Criminal Justice System Today’s criminal justice system is corrupted. It is outdated, unfair, and unethical. For just the smallest crimes, we punish a very high percentage of our population creating life long obstacles in their life after their sentences. What was once a system that was designed to protect the people and treat them with justice, has now become a business designed to profit off of criminals. Although the United States of America is facing a problem of mass incarceration, the problem is not solely on the outdated system, but the increasing population and the enlargement of the gap between the rich and the poor are also factors. The majority of the U.S population has a family member or a close friend that has served time in …show more content…
The prisons are still overflowing and ex convicts are treated unfairly. The problem that many people do not understand is that prisoners are still people. Many have small mistakes;( excluding rapists, murderers, and pedophiles, those deserve the death sentence) and if they pay the consequences they should be let back in society. The opposite is the truth, however. prisoners were branded for life. They are give a criminal record that might as well be tattooed on their forehead for it makes it hard for them to get a job anywhere or even live in certain places. What is the point of sentencing them to jail time if they are going to continue to pay the price after …show more content…
The fact is that these families suffer greatly from this, and they start to have financial problems that leads to poverty. Then not just the convict has to live off the government but also their families since they get help from the government. Penalties need to lesson and they need to implement a three strike rules with fines rather than with jail time. Not just that but also the mental stress that ex convicts face. They are discriminated against. Civil rights have progressed throughout the years, and those who were once criminated against now live blissfully. Criminals are discriminated against all the time and no one seems to care about them. To reform the system we need to abolish prisons and start focusing on a new system. A system that reforms and reconstructs instead of a system of punishment. If we teach how to integrate them back in society. If we give better job opportunities, people won’t have to do act illicitly to take care of themselves and their families. No one is born wanting to be a criminal but the situation that one is put in sometimes forces them to commit illegal activities. If they are taught to do things and are given option. We need to do better to give them opportunities so that they don’t engage in illegal
It seems to me that we need to be better at filtering the system instead if incarcerating everyone no matter the offense we should start seeking other alternatives. We should incarcerate those who are an endangerment to themselves and society. For the others we should try to get them treatment not just throw them in jail because that won’t end the cycle. When people are released they aren’t prepared for society. They don’t have anything just the clothes on the back and no money. The only way most released inmates know how to get money is to steal it. It’s very difficult for a person with a felon to get a stable job. Another flaw with releasing inmates is that when they released there are many regulations and rules they have to abide by that are very difficult. You have to pay a certain amount each month. You have to report, you have to employee, and you may have to stay in one place. These technicalities are what keep sending people back. These people when they get pout have nothing. How can you expect them to pay
Roughly, two thirds of released prisoners are rearrested within three years of release, 47% were reconvicted, and 41% were re-incarcerated (National Center for Policy Analysis, 1998). Those are just the ones who get caught. If you return an individual to the community with $10 and a suit of clothes and no support systems, you can just about guarantee that that person is going to resort to some kind of criminal behavior. Because these numbers are so disproportionately high, we have to think in terms of doing something drastic with these offenders before they are released back into society. If no constructive plan of action can be formulated, invariably our society will falter at the hands of these men and
The criminal justice administration today faces various issues and problems thus needing serious reforms. In most cases, many nonviolent offenders go to jail because many prosecutors and district attorneys succumb to political pressure hence become tough on crime. The prisons are always populated and there are minimal resources to ensure there are significant improvements in the system. Some of the key issues facing Criminal justice department today include; wrongful convictions, gangs, racial injustices in the administration, excessive criminalization, socio economic considerations, and problems with
In fact, they actually have a higher chance at returning back jail because they lack so much freedom and rights they have nothing to lose at that point. People find it hard to give ex-convicts a second chance back in life, after so many times of being denied employment they turn to criminal actions for money. If people could agree on something that could be equal to everybody the crime rates could decreased enormously. Coming back to society is step that takes time for individual for forgive themselves and ask for a second chance at
(Lewin, 2013) This policy made the prison system worse instead of rehabilitating the inmate we improved their criminal tactics and released them into society as a time bomb. According to U.S. Bureau of Justice and statistics more than 40 percent of ex-convicts return to prison within three years of release. (Viguerie, 2013) However, studies from the New York University of Law show that it is more costly to rehabilitate an inmate than to house them in prison this is why the system has not prioritized in rehabilitation. (Laughland,
Many people in jail are waiting for justice. Having to sit in a jail cell doing time for something you didn't do and having to wait for an appeal that's not going to happen can be rough. There's has to be a change in the sentencing reform. First of all , prison is getting overpopulated. According to source 1 " Imprisonment destroys employment prospects and family ties. This shows how sentencing reform can affect peoples lives because most american lives are Fathers and Mothers trying to support for their families are stuck in prison waiting for an appeal and to beat the trial to get back to supporting their families. Eventually, the more people you put in prison the badder it gets. In source 1 line 5-7" After 45,000 criminals were placed in
The U.S. criminal justice system was designed to reform individuals with criminal behaviors so that they, upon release, can be sent back into the population as well-working members of society. "We let ex-convicts marry, reproduce, buy beer, own property and drive. They don 't
Despite offering possible treatment or programs, Americans place the responsibility of the crime on the person and they believe it is up to the person to pull by their bootstraps back into the society with no or little help. The society shuns the ex-convicts because people after being exposed to media which put the convicts in a bad light, believe that all convicts are dangerous, crazy, and liable to bite back.
Our criminal justice system has set up criminals for recidivism. According to the Bureau of Justice within three years, 7 in 10 non-violent offenders are arrested and at risk for recidivism. The passage of the Civil Rights Act ended discrimination against people based on religion, sex, race or sexual orientation, but not criminal history. Today it is legal for a person to be discriminated against for their criminal history. In fact most jobs ask someone for their criminal history, asking the dreaded question of “Have you ever committed a felony”? This question many times disqualifies people from having the resume or application considered. President Bill Clinton’s administration pushed through laws that made it tougher for felons to move on and have a better life by; banning them from public housing, receiving federal financial aid or even receiving food stamps. Many former convicts are also at risk of having a high rates of suicide and homelessness because many prisons offer limited or no programs to attempt to help convicts with reentry into society. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws have incarcerated people for
The Criminal Justice System has made many changes since it first started in the 17th Century. The Criminal Justice System first began in the United States during the colonial times, when the colonist had to follow the rules of the British. During the Colonial times, the Criminal Justices System was not as fair as our current system is today, which meant a lot of people did not have liberties and were ultimately treated unfairly. Times have definitely changed for the Criminal Justice System and for the United States. We now have several documents giving citizens’ rights to be protected from the Criminal Justice System, a few of those right are in the constitution and also the 27 amendments. In the United States there are also a few other things that a person can do other than go to jail or prison. One alternative to prison or jail is house arrest where the offender serves out their sentence at their home. Another one is probation, Probation, in criminal law, is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by a court instead of serving time in prison. In the United States, we have several documents and alternatives for being placed in jail or prison, yet people still find a way to get themselves incarcerated. Since there are so many prisoners in these correctional facilities, they are beginning to face several problems such as mental health issues, staff morale, negative media attention, inmate behavior, and overcrowding. I believe overcrowding is the most
Sadly, these programs only succeed in a very low percent of ex-convicts, and the money that the government spends to keep criminals locked up is pretty huge compared with the resources invested in their rehabilitation. Political leaders should work together with government organizations in paving the way for all of those just getting out of prison. Another positive step to keep those people out of prison is to create programs in which felons could learn new professions, most of them go to jail at very early age and when they leave prison, they have no job skill that would help them become gainfully
Prison life can be harsh, and time spent in a isolation is even worse. A majority of those in prison spend countless hours in idleness. It would be much better if they used that time to reeducate themselves for a productive life on the outside. Some of the prisoners have serious emotional and mental problems that are never addressed and it is illogical to not attempt to correct these problems before they are released.
However, the U.S. criminal justice system has already reduced crime; the system works so a reform is not truly needed. If it is not broken, then why fix it? The current system of imprisoning a large number of
Prisons not only rehabilitate, but they also deter people from going to prison. The fear of going to prison is a great deterrence for a perspective criminal. Hard life styles along with loss of freedom tend to push the criminal away from the chance of being incarcerated. Numbers show that there are fewer rapes, and fewer murders, each year, all an obvious product of prison deterrence. After all, if a person has a friend who just got out of jail, and hears all of the war stories, that person would surely not want to go to prison and end up like his friend. By making life in prison hard, the prison is doing a great job in getting the word out. Prison is no joke! They are doing their job in deterring criminals from wanting to enter the gates of hell.
When a convicted felon is released from prison, their lives become more limited. They are no longer allowed to vote or own a firearm. They will also have a hard time finding employment due to their felony conviction. Having a criminal record, reduces a person’s chance of getting a callback or job offer by almost 50 percent (NAACP, n.d.). Convicted felons also have a more difficult time receiving an education due to the government not awarding them grants or funds to return to school. The fines that they have been charged with will also cause them to have a difficult time because what money they are able to gain has to go toward paying them instead of towards things such as bills or luxuries. This also makes the felons’ families suffer as well as if they are being punished for something that their loved one took part in. Some criminals will