Policy Changes in the Criminal

Policy Changes in the Criminal Justice System in America

Discuss the changes that can be made to improve three parts of the criminal justice system (Crime Prevention, Sentencing, and the prison experience) QUOTE ALL 10 RESOURCES

The criminal justice system in America which comprises of three stages i.e. crime prevention, sentencing and the prison experience has failed terribly in bringing about the necessary changes to the criminals. This is seen in the high rate of violent crimes which are higher in America than other European countries and thus suggest that the system does not work as desired. The sentencing policies that have been used have not helped either. These have just led to exponential growth of the population of inmates and it has created a vast disparity in inmates that is based on class and race. Additionally, the rate of relapse to prison is extremely high suggesting that there are no reforms taking place on the inmates. Therefore, there is need for policies to be instituted which change the criminal justice system in America.

One of the policy changes that need to take place regards the way in which the prisons are run. Mass imprisonment rakes in huge profits for companies as a result of prisons being treated as business entities by those running the prisons. Corporations which are contracted to run or own the prisons usually earn millions in profits year after year. Therefore, they find a way to keep their profits flowing in as a result of mass imprisonment. This system tends to reproduce the same conditions that lead people into prison Davis 16-17(; Schlosser)

. Therefore, the government needs to find a way to run the prisons as state entities that do not make any profits. This would bring about some seriousness to the prisons and reduce the reproduction of conditions similar to those that lead people into prison.

The second issue that arises is how the media and film industries portray prisons to those outside prisons. Prisons have been portrayed in a different image than the reality which confuses the general public into believing that they know all about what happens in the prisons. This has led to the evildoers not being scared of prison since they believe that it is a place that they are familiar with. The government should come up with policies to prevent prisons from being portrayed a lot in the films giving the public this false image Davis 17-18()

It is also important to eliminate drug abuse, sexual abuse and medical neglect for the prisoners. The government needs to come up with ways to curb these vices that take place in the prisons. This would lead to some sort of drug treatment and rehabilitation for the prisoners leading to reforms when they are released from prison Davis 20.

This sentiment is shared by Lt. Gannon who stated that many of those who end up in prison do not belong there. They just need drug treatment, rehabilitation and community support services. Most of all, they need a second chance Lemaitre ()

. If reforms can be designed along these lines, the benefits would be extremely huge.

A research study that was conducted in the year 1999 found that there a huge decrease in the rate of incarceration as a result of legalization of abortion. There were two reasons for this. First was that legalization of abortion led to a decrease in the number of unwanted babies and secondly, as a result of this reduction in unwanted babies, the children do not suffer abuse and neglect which leads to their involvement in crime in later life. Both of these reasons are justified by years and years of research Levitt and Sailer 1-2.

A reply to this study stated that the legalization of abortion was not the reason for this reduction in rate of violent crime; rather it was the reduction in the crack business Levitt and Sailer 3.

Therefore there is need to find the related factors to the high rate of crime then devise policies that eliminate these causative factors which will in turn reduce the rate of crime and imprisonment.

Racial discrimination is an important reason why the criminal justice system in America has failed. There are certain races which have been branded as criminal races. This has led to many generations being incarcerated. Among these races are the African-Americans and the Hispanics. By elimination of this racial discrimination and racial profiling of criminals, the system would be able to find the real criminals and not just incarcerate people based on racial bias Alexander 8()