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Pros and cons of the Texas criminal justice system
Pros and cons of the Texas criminal justice system
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Government paper The Texas prison system is a very cruel cutthroat system that has many problems And racial issues. The system is deeply embedded in the state’s budget, but also in its political, cultural, and social fabric and impacts the lives of millions of people. From the wrong the accused, actual criminal and racial profiled African Americans and hispanics to the wardens, prison guards, judges and politicians who work on or for the prisons. Through his Book “Texas Tough” Robert Perkinson shows an effective argument against how Texas is using the prison system as a way to control and unethically treat African Americans and other minorities just like they did from 1870-1965 with the jim crows laws through the criminal system by using statistical evidence, Historical evidence, and Historical pictures of african american prisoners being treated like slaves by the Texas prison system.
One of the issues currently in the Texas justice system is a miscarriage of justice. A miscarriage of justice is primarily the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. In the film, Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story, it is shown that Mr. Morton was given an unfair trial, which led to his conviction for a crime he did not commit. During Mr. Morton’s trial, then-district attorney Ken Anderson had refused to call on chief investigator Don Wood to the witness stand because he did not want to turn over key documents in Mr. Wood’s file to Mr. Morton’s defense lawyer. A specific file that could have helped Mr. Morton’s case was a transcript of a conversation that chief investigator Don Wood had with Mr. Morton’s mother-in-law, Rita Kirkpatrick.
In Last Chance in Texas, The author researches the treatment of juveniles that are in the Capital punishment program at the Giddings State School. Giddings is a facility in Texas that is ran aggressively and has one of the most successful, treatment programs in America for young offenders (Hubner, 2008). The juveniles in this program have committed violent crimes and were sentenced to this school for rehabilitation and the ability to reintegration back into society. Throughout the book, Hubner studied three sets of nine students of Giddings for nine months. Hubner discovered that the treatment programs worked by making the juveniles understand their past and how their actions affected other people was the key to a successful rehabilitation
overview In 1854 the Texas legislature authorized a commission to codify the existing laws in Texas; and in 1856 the Texas Penal Code was established. Prior to 1856 Texas was governed mostly by common law; it was not until 1895 that the Texas Penal code was revised. In 1974 the Texas Penal code went through another revision, this time more extensive than the previous revisions, and mostly based on the American law institute penal code model. The main goal of the revision was too Clarify and consolidate the fundamental law of crimes, and to modernize and simplify the penal code for the rural, less populated areas of Texas, to reasonably grade offenses based on the severity of the crimes; as well as to ensure that the punishment for committing
On July 1st 2017, Dr. Anne Fowler, Professor, Louisiana Tech University, approved a title for proposed long report by Elise Johnson, student, Louisiana Tech University to study the American prison system and the direct correlation to slavery and find viable solutions to resolve the increase incarceration rates. The author begins performing research to gain a better understanding of the American prison system, focusing solely on the Texas prison system. Reason being the Texas prison system leads the way with punishment, of petty offenders (simple burglary, theft) and serious offenders (sexual assault, murder). Then materials were collected via the world wide web, and the local library, regarding the origin of slavery, and the penal system.
In the United States of America, there are many systems throughout the government. There is the Department of Health, Department of education, and many more to be listed. One system that often causes controversy is the Department of Correction, this department always raises the question; does our jail/correction system work? The correctional system has flaws and gives some result, however, there are more cases than not that prove the correctional system needs a great deal of improvement. Due to the living conditions and the activity inside of the United States prisons the prison system is looked at as dysfunctional.
Since the earliest inception of a codified concept of crime and punishment the criminal justice system has been in a state of ever changing progress building on the philosophies of laws and their subsequent punishments from as far back as ancient times of human society. In this essay what will be looked at are the current policies and principals of punishment of the state of Texas with regards to specified and targeted crimes in particular the crimes of aggravated assault, and grand theft auto, as well it will be looked at to see if there are any new practices that may improve the current system that is in place or if any changes or modifications needs to be done. In centuries past the most common forms of punishment have their roots in
Specifically, prisoners lose many rights that prevent them from becoming well-behaved citizens. Texas suffers from a high incarceration rate and prison population because prisoners are not receiving the help they need. In the United States, Texas is known for its poor criminal justice system. Despite its efforts of being tough
During the 17th and 18th century, millions of slaves were imported from Africa to the United States of America. They were bound by chains and were not treated like humans. They were merchandise for people to use to make money off of. Slaves were later freed with the Emancipation Proclamation under President Abraham Lincoln, but the question that should be considered today is if privatization of prisons is modern day slavery. According to Suevon Lee’s article, “By the Numbers: The U.S.’s Growing For-Profit Detention Industry”, 128,195 prisoners were held in privately managed facilities as of December 2010.
There has constantly been a fight between whether or not private prisons should be legally allowed in America since 1984, when the first private prison was created. Although some private prisons may help with jobs within the prison, rehabilitation and benifiting “the inmates with some acquired skills that they could use during their reintegration process that [helped] welcomed them back to the society” (logan, 1990). Despite numerous advantages of private prisons, such as cost effectiveness and relieving public prisons of overcrowdedness. A variety of disadvantages exist that ultimately hinder the process of privatization. For instance; neglected prisoners, patrens turn into profit, and do not always keep staff training up to date.
With only five percent of the world’s population, the United States has 25 percent of all inmates. It is upsetting to believe that in America prisoners are responsible for the high revenue in private prison companies. Many states have even signed agreements with private prison companies, guaranteeing that they will fill certain number of beds in jail at a given point. Ninety percent is the common rate; however, some private prisons have been able to get away with 100 percent.
Something that I see as a problem that many times leads to people committing more serious crimes, then entering the prison system thus the classification process. Leading to the overpopulation and crowding of the jails and prisons, by doing something immediately it seems that many of these thing could be avoided. As a society inmates are housed for several days and sometimes weeks on crimes that require no sentence at all involving minor crimes. If a system were to be in place to adjudicate these types of inmates on the day they are arrested, to be able determine their risk factor and determine if a release will be in the best interest of the inmate as well as the community.
The cash-based bail system has few perceived advantages and significant disadvantages. The cash-based bail system though overall is systematically flawed, keeping it from serving its intended purpose of public safety and ensuring defendant’s appearance in court (Pretrial Justice Institute, 2012). While some people may view it as a necessary system, it should be evaluated to determine if it is serving its intended purpose. I believe it is serving a much different purpose than it intends to. Rather than providing safety for the public and causing defendants to have a financial incentive to appear at court, the cash-based bail system has created a justice system that systematically incarcerates the poor.
Suppose there is a man, this man is married and also has three children whom he provides for. Now imagine another man, this man is a criminal and is sentenced to 55 long years in prison for his crimes. Based on the second description one may think this man would have committed a violent or at least very damaging crime. In reality, the crimes committed were not violent and some may argue, not even damaging. The aforementioned men are one in the same and describe the case of Weldon Angelo.
2. The Prison-Industrial Complex introduced by Eric Schlosser, is a theory that claims that the prison system is constructed by political pressures, economic requirements, and commercial demands. The prison system has been continuously growing in the last three decades, regardless of the actual need for it. The PIC is specifically harmful to the most vulnerable of people, such as homeless people, mentally ill, etc. The PIC does more harm, than good, therefore, it is a poor system all-around.