According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there are currently over 2.2 million individuals serving time in federal and state prison, with 95 percent of those individuals being released and returning to their perspective communities across the nation. Majority of those individuals returning have needs that was either unaddressed while incarcerated or during the reentry process, which will negatively impact their ability to live a crime free productive life while in the community. Once released from prison, inmates are faced with a myriad of challenges such as finding stable housing, maintaining employment, combating substance abuse, and addressing physical and mental health problems. However, with the help of community support, offenders would less likely return back to prison and are
In the 1980’s it was evident, because of the increasing prison population and financial issues, a new alternative to incarceration needed to be employed (Brown, 2007). Intensive supervision programs were brought back again as an alternative
The Effects of Changes to Sentencing Laws Changes in the sentencing laws across the United States have accelerated the need for alternative methods of punishment and prevention. As societal norms change and technological advancements continue to improve the way we live, modifications to laws are made accordingly. It is only appropriate that new and improved solutions to the probation and parole systems be implemented, examples are front door and back door programs. These programs have contributed greatly in resolving various issues that have presented in the correctional system because of the changing sentencing laws. The laws that have changed and have had influenced the need for programs include, changes in the compassionate release laws,
During the 1950s was when the “modern movement” regarding community corrections began, however it wasn’t until the late 1960s when this modern movement truly began to get under way; which lead to a reassessment of community corrections. This reassessment of the community corrections system was initiated to bring forth “rehabilitation, reintegration, and restorative” aspects to it rather than being one of punishment. Additionally, community-based corrections provide an intermediary punishment between release and confinement, which allows for a more personalized response to the crime committed and the offenders’ idiosyncratic circumstances. (Vivona, 2008)
As the article stated community corrections is a field designed to facilitate individual short and long term behavior change. Some of the factors that play into unchangeable desire to change their behavior are unchangeable genetic feature, affects in learning process and unacceptable socialization skills. For the reason that they are unable to charge certain behaviors they may become chronic long term offenders and be in and out of the system. The 1970’s became a time of several changes in the development, implementation, testing, and revision of justice programs. This was an effect on the criticism of justice programs.
War on drugs, a campaign for the prohibition of drugs using military aid and military intervention gave birth to mass incarceration. Unfortunately, the consequences of this campaign targeted minorities and people of color, who are in disadvantage. Mass incarceration promotes devastating effects in society, such as racial inequality and poverty. Michelle Alexander, a civil rights litigator and legal scholar is the author of “The New Jim Crow” Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. This book purposed to educate people about of mass incarceration that originated due to the war on the drug's movement, as well as to point out the racist system.
The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for several reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. This literature review will discuss the ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system and how mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism has become a problem.
Private prisons have been increasing more and more over the decade and this is due to the fact that private prisons are handed to a third party to handle and manage thus causing the government to worry about one less thing on their agenda. Not only have private prisons been increasing because it is one less thing for the government to worry about but also because the it benefits the government with more cost-efficient prisons. To further elaborate on the above statement, private prisons are run by third parties and due to this it leads to a reduced cost because when it is run by third parties, third parties do not have to follow the same rules a government prison would. For example, private prisons can pay much less for security than a government
The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world (Walmsley, 2013). One of the greatest known factors that indicate the potential for an individual to be incarcerated is a previous incarceration. Rates of recidivism are as high as 78% can occur within five years of release from prison (Jonson, 2010). Many programs have been reported such as drug courts, electronic monitoring and treatment programs to lower recidivism rates; however many do not include statistics over a two-year period (Jonson, 2010). As costs of incarceration inhibit another public spending, focusing on reducing recidivism would lessen the burden to taxpayers while providing offenders with the ability not to offend.
Mass incarceration is somewhat overlooked by those on the outside and those who are on the inside are considered forgotten about and viewed as less than. But the reality is, these high rates of imprisonment effect many areas of the community. Not to mention the social costs linked to the communities from which these immense population of felons come from. Pattillo, Weiman, & Western, 2006 analyzes how this disregarded population can sometimes increase criminal statistics after the prisoners return into the same community they left – which is another point rarely ever talked about. Other than the invisible consequences that mass incarceration provides, there are even more myriad studies offered surrounding this topic, identified in The Prison
Mass Incarceration and Minority Communities Mass incarceration within the United State of America is a controversial topic in politics today because of the negative effects it has on minority communities. “The United States leads the world in the percentage of its population that serves time in prison or jail.1,2 As of 2012, nearly 7 million men and women are on probation, parole, or under some other form of community supervision, which means that nearly 3% of the American adult population is currently involved in correctional supervision,” (Hatzenbuehler, Keyes, Hamilton, and Uddin, 2015). How does it affect the minority communities?
The article goes into the details on the definition of community corrections, the present position of community corrections, best practices, the need for more research, recent changes, and recommendations. The purpose is to show correctional facilities can do these effects for the community on their own. It takes the significant roles in the Criminal Justice field such as police, judges, prosecutors, and any other role to contribute. The factors that hold this article trustworthy is the fact that the article was published by Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit national research and policy organization in the Unites States. The team behind the report serve in different significant roles within the research organization.
The United States is faced with a major issue of mass incarceration and prison overpopulation. With the largest prison population in the world and the second highest incarceration rate per-capita (1 in 100 citizens is behind bars), the United States’ corrections system needs to be reformed now, through both policy and administrative changes. While I am certain you are familiar with these statistics, I would like to emphasize that using incarceration as the primary response to social problems as is happening today in the United States not only impacts those individuals incarcerated and their families, but also costs tax payers billions of dollars. I would encourage you to consider ways to downscale the prison population. One of them would
Under the guise of public safety, law enforcement law and sentencing policies became stringent and tough on crime during the war on drug era. The results only served to increase incarceration rates. According to U.S. Prison Population Trends in 1972 there were roughly 330,000 people in prison and jail (2016) and according to Criminal Justice Facts by 2013 that number had mushroomed to 2.2 million people (n.d.). It was also noted that most of the growth in the prisoner population occurred in vulnerable populations and a disproportionate number of whom were black or Latino.
American criminal justice, in an era of mass corrections, faces many challenges as a result of the turn to a more punitive system. Social polices now approach corrections from a retributive perspective, investing more in social control and punishment rather than valuing rehabilitation and treatment. Consequently, such a shift has affected recidivism patters and has lead to overcrowding in prisons. The punitive measures were designed to enhance public safety but, unfortunately, have had adverse consequences. Not only has these measures increased the cost of corrections with little known benefit, but many offenders today are simply not prepared to reenter society.
