piece of writing is the general public, specifically those that lack knowledge of the law and its due process.
In the article “Even Prisoners Must Have Hope”, Richard Stratton (the author) talks about his thoughts on the federal prison system in America. Stratton himself had served 8 years in jail for smuggling marijuana. He strongly advises not to make the prisons even worse than they already are. The harsh conditions and other peoples’ vengeful attitudes toward criminals only make the violence and crime continue. According to Stratton, instead of improving the harsh conditions and trying to rehabilitate and help prisoners that could lead to peace, our society inflicts more pain and punishment, enforcing a violent cycle.
In discusiion of chapter 19, I learned that there is a high rate of incarcerated offenders in the justice system. Some offenders are released early and placed on parole. The caseloads of officers are overloaded. The average parolee have fines that they can not pay due to poor resources in the community. Many are released early because the prisons are overcrowded and punishments are used to deter crime.
In 2014 there were 215,000 people incarcerated in federal prisons, almost half were there for drug-related offenses with the enactment of mandatory minimum sentencing laws for drug offenses in the 1980s, increasing the population by more than 800 percent (Malcolm, 2014.) “Moreover, drug offenders make up the single largest category of incarcerated offenders in Tennessee, serving an average sentence of 9.7 years” (Malcolm, 2014, paragraph 21.) By limit sentencing, we can address the issues of high cost, by using probation and parole for more misdemeanor
In the 60’s the population did not sentence people unless the crime was really intolerable for example rape, murder and grand theft, however in the 21st century people are incarcerated for the possession of drug such as marijuana although some states already legalized and it does not matter how much of it was found on the person if it is of large quantity or even in small quantity. I find this ridiculous for the reason being for those who are incarcerated it goes on their record such that if they apply for a job they will have to state that they have been in jail and this usually risks their chances of getting the job which means they will be unemployed and they will do whatever it takes to make ends meet. This usually means they will upgrade up their crime such as armed robbery or even selling cocaine and this brings us full circle of what is wrong with the justice system In the end, we have to think about how the country looks if we have the highest number of prisoners than other nations. This could be seen as a government that spends too much time cracking down on minor offenses instead of focusing on the bigger crimes such as terrorism or even internet crimes.
While America holds 10% of the world's population, America also holds 25% of the world's jailed population. That number is baffling because one in every 4 people are jailed. This comes rise in jailing trickles down to the war on drugs in the early 70’s. In June of 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs”. He increased law enforcement agencies and mandatory sentences for people charged with drug related crimes.
Primarily, Alexander links mass incarceration’s cause of the War on Drugs. Her secondary cause for this phenomenon appears after this war begins; many defendants cannot obtain “meaningful legal representation” (Alexander 17), a claim which widely goes undisputed. Meanwhile, the argument that “convictions for drug offenses —not violent crime—are the single most important cause of the prison boom in the United States” (Alexander 102), a repetitive argument in her book, sparks controversy. Scholars, such as Pfaff, believe that writers distort the role of drug convictions due to focusing on only
The period from 1985-1990 In reference to, Tonry, (2014), almost half a million prisoners increased, even though during this time noticeable decline in crime was distinguished. One of the aspects which contributed to this is the federal government discussions on ways to reduce the rate. The Period from
Over the course of history several laws have been instilled to increase incarceration rates and preserve them. Beginning with Jim Crow Laws between 1876-1965 which were heavily enforced by police, if they weren’t conducted any black men or women would be thrown in prison along with any activist. President Richard Nixon ran from 1969-1997 declaring a “war on drugs”. In his speech he mentioned, “The problem has assumed the dimensions of a national emergency” (Nixon, Special Message to the Congress on Drug Abuse Prevention and Control). These words suggested a state of national emergency conversely meaning a crisis that involves the countries security and safety.
In the 1970s the United States entered the era known as mass incarceration, the byproduct of the drug war. The War on Drugs changed how society handled drug dependency, diverting the problem from public health to criminal justice. Since the Nixon administration, the political stance on being tough on crime has resulted in various laws and policing practices that heavily criminalized drugs to point in which the prison population in the United States increased from 300,000 people in 1972 to 2.3 million today (Barish, DuVernay, Averick & DuVernay, 2016). The epidemic of mass incarceration corresponds to a variety of public health issues such as mental illness, increased violence within society, increased incidence of addictions, and increased incidence of chronic illnesses (Drucker, 2013).
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
As a result of the increasing animosity of law enforcement authority and justice officials within our society, it has become apparent that the time for Congressional action is now to aid in calming the social fire storm of recent social anti-police movements, increased deadly ambushes upon unsuspecting police officers, and hateful rhetoric in the form of rebellious movements. So where should our nation’s leaders begin? Professor Paul George Cassell J.D. professor of Law at the University of Utah and former Unites States federal Judge suggests by starting with a reexamination of congressionally mandated mandatory minimum sentencing. In Cassell’s publication titled “Sense and Sensibility in Mandatory Minimum Sentencing” Cassell argues the unreasonableness of forcing mandatory minimum sentencing upon state courts when oftentimes, the punishment far exceeds the severity and/or social impact of the crime. As he explains within the text, “In practice, statutory minimums can distort the processes and outcomes of the federal system.
Only 18.3% (337,882) were for the sale or manufacture of a drug” (p. 23). Therefore, the individuals who are likely to enter the already overcrowded prisons may be users and the actual not distributors themselves. Thus, prison space that is intended to be reserved for murders and sexual predators is instead being occupied by substance
Fewer than one in four drug offenders in federal prison have a serious history qtd (Lopez). Urban Institute Figure 2 above shows a pie graph with more than half of violence among people imprisoned for drug offense has no history at 56% while minorities and serious both have 22%. Not only does prison overcrowding affect the inmates in prison, but the officers too. A psychological consequence with “overcrowding has been known to cause far more stressful situations and has prompted prison officials to react inappropriately on occasion due to being forced to accommodate ill-advised numbers of prisoners.” (Portland State University).
In 1972, former President Richard Nixon made his infamous statements regarding crime and drug abuse. In this speech, he declared a war on crime and drugs and intended to decrease the number of people using drugs and the amount of crimes that were committed. Since this declaration, incarceration rates in the U.S. have gone up by 500%, even though the amount of crime happening has gone down. One of the reasons why I feel our rates have risen, is because sometimes, we put people in jail when they don’t need to be there in the first place.
