Incarceration Essays (Examples)

A while in the past half century the United States has made significant overall progress toward the objective of ensuring equal treatment under the law for all citizens, in the critical area of criminal justice, racial inequality appears to be growing, not receding, and our criminal laws, while facially neutral, are enforced in a manner that is massively and pervasively biased.

Dunnaville)

The above report and others also states that there were,"...serious findings of systematic unequal treatment of African-American and Hispanic-Americans and other minorities, as compared to their similarly situated white counterparts within the criminal justice system "(Dunnaville).

Another aspect that should be taken into consideration and which has an impact on the understanding of causative factors in terms of race, are findings that the biases and anomalies in the legal system seem to begin at the very early stages of the legal process. This means that the possible prejudice…

Consequences of Incarceration on an Increasingly Homogenized Labor Market

It strongly appears that there is a direct correlation between incarceration and its effects on the labor market. A review of articles pertaining to this subject suggests that this relationship is largely causal in nature. The reality of the situation is that there are increasing rates of incarceration (Travis and estern 233) in the United States in the 21st century. Thus, it is accurate to state that the effects of incarceration on the labor market are increasing as well, and resonate throughout it both in terms of the lot of the individuals who have experienced incarceration, and on the labor market in general.

The most eminent effect of incarceration on the labor market involves the fact that there is marked difficulty obtaining employment for those who have endured incarceration. There are several factors contributing to this reality. Many employers conduct background…

incarceration of minorities, most prominently black males and its effect on communities with black males. It begins with making a bold statement. "The number of people incarcerated in the United States has grown seven times over the past 40 years, and this growth has been concentrated among black men with little education" (Goffman, 2009, p. 339). Goffman makes a direct correlation with lack of education and incarceration for black males. He notes that those with a high school diploma are 30% more likely to be incarcerated with odd jumping to 60% if they did not finish high school. The statistics also highlight black children and the fact that 25% of black children born in 1990 have fathers in prison.

Some news stories and articles throughout the years, especially the recent Black Lives Matter movement, have shown the rise in incarceration and targeted arrests of black men by law enforcement. This…

Incarceration Alternatives Pros and Cons

In some ways, there are nearly as many different pros and cons to incarceration alternatives as there are varieties of such pros and cons. As a social institution, incarceration has a definite function in helping to keep those who would harm other members of society from doing so. However, that same social institution can overlook or miss several other functions that are needed in society for those who have transgressed its legal boundaries. Some people commit legal transgressions because they have other needs (such as mental or chemical dependency related) that are not being met. Moreover, when incarcerated, those needs still are not met, and such people may simply revolve from states of incarceration to temporary terms of freedom. Despite the fact that there are varying advantages and disadvantages to alternatives to incarceration, they generally can be viewed from a streamlined perspective in which those…

Race and Incarceration

Prison

The American Penal System has gone through various changes but the most profound changes have been studied in relation the race inequality. Going to jail has become the norm for most of the African-American men. This inequality through incarceration is visible not only in men but in women also. There was a 78% increase in the criminal justice control rates for black women. It was studied that between 1980 and 1992, there was a 276% increase in the female prison population. This is compared to the 163% increase for black men in prison. (Davis 268) These figures give a rough estimate of how the prison population has changed and how the majority of the inmates are either Latinos or African-American. These high incarceration rates have therefore made researchers taste that prison time is normal part of the adulthood of a black man in a poor urban…

African-American Incarceration

African-American Race and the Criminal Justice System: The Effect on Black Communities

Racial Disparities and Incarceration

Recent studies have shown that race is a factor in the criminal justice system. For example, a study analyzing statewide sentencing outcomes in Pennsylvania for 1989-1992, found that, net of controls: (1) young black males are sentenced more harshly than any other group, (2) race is most influential in the sentencing of younger rather than older males (Steffensmeier, et al., 1998). The relationship between African-American males and the criminal justice system has been described as being no less than a crisis. In recent years policy attention regarding the crisis of the African-American male has focused on a variety of areas in which African-American males have suffered disproportionately from social ills. These have included education, housing, employment, and health care, among others. Perhaps in no other area, though, have these problems been displayed…

psychological effects of incarceration on inmates are very profound. The effects can be grouped into two main categories. The first category relates to the effects that the inmates experience while they are still in prison. The second categories of effects are the ones that are post-incarceration related. The psychological effect of incarceration is a problem that should be addressed with utmost urgency and due care since the inmates are also part of our society and they deserve normal health care and treatment as all the other persons in the society. The process of inmate reintegration is therefore jeopardized by the unstable mental condition of the inmates after they leave prison. It is therefore important to formulate the best framework to address the state of inmate mental health both pre-incarceration and post-incarceration.

It is important that the process of inmate reintegration is not jeopardized by poor mental state resulting from both…

ace and Crime: The Incarceration of Black Men

Contemporary news outlets are frequently packed with reports of crimes and illegal activities involving Black men. In fact, the number of Black men who are prosecuted and convicted of crimes has steadily increased over the past three decades, causing a deepening concern about the racial divide that continues to grow in the American legal and penal systems. It's clear that more Black men go to prison than men of other races, and it's also clear that they serve longer prison sentences (Ekholm, 2006). This paper will investigate the causes of this phenomena and the impact it is having on both the Black community and our society as a whole. Through an investigation of the outcomes for black criminals and a comparison to other racial groups in the United States the writer aims to outline the impact that incarceration rates are having on…

Parental Incarceration on Children in the elfare System

In 1998, there was an estimated 200,000 children in the United States that had an imprisoned mother and more than 1.6 million with an imprisoned father (Seymour 1998). However, no one knows for certain how many children in the U.S. have an incarcerated parent (Seymour 1998). The Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents uses a formula for calculating these numbers by multiplying the number of currently incarcerated women by.75, the average number of incarcerated women with children, by 2.4, the average number of children per incarcerated mother; then multiply.56, the average percentage of incarcerated men with children, by 2.0, the average number of children per incarcerated father, and add the two sums together (Seymour 1998).

ith the incarcerated population in the United States growing by an average of 6.5% each year, the number of children with parents in prison will only continue…

acial Disparities in Incarceration

There is an abundance of salient information related to prisons and the correctional system in the United States dispensed throughout Mauer's article, "Addressing racial disparities in incarceration." The article was published in 2011, which makes it still relevant and informative for contemporary society. As the title of this work of literature suggests, it widely discusses various aspects of the prison system pertaining to racial disparities. Despite this title, it is noteworthy that the bulk of the author's research is concentrated on those disparities as related to Caucasians, African-Americans and Latinos, with little more than a note about other races including Asians and Native Americans (both of which the author claims there is a paucity of relevant data for) (Mauer, 2011, p. 88S). Additionally, it is important to realize that the racial disparity in various facets of incarceration reflects a relative scarcity of Caucasians and an abundance…

Sentencing in the US versus in Germany and the Netherlands

There is one major difference between the sentencing and corrections policies of the US and the sentencing and corrections policies of Germany and the Netherlands. The former bases its policy on the ideas of retribution and incapacitation, whereas the latter base their policies on the ideas of rehabilitation and socialization (Vera Institute of Justice, 2013). This basic philosophical orientation towards the corrections is what distinguishes the two policies. The US views corrections as a punitive measure while Germany and the Netherlands view corrections in a positive light -- a measure that is designed to return the inmate to society. Indeed, recidivism rate in the US is 40% -- meaning that 4 out of every 10 inmates released will return to prison within the first three years (Vera Institute of Justice, 2013). In Germany and the Netherlands, such a rate is…

ealizing that jails and prisons cost state and federal governments millions of dollars each year, should that be a consideration in the length of sentences given? For your assignment, write a one-page (-300 words) paper with your reflection as it relates to the costs vs the necessity to incarcerate.Incarceration cost tax payers many millions of dollars each year. In many instances, these dollars appear to be wasted as many inmates are ill-equipped to matriculate back into society once they are released. What ensues in a cycle recidivism in which criminals often repeat the crimes that caused them to be in prison. This ultimately results in a constant cycle of prison for many inmates. Unfortunately, the actual length of the sentence does not have a strong correlation to the overall costs. It reality, it is the behavior of the inmates that contributes heavily to prison costs. In the United States nearly…

Successful achievement of program requirements will often lead to a dropping or reduction of the charges while failure may bring back or enhance the penalties that are involved. Charges dismissed because of a diversion program will still lead to additional criminal history points under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines if there was a finding of guilt by a court or the defendant pleaded guilty or otherwise admitted guilt in open court, provided that the deferred disposition was not a juvenile matter (Diversion Programs: An Overview, 1999).

Conclusion

Alternative to Incarceration Programs (ATIs) are part of the mix of factors that have allowed the City to reduce crime, reduce jail and prison populations, and help individuals and neighborhoods across the City. As an alternative to sentencing someone to jail or prison, ATIs permit a judge to sentence someone to a program where they obtain treatment, education and employment training in the community,…

Alternatives to Prison

Over the last 30 years, the prison population in the United States has increased exponentially. For instance, California's prison population has increase eightfold, from 20,000 prisoners in the early 1970's to more that 160,000 in the early 2000's. (Haney) In Texas, from just 1992 to 1997 the prison population doubled, adding an additional 70,000 prisoners. (Haney) Because of the massive overpopulation in America's prisons, there have been advances in alternatives which allow for sentences other than incarceration.

Since many of those incarcerated in prisons are there for non-violent offenses, there are some who advocate that non-violent criminals be allowed alternatives to prison. The benefits of such alternatives are that they give courts more options, they save taxpayers money, strengthen families and communities, reduce crime, and are supported by the public. ("Alternatives to Incarceration Fact Sheet.")

One type of alternative to prison is what is referred to as…

In addition, the threat of being placed in an adult facility not only doesn't lower crime rates among juveniles, but increases their chances of recidivism and violent behavior (Elikann, 1999). As one critic of the current laws stated: "This country's laws recognize that juveniles are too young to drink alcohol, vote, engage in legal contracts and enter into marriage, all because they are still developing mentally and emotionally" (Bilchik, 2003). Yet today, approximately 200,000 young offenders are funneled directly into the adult court system, "the majority for property crimes and drug-related offenses" (Bilchik, 2003). Sadly, while there are situations in which even an adolescent is a "lost cause" and must be kept locked away, the great majority of cases in which juveniles are tried as adults are unnecessary and unwise (Elikann, 1999). Granted, the juvenile justice system is overloaded and needs to change, but channeling children into the adult system…

High ate of Incarceration of the Mentally Ill

Mental illnesses are among the most serious health concerns facing administrators and policymakers in America today. With the declining availability of both mental health community treatment programs and inpatient psychiatry beds in the few facilities available, more and more mentally ill persons are going without treatment and the essential services needed to enable them cope effectively with their conditions. Often times, police are the first responders whenever a mentally ill patient experiences a relapse and acts out due to symptoms of their mental condition; worryingly, however, rather than be taken to mental health facilities for treatment, most of these end up in jails and prisons. From the very onset, our prison and correctional systems had not been designed to respond to the needs of people with mental health problems, so when such people are housed here, they become more vulnerable to abuse,…

Juvenile Offenders

The author of this report is asked to answer several questions relating to the handling of treatment of juvenile criminal offenders and how some alternatives to some current practices might yield better efficacy and benefits than simply throwing them in juvenile facilities and/or treating them like adult offenders committing the same crime. In question are the historical and economic reasons behind the quest of alternatives for housing and rehabbing juvenile offenders, three alternatives to incarceration that are currently used and the significant societal and individual benefits that can be reaped from these efforts as well as others. While some horrific crimes are committed by teenagers and younger, most juvenile offenders should be given ample chance to rebuild their life and self-esteem so that they can become contributing members of society.

Questions Answered

egarding the underlying historical and economic reasons for treating juvenile offenders differently than just throwing them…

ace, Class and Gender and Correctional Settings

Today, the United States incarcerates more than 25% of low-income young black males, so it is reasonable to suggest that there is an inextricable relationship between race, socioeconomic class and gender and the institutional correctional community. It is also reasonable to suggest that this relationship has a corresponding impact on clients, staff and the administration of correctional institutions. To determine the facts, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature to identify the role of race, class and gender within the institutional correctional community and the impact of these variables on clients, staff, and administration. Finally, an analysis concerning the impact of race, class, and gender on current correctional institutions is followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning the relationship between race, class and gender within the institutional correctional community in the conclusion.

eview and Discussion

The role…

Community Corrections as a Social Service

With around 2 million Americans incarcerated in the nation's prisons and jails at a cost of tens of billions of dollars each year, policymakers are scrambling for alternative solutions and many have identified community corrections as a viable option. Using parole and probations programs, community corrections provide a valuable social service to the country by giving juvenile and adult offenders the opportunity to rejoin mainstream society in meaningful and productive ways that reduce recidivism rates and restore the integrity of the family unit. This paper reviews the relevant literature concerning these programs to demonstrate that community corrections represents an important social service that should be expanded to reduce prison and jail overcrowding rates and provide offenders with the chance they need to rebuild their lives. Finally, a summary of the research and important findings concerning community corrections as a social service are presented in…

Sexual Violent Predators Act

The state of Kansas enacted the Sexually Violent Predators Act on May 11, 1994 which attempted a procedure for the civil commitment of sexually violent predators. The law stated that because there was a small number of individuals who engage in violent sexual predation, and that these persons have a high likelihood of repeating their crimes but because they did not have a mental disease or defect which could allow for their commitment to a treatment facility, there was a need for a way to keep these individuals in confinement. As a result the Kansas legislature enacted the Sexually Violent Predators Act which "sets forth a procedure for the involuntary commitment of individuals who had been convicted and incarcerated for a sexually violent offense." (King 1438) In effect the state of Kansas wanted a way to keep violent sexual predators incarcerated beyond their sentences and created…

Milwaukee Experiment

The seeming injustice of so many African-American males serving time in prisons has been seen as a national problem for a long time. But the report in The New Yorker about the ratio of black males in prisons in isconsin shows a problem that is considerably greater than the national picture. This paper delves into that issue, and reports on what one prosecutor is trying to do about the situation.

In isconsin, African-Americans are only 6% of the entire population, but they constitute 37% of all imprisoned persons. Of all the African-American males in isconsin, studies completed in 2010 show that 13% of them are in prison; and worse yet, in Milwaukee County " ... more than half of African-American men in their thirties had served time in state prison" (Toobin, 2015). The article that points out that Milwaukee County's District Attorney, John Chisholm, who is fully aware…

Free

How the Criminal Justice System is Dysfunctional according to Paul Butler's Let's Get Free

The American criminal justice system has had a long history of prejudice. From the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) decision that institutionalized the false concept of "separate but equal" to the Jim Crow laws that followed to the methods of "control" enacted by police in urban communities, criminal justice in the U.S. has seen lots of crime but little justice. Part of the reason for the inherent dysfunction in the way minorities have always been treated in America is that the country was founded on prejudiced WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) principles: the principle of "manifest destiny" was based on the supposedly "divine right" that WASPs had to "control" the New World and eradicate the "lesser" races (such as the Native Americans and the African-Americans). These prejudiced principles were absorbed into the criminal justice system through lawmakers…

Ex Offenders

The United States is regarded as having the world's highest incarceration rate. It has been estimated that the prisons are holding more than 2.3 million people as of now. Due to this reason, overcrowding is a significant issue in the prison system of the country. It is seen that for every hundred thousand population, there are seven hundred and forty eight inmates and this number is expected to increase. Due to the increased incarceration, the state and the federal prisons are made to release a decent number of ex-offenders every year. The trend of releasing has only been a result of the mass incarceration that the country has experienced. It was seen that during the 1972 till the 1997 period, the number of state and federal prisoners increased from 196,000 to a record of 1,159,000 (Mauer, 1999) In 2000, a total of 600,000 ex-offenders were released to the…

Incarcerated Mentally Ill Patients

It may sound unbelievable, but on any given day, scholars estimate that almost 70,000 inmates in U.S. prisons are psychotic; and up to 300,000 suffer from mental disorders like depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorders. In fact, the U.S. penal system holds three times more people with mental illness than the nation's entire psychiatric hospitals (Kanapaux, 2004). Indeed one of the most telling trends, say some sociologists, is to incarcerate the mentally ill in order to remove them from society. This is sometimes the only alternative because public mental health hospitals have neither the space nor the funding to treat this special population. In fact, the very nature of incarceration tends to have a more traumatic effect on the individual, causing additional damage to their fragile psyche. omen, it appears, are especially vulnerable. These women have often been victimized during an abusive childhood and succession of relationships.…

Scandinavian prison models are considered to be amongst the most effective in the world. The penal system here, unlike is the case in other parts of the world -- including the U.S. -- is regarded humane and is designed in such a way that prisoners live more or less like regular citizens. With sunbathing facilities, vocational courses, and other amenities being a standard in most settings (unlike is the case in most Western prison settings), some prison systems like those in Norway could be mistaken for plush retirement community centers. How effective such incarceration facilities are in the control of crime is a valid topic for examination and analysis. This is more so the case given that from a "common sense" perspective, prisons conditions should be harsh enough to discourage inmates from committing the same crimes that landed them there in the first place. This seems to be the basic…

The sources provided background and reviews of published literature: Holmstrom (1996); Marcus-Mendoza (1995); and Osler (1991). Finally, three reports took on a narrower focus in investigating boot camps: Clark and Kellam (2001); Mueller (1996); and Souryal, Layton & MacKenzie (1994).

Burns and Vito (1995) examined the effectiveness of Alabama boot camps. In Alabama, overcrowded prisons brought on interest at the state level for prison boot camps. State prison boot camps incorporated marching, discipline, physical training, work, classes, and drug and alcohol abuse treatment in three phases. In the first phase, inmates confront their crime and take responsibility for it, ridding themselves of excuses. In the second phase, inmates focus on "self-discovery" by learning about themselves, goal planning, and improving themselves for future release. In the third phase, pre-release, inmates focus on problem solving as the key to their own future success as a lawful citizen upon release. Entry and participation…

ole and Evolution of the American Prison System

Explain the Primary ole and Evolution of the American Prison System and Determine if Incarceration educes Crime

The United States constitution is the fundamental foundation of the American criminal justice system. Given that the document is now over two hundred years old, it constantly experiences numerous amendments and interpretations. As a result, the criminal justice system over the years experienced alterations in order to reflect the needs and beliefs of each subsequent generation. The configuration of the modern prison system has its basis in the late 1700's and early 1800s. The development of the modern prison system aims at protecting innocent members of the society from criminals. The prison systems also deter criminals from committing more crimes through detaining and rehabilitating them. However, more and more deluge of white-collar crimes and other crimes, burdens the American criminal justice system and the prison…

Women in Prison

Major Legal Issues Concerning Female Inmates

Problems in corrections:

Dealing with the unique needs of women in the prison system

The number of female prison inmates in America and internationally is growing. Although men still outnumber women in the prison population, the rates of female incarceration, once considered relatively nominal, have skyrocketed. "In the U.S., where the prison and jail population reached two million in the year 2000, women's incarceration is also spiralling upwards at a greater pace than that of men. While the number of men in U.S. prisons and jails doubled between 1985 and 1995, women's imprisonment during the same period tripled" (Sudbury 2002). These escalating rates are surprising, given that women are far more likely to be the victims rather than the perpetrators of violent crimes. "While their relative proportions are small, the growing numbers of women being sent to prison is disproportionate to…

Incarceration on Prisoners Families

There can be little doubt that incarceration will impact on families as well as the prisoner. ith more than 1 million women and 6 million men within the correctional system in the U.S. (Clarke and Adashi 923), indicating an exponentially large number of family members being impacted. The family members most impacted are the immediate family; partners, and children, as well as parents, as well as impacting on the wider communities (Braman 5). This paper reviews the problems faced by prisoners' families, focusing on partners and children of those incarcerated.

The impact on partners can be far reaching, especially for partners who met their partners prior to any incarceration. The impacts will be tangible and psychological. Firstly, the incarceration of a partner may create financial hardships, this may be due to loss of income, especially where the prisoner was a major wage earner. hen it is…

Prison Overcrowding

Arguably the most pressing issue facing the field of corrections today is the problem of prison overcrowding. Overcrowding negatively impacts nearly every aspect of running a corrections facility, and even exacerbates problems when inmates are eventually released (Specter, 2010). Overcrowded prisons increase the likelihood of violence against both inmates and corrections officers, and there is evidence tying overcrowding to higher rates of suicide and homicide (Davies, 2004, & Camp, Gaes, Langan, & Saylor, 2003). The problem has only gotten worse over the last few decades, and there is no evidence that policymakers or administrators have plans to do anything soon (Giertz & Nardulli, 1985, & Taggart, 1996). After examining the relevant literature concerning the history, scope, and reasons behind prison overcrowding, it becomes clear that the solution to overcrowding and its attendant costs must come in the form of administrative/institutional reform coupled with a serious reconsideration of the…

ace Discrimination Justice

Discrimination

ACE DISCIMINATION CIMINAL JUSTICE

ace and Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System

acial inequality has long been an issue in the American society. Despite making substantial progress in creating a more racially equal society, there are still many issues involving race and discrimination that can be found today. The criminal justice system was designed to treat all individuals equally under the law. However, covert racism and discrimination still plague the system and many minorities are adversely impacted and are not treated equally under the law. While most judges and public officials profess a strong dedication to remaining racially impartial, the evidence suggests otherwise. This literature review will focus on various points that indicate that there is a substantial amount of inequality to found within the criminal justice system in our modern society.

Background

acial differences in the criminal justice system have been important topics since the…

Drug Laws

The Shortcomings in our Current Drug Law Policy: Research Proposal

As a major policy issue in the United States, the ar on Drugs has been one of the most monumental failures on modern record. At a cost of billions of taxpayer dollars, thousands of lives lost and many thousands of others ruined by untreated addiction or incarceration, America's policy orientation concerning drug laws is due for reconsideration. Indeed, the very philosophical orientation of the ar on Drugs and of the current drug policy in the United States has been one of prosecution and imprisonment rather than one of decriminalization, treatment and rehabilitation. As our medical and scientific communities characterize addiction as a disease, the United States government continues to characterize this disease as a crime. And in doing so, it has created an unnecessary criminal class in the United States. The research proposal will set out to prove…

Criminal Justice System Today

Most Significant Problem Facing the Criminal Justice System

What is the most significant problem facing the criminal justice system today?

The urgency needed in addressing crime issues is a factor that is widely acceptable, the public view crime and fear of crime as among the most vital issues. A number of communities have been converted into war zones with a ring of gunshots being the order of the day and night. The society struggle everyday to bring order but, this is challenged by criminal behaviors that do not adhere to traditional standards. On the other hand are the policy makers and administrators in the criminal justice systems trying to unravel the complex nature of crime. There have been significant changes in how policing, adjudication, sentencing, imprisonment, and community corrections are approached. The existence of pressure from the public and ever changing policies creates the need understand…

Penal Practices

Penal is a word pertaining to punishment and the penal system or penal practices are those related to trial of a person to judge if he should be punished or not and if yes, how much and for how long should he be punished. The penal practices are governed by standard penal laws that are similar yet customized in every country. For example, theft is the same crime but punished with imprisonment in USA, cutting of hands in Saudi Arabia and some time ago, punished by being shot in China. Thus the penal practices can vary from country to country and region to region.

Objective of Penal System

The objectives of penal system are evident and clear. There is a party, a person a group or an organization that committed crime and another party that was wronged. The first objective of penal system is to compensate the affected…

Caught Up in the System

One get tough policy in particular that has had lasting effects in contemporary times is related to measures designed to keep sex offenders from pursuing more criminal transgressions of the law. Specifically, some of these measures occurred in the final years of the 20th century when laws were implemented (such as the Jacob Wetterling Act and Megan's Law, respectively) to get sex offenders to register in statewide databases that are available to the general public. Additionally, restrictions about residency requirements (where sex offenders can live and go) has had a significant effect on crime victims for a largely unintended outcome, which is that the stringent regulations (which may be violated if an offender needs to pick up a prescription or fails to register with a state agency because he or she is homeless) can oftentimes create levels of stress that causes offenders to either not…

New Jim Crow

Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness offers a scathing and disturbing portrait of institutionalized racism in the United States. In an article written for the Huffington Post that supplements her book, Alexander states plainly: "There are more African-Americans under correctional control today -- in prison or jail, on probation or parole -- than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil ar began." Beginning with this central fact, Alexander discusses the use of incarceration as a new form of slavery and segregation. African-Americans have been systematically excluded from access to social and cultural capital, excluded from access to economic and political empowerment. The election of Barak Obama has not changed much for the majority of African-Americans who contend with institutionalized racism and systematic poverty and disenfranchisement. "As of 2004, more African-American men were disenfranchised (due to felon disenfranchisement laws)…

Productivity-Education/Craft/Trade -- a key to being able to stop the return to the penal system is to provide training necessary to allow the individual to find work after leaving prison. Not only is it extremely tough to get a job as a convicted felon, but the skills necessary to get a job that will afford a decent living are tough to get in prison. Earning a degree either online or through continuing education; earning a trade certificate (automotive, plumbing, wood working, etc.) will provide an occupation for the felon after leaving prison, and a focus for their energy and attention while in prison.

Consequences -- Many rehabilitation programs fail because the consequences are unrealistic. Allow people to be human, while still requiring that in order to receive the gift from society of living in society, there are consequences if the rules are broken (Clear, et.al., 2011).

How then, can Maslow's…

rtf (ich Text Format) file extension eflection Paper 4 (Module/Week 7) After completing reading study week, alternative methods incarceration.

Alternative methods of incarceration: How would you reduce cost and overcrowding while maintaining a system of justice?

Concerns about prison overcrowding and the spiraling costs of incarcerating inmates, some of whom may have committed nonviolent offenses, have precipitated many states to consider alternative methods of punishment. For example, in New York, "the Nathaniel Project provides 24 months of extra-intensive supervision for felon-indicted individuals who are seriously and persistently mentally ill. The program offers comprehensive mental health and integrated substance abuse treatment, rehabilitation, case management, court advocacy and reporting, and monitored linkages to housing and social services" (Alternatives to incarceration program, 2012, NYS). Although inmates may not be legally 'insane' and are considered responsible for their actions, this program treats some of the root causes that can cause inmates to turn to…

Boot Camp's Program Claim of a 0% ecidivism ate

Addressing a Boot Camp's Program's Claim of a 0% ecidivism ate

The Claim: A Boot Camp Program un by a Local Sheriff's Department Claims a ecidivism ate of 0%

My assessment on the accuracy of the above statement and this discussion in general, will make use of a number of fundamental terms: corrective boot camp program, recidivism and shock incarceration. A corrective boot camp program, to begin with, refers to a facility that makes use of the techniques applied during military training sessions, to instill a culture of 'doing what is right' in youthful first-time offenders. ecidivism, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (2013), is the tendency to repeat criminal activities, leading to re-arrest, during the three-year duration following release from a correctional facility. Finally, shock incarceration, like the name suggests, is a program used on first time offenders, to…

intermediate sanctions?

Over the last decade there have been rising overcrowding in prisons and other correction facilities making them costly and dangerous for the inmates. There has been also a need to better manage the crime levels in the community as well as reduce crime, and give fair sentencing to adult offenders. These are the main factors that led to development of intermediate sanctions (Caputo G., 2004).

Discuss the evolution and use of boot camps. What are the purposes of shock incarceration?

The increased crime rates among the juvenile in the late 70s and early 80s led to the development of the boot camps with first being set in 1980. They are owned by the government or by private sector. It is estimated that there are almost 100 boot camps in the U.S.A. today. Shock incarceration is the alternative to incarceration which leads to earlier liberation from confinement. They are…

New Jim Crow

When considering the introduction and chapter three of Michelle Alexander's book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, arguably the most important conceptional foundation to remember is the notion of social oppression, and particularly the fact that social oppression can occur with or without the knowledge or intention of the dominant social group. As Hardiman, Jackson, and Griffin note in their contribution to eadings for Diversity and Social Justice, social oppression that occurs on the institutional level is oftentimes the product of oppressive beliefs and behaviors on the level of the individual and society, making it extremely difficult to pinpoint, and thus challenge, the roots of institutional oppression. Chapter three of Alexander's book highlights this difficulty in its discussion of the Supreme Court's inability or unwillingness to confront qualitatively obvious discrimination in favor of the near-impossible task of identifying specific, individual cases of…

Meanwhile, Huckabee supports local political jurisdictions passing laws that punish undocumented immigrants, and he asserts those laws "protect the economic well-being, physical safety, and quality of life" for citizens in those communities. By using "physical safety" Huckabee frames this issue in the context that immigrants are criminals out to harm people. But the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) (Rumbaut, et al., 2007) reports that "Foreign-born Mexicans" had an incarceration rate" of 0.7% in 2000, "more than 8 times lower than the 5.9% of native-born males of Mexican descent." And while the "undocumented population has doubled to 12 million since 1994," violent crime in the U.S. has declined 34.2%, the IPC reports.

Moreover, according to the American Immigration Law Foundation (Esbenshade, 2007) local ordinances such as the ones Huckabee believes in (that make it illegal to rent to undocumented immigrants, for example) - if they conflict with federal immigration law - are…

Just as clearly no individual who is logical would consider Charles Manson or Theodore undy as eligible profiles for the restorative justice program or even for rehabilitation program or indeed of any other than imprisonment or death by execution There are however, very potentially productive, useful, and worthy individuals who are shuffled into the correction system due to their inability to hire a lawyer or lack of knowledge concerning their rights to having representation appointed to them that with education and knowledge or skills acquisition can be successfully rehabilitation or restored to society and within the community. Recently there has been documented an additional strategy in criminal justice corrections which is described as a 'transformational' process and is a cognitive-behavioral approach in treatment.

RECOMMENDATIONS for FUTURE CORRECTIONS

Cognitive behavioral approaches are being used in transforming the dysfunctional thinking of the individual. The work of Mahoney and Lyddon (1988) relate approximately…

A more long-range vision related to a transformation of drug laws will also prevent the staggering numbers of women who encounter the criminal justice system. Theories related to role integration can inform programs designed for role modeling and coaching, which will go a long way toward promoting future community and personal health.

eferences

Bloom, B., Owen, B. & Covington, S. (2004). Women offenders and the gendered effects of public policy. eview of Public Policy esearch 21(1). etrieved online: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Qx8Zf7qTlCYJ:cooley.libarts.wsu.edu/schwartj/pdf/bloom.pdf+&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjdkZ0qzVgoMeOkxN_ylkKlthKinOficQx_QNfbXxiJnSWFVpcexlY4fekDBrNW1TsKK3OTVz8Ph7PJqqIW8P6AZ7_3DHeLLBqZfwdT75GFga8yw-dfyDDPE77wwcsok_ced&sig=AHIEtbOjWa5vU-Cordw1sOx2rrIhPJcQ

Bonta, J., Pang, B. & Wallace-Capretta, S. (1995). Predictors of recidivism among incarcerated female offenders. The Prison Journal 75(3): 277-294.

Covington, S.S. (1998). The relational theory of women's psychological development: Implications for the criminal justice system. etrieved online: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:IzpJVCQisyAJ:www.stephaniecovington.com/pdfs/14.pdf+&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShMi1zxp51XEKWScZuXra2PExdCe99H2YYt3cvPUtvm8vYxswqFa9zAHjEgCYKYzfl83Y6rf-alcMjCF8eD565m1fscAianN1Z9uwImmqDiZqQYnHrrsxZ5rNWaNyxr22BOr&sig=AHIEtbSWo_ivZrhu-c4vlIUDHqnfiObow

Covington, S.S. (1998). Women in prison. etrieved online: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:_XJIn_-dwTYJ:www.stephaniecovington.com/pdfs/15.pdf+&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjOFr-tbjzcD1I16sbZX07sDOIfzDJCXkS-WCIXPp4JwiDQ2992lXvuillpAs-T2H-ksCWaLiQhc_Shx7bBKFqNdZKqc53vsmHniit_M2WGmxnvQIyXT7mZjpzQnTNzEFtpjB&sig=AHIEtbeyTi4bj3vJxT_gcvCOy1Q5-QIZA

Fletcher, B.., Shaver, L.D. & Moon, D.G (1993). Women Prisoners: A forgotten population. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Martinez, D.J. (2010). ole accumulation theory and…

community supervision sanctions compare with incarceration in terms of their ability to meet the goals of punishment?

Community supervision sanctions offer up a significant alternative to incarceration regarding their effectiveness in meeting the objectives of punishment. Because there is so much overcrowding in prisons community supervision has become an alternative which has been used more and more heavily and with some success (Cole & Gertz, 2012). Community supervision offers a viable alternative to the prison system in that it is able to return prisoners to their families while keeping watch over their activities, while offering up some form of rehabilitation. The prison industry is simply too costly to keep all prisoners under lock and key, particularly with state prisons collectively containing 1.2 million people (Cole & Gertz, 2012). Thus, community supervision can't help but be a natural outgrowth of this phenomenon, as prisons have their limits. Furthermore, this is a…

weightlifting program in correctional institutes. It has 4 sources in APA format.

When a person is serving term in a correctional institution he ceases to exist for the society and he cannot carry out activities which otherwise would have been considered to be normal. However, the reality is that the American correctional system provides almost all aspects of life as much as possible to its inmates and recreation is one of them. ecreation in the form of sporting activities, in-house cable TV, arrangement for competitive events, championships etc. are some attempts.

Among the sporting activities, weightlifting in the recent years have become quite popular for the reason being that recreation correctional officials believe in the value of sports for the inmates while the inmates considers it to be satisfactory activity to channel their frustrations (Telander 1988). Apart from that, the National Correctional ecreation Association (NCA) which upholds and promotes this…

Studies indicate that there are more poor women in prison than ever before, and this puts women at risk to become mothers younger, and to have more instability in relationships and family life as their relationships progress. Authors Travis and Visher continue, "Imprisoned offenders are disproportionately from impoverished backgrounds, which places them at greater risk for early and nonmarital parenthood. Early transitions to parenthood are clearly linked to later instability in marriage and relationships and welfare dependency (Travis and Visher, 2005, p. 222-223). Thus, incarcerating more women is putting more families at risk, and creating a vicious circle of poverty, despair, and hopelessness that can simply lead to more criminal activity and incarceration. In addition, this leads to overcrowding of prisons and higher costs for the criminal justice system that must now administer and support more females in prison, rather than on probations, which is what many received before the…

" (Halpin and urt, 1998) Duois states: "The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife -- this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of White Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face. (Duois, 1903)

The work of Pope (1998) conducted a study to make examination of the relationship between psychosocial development and racial…

More people are currently incarcerated than at any other time.

In fact, prisons are so over crowded that it is now common practice for judges to simply use deferred sentences and probation as a means of sentencing. Further, the costs of housing so many criminals is one that many states simply cannot afford. As a result, much of the prison industry is being outsourced to private corporations.

The net effect of the incarceration boom is two fold. First, there's the lack of meaningful punishment, or justice, due to the fact that there is not enough room in the jails and not enough money in the budgets to build more space. The result: criminals are given less severe sentences and, in many cases, remain a threat to the public. Further, there is no deterrence factor when one knows that the worse they will get for a relatively small crime is a…

A plea-bargain is frequently attained at this time in order to circumvent a trial. In the event that a plea-bargain is reached, the case does not move forward to a trial but failure to offer enough evidence to establish a plea bargain will mean that the case goes on to trial (Criminal Justice System Handbook, 2009).

The trail

Trials consist of a sequence of proceedings where the prosecutor presents evidence which will be used to prove the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In felony cases, the defendant is given chances to admit their innocence but there are also times where they are presented that they may dispute the validity of evidence that has been presented by the prosecutor. Felony cases normally entail the services of a jury who listen to the case proceedings together with the judge and then after careful assessment of the evidence that is presented; they…

According to the Correctional Programs Division for the state of Nevada, another program sponsored by the NDOC is Casa Grande, a re-entry transition center opening in December 2005 and "will house up to 400 non-violent offenders in a dorm-like setting, during their last four to six months of incarceration. This will enable them to live in the community, obtain employment and receive family counseling."

There are programs called "street readiness" which teaches life-skills such as time and money management, parole requirements and job seeking skills. For the inmates who are ordered to pay restitution, the inmates should have a program to help with the opportunity to work in the community during their last few months of incarceration and earn money to pay back their victims.

orks Cited

The Correctional Programs Division. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2005, at http://www.doc.nv.gov/programs/index.php

ilkinson R.A., The future of adult corrections. Reducing Crime in America: The…

Halfway House Programs: Community esistance and Possible Solutions

Halfway houses are Community-Based esidential Facilities or Community esidential Centers. Additionally, volunteers or correctional officer's head this halfway house programs in a community-based setting. Halfway house programs provide an important role between institutional care and the community (Sechrest, 1991). This is because they offer rehabilitative and residential services to the designated community. In addition, they provide a chance for exceptional and creative programming aimed at solving the needs of the community and its residents at large.

In addition, the use of these programs is not a new idea because most of the offenders under observation, they are supervised in the community. Some of the offenders who receive community supervision include offenders under probation, those who receive a conditional sentence, and people who are gradually in the process of release into the community through a parole or a statutory release (Lindsay, 1991). It…

Offender Reentry Program Proposal

The concept of offender "reentry" is beginning to take the corrections world by storm -- a much overdue storm. Reentry is the process of prisoners reentering society after a period of incarceration in a prison, jail, or detention facility. But it doesn't signify just "letting them go." It connotes that offenders are "prepared" to be released. It means that they are much better off at the time of release than at the time of their admission. (Anderson, S)

It suggests that their period of community supervision will contribute to their crime-free lifestyle. An estimated 100,000 youth are released from secure and residential facilities every year and because the length of incarceration for juveniles is shorter than for adults, a relatively greater percentage of juveniles return to the community each year. In addition, research indicates that a small percentage of juvenile offenders commit the overwhelming majority of…

Society answer is to throw them back behind bars for even the smallest infraction of the law. This is why examining the policies for drug crimes needs to be carefully examined. There is no one size fits all in these situations and each needs to be judge separately.

Some say that the mandatory minimum sentences for illegal drug offences is fair while critics say that these sentences are too harsh, especially for first time offenders whose crimes are of low severity. Proponents say that if the sentences are too lenient it has the effect of increasing the crime rate (Thompson, 1998). Again, each case needs to be looked at on an individual basis. The severity of the crime as well as the perpetrators past record should play a large factor in the punishment handed down. Also, rehabilitation efforts should play a factor in the sentencing. Instead of putting these individuals…

" (ean, 2006) ean notes that a "dramatic decline in the influence of father involvement has been shown to be correlated with fathers' maintaining a residence other than that of their children." (2006)

According to the work entitled: "Theoretical Models of Juvenile Delinquency" developmental pathways of adolescent delinquency has been examined by researcher "through both longitudinal research and meta-analyses." (Theoretical Models of Juvenile Delinquency, nd) Resulting from these empirical investigations are "numerous insights...key indicators and predictors of behavior of those youths who engage and those who persist in delinquent behavior." (Theoretical Models of Juvenile Delinquency, nd) According to this work there have been a number of studies which had made identification of characteristic patterns of parent-child relationships that are strongly associated with juvenile delinquency." (Theoretical Models of Juvenile Delinquency, nd) the work of Juby and Farrington (2001); Patterson and Stouthamer-Loeber (1984); and Steinberg (1987) state that "evidence clearly demonstrates the…

validity of the two official U.S. government reasons: 1) military necessity and 2) protection of the Japanese-Americans, for the imprisonment of Japanese-American and Japanese Issei during orld ar II. Be specific in your reasoning and examples.

One of the most shocking decisions in the history of American injustices is the official, legalized internment of Japanese-Americans and Japanese Issei during orld ar II. hile Americans fought a war abroad for democracy, against the racist tyrant Adolph Hitler of Germany, back home Japanese-Americans and legal Japanese resident aliens were deprived of their liberty and property, simply because of their racial and ethnic heritage. The official reasons given for the internment were military necessity and the protection of the Japanese-Americans. The first statement of 'military necessity,' or national security, as a justification for internment, implied that Japanese-American and Japanese Issei was more 'suspect' than other Americans. It was assumed these Asian-Americans had divided…

Existentialism is a philosophical movement that views human existence as having characteristics, such as anxiety, dread, freedom, awareness of death, and consciousness of existing, that are primary and that cannot be reduced to or explained by a natural-scientific approach or any approach that attempts to detach itself." For existentialism, human beings can be understood only from the inside and it emphasizes action, freedom, and decision as fundamental to human existence and is fundamentally opposed to the rationalist tradition and to positivism (Wikipedia). The Stranger reflects existentialism that our world is a universe that has no place for us, in which our life makes no sense. In the novel, Meursault is portrayed as aloof, detached and unemotional. He does not think about events and the possible consequences. He also fails to express any emotion in his relationship with his friends. Meursault's complete indifference to society and human relationships causes him to…

Rhetoric of Slavery

The term "slavery" evokes forced labor where people are captured and made to work without being paid, where people are given barely any clothing and barely enough to eat, where families are broken apart and where those labeled as slaves are denied any rights that they should have as human beings. Specifically, the idea of slavery is applied to pre-Civil ar American or to the Jewish people when they were enslaved by the Egyptian pharaohs. However, the same ideas described can also be applied to those incarcerated in the penal system, at least according to those who are seeking to improve the lives and opportunities for those who are currently behind bars. This reevaluation of incarceration as "modern slavery" is a rhetorical device used by those with an agenda interested in promoting and improving conditions within the prison system but does not take into consideration the feelings…

Organizational Structure

The debate regarding which form of protocol is more appropriate, custodial vs. treatment, is indeed one of the more controversial subjects in criminal justice today. Custodial treatment refers to the act of putting the convicted criminal in an institution of some sort, such as a jail or prison (hence the term, "custody"). Those who are in favor of this option stress the pros of this type of method, stressing that it is one of society's oldest forms of punishment: "When someone is sentenced to jail or prison, that individual is physically separated from society (the modern version of banishment- society's first form of punishment. In doing so, the person is quite literally deterred from committing any further crimes against the general public because (due to their incarceration) they simply no longer have physical access to the community" (Bayley, 2009). Bayley stresses one of the obvious advantages of custodial…

Three Strikes Law

There are numerous problems associated with the prison system in the state of California. More than a few of these problems are directly caused by the state's infamous Three Strikes legislation -- in which individuals who receive three felonies are sentenced to 25 years to a life term in prison. In codifying the problems related to the state's prison system as identified by the essay written by the politician who was eligible for reelection, it becomes apparent that the most salient of these are the huge expense associated with quartering so many prisoners, overcrowding, and a lack of rehabilitation.

In 2010, the state spent a total of nearly 8 billion dollars to quarter, feed, and provide healthcare for prisoners, which represents a 12.2 percentage of costs outside of the state budget (Vera, 2012). These budgetary constraints are due in large part to the fact that the prisons…