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At the very least, many prisons have a justified reputation as themselves being violent places where the concentration of criminal personalities will tend to stimulate higher levels of gang affiliation, internal drug trade and abuse, and, in general, absorption in a culture where criminality is normal. The result is that many who enter young, with limited criminal experience or with more modest criminal proclivities may be exposed to the kinds of patterns and behaviors that will ultimately lead to a repetitive susceptibility to criminal behavior once released.
Another core issue related to overcrowding is the cost to society to feed, clothe and support the lives of those who are habitual offenders and products of the prison system. Public money is dedicated to the upkeep and incarceration of these individuals, calling into question the rationality of channeling such money into the support of incarcerating mid-level drug offenders, white collar criminals...
A more rational way to approach those who represent no threat to the safety of others in their criminal proclivity is to enroll them in community service and public agency programs that center on an intercession of work for the public welfare and normal, healthy interaction with society. This will take the form of public cleanup projects, road maintenance, building upkeep and other programs which, under the authority of a traditional prison guard system, will be stewarded toward helping those with criminal pasts to avoid the negative patterns affiliated with the prison experience.
In addition, the contribution to the public through labor would help to offset the costs of prison room and board. The sum result would be a resolution suitable to the needs of both society and those criminals whose behaviors suggests an opportunity for a second chance often presumed inaccessible by traditional prison administration perspectives.
This view stresses a sociological approach to crime, suggesting that the behavior of criminals is more easily adapted and changed when law enforcement agents understand the circumstances and immediate environment an offender lives in that may contribute to offensive behaviors, and to one's behavioral characteristics. Literature Review The purpose of the preliminary literature presented is to provide an overview of the historical foundations leading to prison overcrowding, an exploration of the populations
The need for less restrictive parole policies could help relieve prison overcrowding (Kunselman & Johnson, 2004). According to Hughes (2007), "On any given day, a large number of the admissions to America's prisons come from individuals who have failed to comply with the conditions of their parole or probation supervision. For years, the revocation and incarceration rate of probationers and parolees has had a significant impact on the growth of
'" Two steps if taken, however, would almost halve our prison population. First, repeal state laws that now mandate the incarceration of drug offenders and develop instead many more public and private treatment centers to which nonviolent drug abusers can be referred. Second, stop using jails or prisons to house the mentally ill. Tougher sentencing is being justified, in part, by the widespread belief that incarceration is the chief reason violent crime
Overcrowding in Prisons: Impacts on African-Americans The overcrowded prisons in the United States are heavily populated by African-Americans, many of them incarcerated due to petty, non-violent crimes such as drug dealing. This paper points out that not only are today's prisons overcrowded, the fact of their being overcrowded negatively impacts the African-American community above and beyond the individuals who are locked up. This paper also points to the racist-themed legislation that
Prison Reform The United States criminal justice system houses the largest prison population in the world; both in terms of the total prison population as well as the proportion of prisoners to the total population (per capita). The United States has a bigger prison population than China and India despite having nowhere near the total population. It also holds a greater percentage of its population in incarceration than any other country
Court records also stick on, whether the charges are dropped or followed by a conviction. People of color or ethnic minorities, such as African-Americans and Hispanics, have come to accept that they cannot avoid acquiring a criminal record. The 1990 Washington DC-based sentencing project found that one in every four African-Americans aged 20 to 29 was in prison, in jail or on probation or parole. A research conducted by