Joe Arpaio Research Paper

Criminal Justice on the Political Platform

In the United States, many political icons use their successes in hopes of gaining appeal to the voters in their pursuit of election and re-election to public office. This statement holds true when someone uses the criminal justice system as a platform for election or even re-election to sheriff, judge, or even a prosecutor. Recently in Arizona, a man named Joe Arpaio used his tough approach to crime and corrections in order to secure multiple terms as the Maricopa County Sheriff.

Who is Joe Arpaio?

Joe Arpaio was the Maricopa County Sheriff from 1993 to 2016 (Darrah,2018). During his years as Sheriff, Arpaio was known by the public as the “Toughest Sheriff in America” due to his ideology towards corrections and policing (Darrah,2018). Over the years, Arpaio was well known as the creator of the Tent City Jail and having the inmates wear pink clothing in order to prevent them from stealing the jail-issued underwear and socks (Darrah,2018). Throughout his years as Sheriff, people have had many positive and negative opinions about him and his initiatives, however, despite the wavering opinions, Arpaio has managed to successfully showcase his initiatives in order to appeal to the voters.

What Criminal Justice

During the years as the Maricopa County Sheriff, Arpaio showcased two main issues in an attempt to get elected and reelected to office. The first issue Arpaio showcased during his elections involves prison overcrowding. His solution towards this problem was the Tent City Jail. In this jail, inmates were housed outside in military tents in lieu of being inside prison cells (Darrah, 2018). Because inmates were outside instead of inside buildings, this initiative helped save taxpayers money from having to spend money on utilities, such as power and water due to the fact that they were only using