Prison reform

Ohio Ohio has over 50,000 individuals incarcerated in Ohio’s 32 state prison, with these prisons currently being 30% over their capacity. Realizing the need to remedy this situation, the General Assembly created the Criminal Justice Recodification Committee to reform the penalties for certain crimes and seek ways to reduce the state’s prison population. The year 2017 presents an opportunity for the Ohio legislature to implement these changes and seek a criminal justice system that values…

The movie “Prison State” follows the story of a town, Beecher Terrace, in Kentucky. The town spends approximately $15 million a year on their prison system (______). The film follows the stories of 4 individuals Christel, Charles McDuffie, Demetria, and Keith Huff. Christel is a 15year old teenager diagnosed with bipolar disorder and ADHD. She was faced with a charge of truancy after neglecting to attend school. Michelle Alexander explains how bad the incarnation rate is in Beecher Terrace by…

is a failure that should be changed immediately to a more standardized system that encourages reform over punishment. There is a critical need for reform in the United States justice system, and clear evidence of that need are the high rates of recidivism, the inequality of sentencing based on race or socioeconomic class, and the inconsistencies in sentencing, which in many cases leads to longer prison terms for lesser crimes. Evolved from English common law, the United States judiciary system…

Probation is a sentence that takes place within the community rather than a prison. The offender is supervised by a designated probation officer who oversees the offender and enforces any conditions placed upon them by the court. It emerged as a response to the strict uniformity of penal institutions and is a move towards the individualisation of sentencing, as punishment can be tailored to the individual needs of the offender (McLaughlin and Muncie, 2001). Probation was also a response to the…

Prison overcrowdings have been and is one of the main key component factors of poor prison circumstances around the globe. Since 1981, prisons and jails have a huge continuous increase despite the decrease in both crime rates as well as the number of people arrested. It has been the biggest problem faced by the prison systems; its effects can become life threating making prisons are unable to prevent proper functions. “Prison overcrowding, is the aggressive “tough on crime" approach taken by…

discuss two approaches to punishment which are retributivism, also known as non-consequentialism, and utilitarianism, also known as consequentialism. I will then analyse three justifications of punishment within the utilitarian approach which are reform and rehabilitation, individual and general deterrence and incapacitation. Retributivism is a sociological perspective of crime which looks at the different forms and changes in punishment. It is a backward thinking approach as it does not look…

What would be the point of incarceration if the individuals behind bars didn’t actually learn to reform their behaviors? This might seem like a logical question, however, it is a problem that America faces with its legal system today. The programs that exist in prisons are mainly focused on physical work and seem to be closer to slavery rather than reform. In modern penitentiaries, prisoners are expected to serve their time while being reformed and readied for acclimation back into society.…

When looking at how prisons operate, there are many things that happen outside in society that are mirrored inside in the prison system. The most prevalent of these similarities is the capitalistic system that has been adopted throughout all prisons and has become the basic operating principles under which prisons function. This system also has an effect on the prisoners that are incarcerated within, and in the overall outcome of the decisions a prisoner makes about committing crimes after being…

use objective actuarial evidence to improve the ability of the current system to identify and confine offenders who represent the most serious risk to the community. In the context of overall sentencing reform, selective incapacitation offers the possibility of concentrating scarce and costly prison resources on those most likely to commit crimes if not confined. Selective incapacitation should not be the only rationale for incarceration. Other purposes of sentencing (punishment, deterrence, and…

Everyone has been saying that our criminal justice system needs to be reformed and yet there hasn’t been much action taken on reform. In order to bring more equality between men and women, there needs to be change in the criminal justice system. The best way to ensure that men and women of all races are treated the same as in the criminal justice system is to not let the defendant in the court. If the judge and jury don’t see, hear or know the name of who they are convicting they won’t…