...War on drugs and prison overcrowding Analysis Kevin Jackson CJA/454 March 02, 2016 Professor: Charles Davis War on drugs and prison overcrowding Analysis In this essay, I will discuss the crowding effect the war on drugs has had on correctional organizations in the state of Virginia. I will also propose three workable solutions to the situation while substantiating my solutions with appropriate facts and figures. To understand and comprehend the natural of this essay I will define what this article means when we talk about the war on drugs. War on Drug – Is defined as a series of actions tending toward a prohibition of illegal drug trade. It is a campaign adopted by the U.S. Government along with the foreign military aid, and military intervention to both define and end the import, manufacture, sale, and use of illegal drugs (Definitions_Uslegal 2016). The war on drugs has been a virtual disappointment throughout the United States since it was adopted in 1971 by then President Ronald Reagan with his anti wife slogan "Just say No" campaign. Since the war on drugs have been introducing the only job that it has accomplished is the increase in our prison system. In the state of Virginia alone from 2002 to 2011 drug offense arrest rate increase from 346.1 to 455.0 which is an average of 31.5% increase (Bradford 2013). This incredible inclined can be contributed to a greater number of arrest for drug violations but what this is doing is costing Virginia taxpayer money...
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...What are the best practices for services and programming available for prisoners? Introduction There are about 2.3 million people currently in the nation’s prisons and jails. (that would be 1 in 10 Americans). The US leads the world in mass incarceration. The US has more people in jail than China and Russia combined. (Stern, 2014). The majority of people would relate punishment with prison. And they are not far from the truth as prisons are facilities that give retribution to people for their bad choices, and deter them from committing new crimes. However, the majority of prisons also offer social services to prisoners so when they leave, they have the needed instruments to reintegrate into society. Most prisons offer numerous programs...
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...Prison Environment Autumn Smith CJS/230 September 1, 2013 Fred Waltz INTRODUCTION Prisons have many differences however the environment is always similar. In the passage below I am going to define this environment and how it influences the institutional management ad custody. I will also discuss the changes if any are needed to improve institutional management. As the reader you will learn what secure custody methods are and how it is affected by the environment. If there are any improvements that can be made I will discuss them also. THE ENVIROMENT Not at all like home, is prison not the place to enjoy life. Inside the overcrowded, dirty, concrete walls danger lurks. Hundreds of troubled people are housed together living their lives. Prisoners always have to protect themselves from other inmates whom are violent and have no care for others. The management and custody is influenced by the environment in many ways. Most of the contraband that is found in prisons is from too close of relations between inmates and staff. There is also mare leniency given to some inmates in these situations. It is certain that drugs weapons and sexual relations can change the safety and structure of the prison environment. There are things that can be done to ensure this type of misconduct is seen less. There will always be criminals and people being sent away to jail/prison. It’s very expensive to keep building facilities to hold all the inmates. Going back to faculty having close...
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...War on drugs and prison overcrowding Analysis Kevin Jackson CJA/454 March 02, 2016 Professor: Charles Davis War on drugs and prison overcrowding Analysis In this essay, I will discuss the crowding effect the war on drugs has had on correctional organizations in the state of Virginia. I will also propose three workable solutions to the situation while substantiating my solutions with appropriate facts and figures. To understand and comprehend the natural of this essay I will define what this article means when we talk about the war on drugs. War on Drug – Is defined as a series of actions tending toward a prohibition of illegal drug trade. It is a campaign adopted by the U.S. Government along with the foreign military aid, and military intervention to both define and end the import, manufacture, sale, and use of illegal drugs (Definitions_Uslegal 2016). The war on drugs has been a virtual disappointment throughout the United States since it was adopted in 1971 by then President Ronald Reagan with his anti wife slogan "Just say No" campaign. Since the war on drugs have been introducing the only job that it has accomplished is the increase in our prison system. In the state of Virginia alone from 2002 to 2011 drug offense arrest rate increase from 346.1 to 455.0 which is an average of 31.5% increase (Bradford 2013). This incredible inclined can be contributed to a greater number of arrest for drug violations but what this is doing is costing Virginia taxpayer money...
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...is best to start by examining what community corrections actually is. The National Institute of Justice defines it as programs that oversee offenders outside of jail or prison, and are administered by agencies or courts with the legal authority to enforce sanctions. It includes probation – correctional supervision within the community rather than jail or prison – and parole – a period of conditional, supervised release from prison. However, other types of community corrections, like electric monitoring programs, day report programs, and halfway houses are also coming into effect. These other programs can be a part of probation or even stand alone programs. Probation is one of the largest community corrections, it is a court-ordered period of conditional supervision in the community. In some cases, probation can be a combined sentence of incarceration followed by a period of community supervision. People who violate probation are usually sent to prison (they go through another court date, and the judge decides whether they have to go to prison or a more serious community corrections program). Once set to prison, the person is now an inmate; however, if the inmate is behaving well in prison, they can go before a parole board and be released from prison to serve the remainder of their time on parole. Parole is different from probation. Parole is release from prison under certain specific conditions to serve the remainder of the sentence, it is not court imposed, and the...
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...person convicted of a crime must be imprisoned for a least amount of time, as opposed to leaving the length of punishment up to judges. This sentencing is mostly used for drug offense but if the offense is non violent the time in prison is usually a decade. Mandatory minimum contributes to the fact that America has a systematic problem of increase of mass incarceration, and that men of color are being deprived of things because of criminal records . Even though some believe that it prevents drug use. Overall nonviolent drug offense should be prosecuted but mandatory minimum sentencing should be eradicated. Mass incarceration refers to the unique way the United States had locked up a tremendous population in federal, state prisons, and local jails. In the text “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in an Age of Colorblindness” by Dr. J. Carl Gregg , it states “ In 1972, fewer than 350,000 people were being held in jails and prisons nationwide, compared with more than 2 million...
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...difficult trends among the justice system. These include many issues and controversy over centuries. We as society now learn and comprehend that our justice system is improving within time and developing a different theory to analyze in a better way what can be done to keep improving it. An evaluation will be described including the past, present, and the future of what is now the development and operational of the institutional community is based on corrections. As well as the issues and the future issues that prison and prisons administrators and the way the correction systems are developing within different trends. Past, present and future The past a, present and future trends that pertain to the development and operation of institutional and community that are based on corrections is for example the perspective that is been used today (Muraskin &Roberts, 2009). “Get tough on crime “is a viewpoint that has created a continuous development and increasing in the prison that have continual into the twenty first century (Muraskin &Roberts, 2009). As time keep passing by and society keeps changing, justice system is going to be moving more towards treatment orientation (Muraskin &Roberts, 2009). As well as community corrections will be improved and prolonged more (Muraskin &Roberts, 2009). Earlier in the years of 1970’s the conservative trends that were happening during those years keep developing and dominate what is now our justice system policy (Muraskin &Roberts, 2009)...
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...Aggression (8 +16 marks) Institutional aggression can be defined as aggressive behaviour that occurs within a place of confinement such as prison, and is motivated by social forces, rather than anger or frustration. One psychological explanation of institutional aggression is institutional aggression within groups. This form of aggression can be explained using the importation model which involves interpersonal factors. Research by Irwin and Cressey (1962) suggests that prisoners bring their own social histories and traits with them into prison. This then influences their adaptation to the prison environment. They also argue that prisoners are not simply ‘blank slates’ when they enter prison. Due to this, many of the normative systems developed in the outside world would be ‘imported’ into the prison. Harer and Steffensmeier (2006) offer some research support for the importation model. This particularly applies when evaluating individual factors such as age, education level and race. Their study involved collecting data from 58 US prisons where they found that black inmates had significantly higher rates of violent behaviour. However, these people displayed lower rates of alcohol-related and drug-related misconduct than white inmates. Despite this, there is a problem of sample bias with Harer and Steffensmier’s study. This is because only US prisons took part. This means that the results are not representative of the wider population and therefore cannot generalised to other prisoners...
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...How would you define prison environment? Prison environment is cramped and confined and a dangerous environment. There are many inmate customs, etiquette or rules to abide by, or a convicted individual may be subjected to physical harm or death. The most obvious characteristic of the prison environment is the absence of privacy. The absence of privacy is a deliberate punishment, lavatories are within the individual cells are within three feet of the individual’s cellmate. It is difficult if not impossible for an inmate to be completely alone during incarceration, there are only three places an inmate can be at any time, his or her cell, the common housing area, or on the yard (Foster, 2006). How does prison environment influence institutional management and custody? There are many cliques in the prison environment generally separated by race or gang affiliation. These cliques influence the institutional management and custody in a variety of ways. General management and daily interaction of inmates must be respectful and sensitive to the race factor. Strategies were developed to combat prison gangs, these strategies include; segregation, isolation of gang leaders, jacketing or labeling and categorizing gang members for intelligence purposes, deprogramming, and placement of gang members in high-security prisons. Special corrections officer response teams were formed to manage inmates. These teams are known as Special Operations Response Team or SORT teams (Foster, 2006)...
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...U.S. to Release 6,000 Inmates from Prisons Imagine being in prison for a crime that should have had a lesser time sentence, however, the sentence was rule for a longer time sentence. Is it also right to be sentence for a long sentence for entering another country illegal? I believe that the decision that was made for releasing the nonviolent and undocumented immigrants will have a positive impact in society. This will prove to society that the United States has a fair justice system. It will also prove that you will also have a fair trial and the correct time sentences. However, there are still others that believe this will only cause more crime or give the drug dealers another opportunity to do it again. The Author Michael S. Schmidt wrote the article as this will be “the largest discharges of inmates from federal prisons in American history.” In this article, “U.S. to Release 6,000 Inmates from Prisons”, the author Michael S. Schmidt makes an effective argument on the positive outcomes for releasing inmates from the federal prisons. The author’s article pointed out the effective outcome for the inmates and how it will reduce prison pollution. He strongly presented that the inmates will be united with family and friends. They will also have the opportunity to work, because of the skills they learned while in prison. However, he also wrote about how some people believe this will be an ineffective outcome. His article present that the crime rate may start decreasing...
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...Are prisons effective total institutions or do they more commonly fail in their goal of resocialization? Please compare and contrast how a conflict, a functionalist or an interactionist theorist would answer this question. Finally offer your opinion The present paper aims to discuss the role of prisons in the resocialization of the people kept in the incarcerated after their turned out to be guilty of committing some offence and the announcement of sentence against them from the court of law. The study will be conducted in the light of Conflict, Structural functional and Interactionsit perspectives in order to define and determine the role played by prisons in the rehabilitation of the offenders. The Paper: It is a fact beyond suspicion that every social establishment of the world has introduced law and judicial systems in order to maintain order within its jurisdiction. As a result, the individuals found guilty of committing crimes are arrested, tried at the court of law and if found guilty, the criminals are restrained in the prison houses in order to punish and penalize the offenders on the one side, and protect the society by discouraging the criminal acts on the other (Siegel, 2008:471). The prisons are regarded to be reformative centers, which serve as the platform responsible for the education, training and resocialization of the prisoners, so that they could lead a normal life like other law-abiding citizens of society (Macionis, 2008:138). The prison administrations...
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...Correctional Theories Amber Eagler Abstract This paper is about working in a senator’s office as a staffer. The latest charges of abuse at the local jail, has caught the attention of the senator. The senator has recently been focusing on the state correctional system which has become a constant target of criticism for an increasingly vocal number of civil libertarian groups. The senator is speaking before the state bar association next week and intends to address the ways in which the correctional system may be improved. This paper is a detailed outline on the correctional theory in general, as well as a series of suggestions on ways to improve some of the nontraditional theories of corrections. Correctional Theories We all know that life is difficult and sometimes with those difficulties come more problems. What you put into life is what you get out. As the famous Isaac Newton once quoted “For every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction.” For this very reason correctional theories were created. These theories are based on two common principles within the corrections; system-punishment and rehabilitation. The criminal justice system’s idea of justice, punishment and correction is made up of a combination of strenuous, criticizing, and practical theories. ...
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...How would you define prison environment? Prison environment is cramped and confined and a dangerous environment. There are many inmate customs, etiquette or rules to abide by, or a convicted individual may be subjected to physical harm or death. The most obvious characteristic of the prison environment is the absence of privacy. The absence of privacy is a deliberate punishment, lavatories are within the individual cells are within three feet of the individual’s cellmate. It is difficult if not impossible for an inmate to be completely alone during incarceration, there are only three places an inmate can be at any time, his or her cell, the common housing area, or on the yard (Foster, 2006). How does prison environment influence institutional management and custody? There are many cliques in the prison environment generally separated by race or gang affiliation. These cliques influence the institutional management and custody in a variety of ways. General management and daily interaction of inmates must be respectful and sensitive to the race factor. Strategies were developed to combat prison gangs, these strategies include; segregation, isolation of gang leaders, jacketing or labeling and categorizing gang members for intelligence purposes, deprogramming, and placement of gang members in high-security prisons. Special corrections officer response teams were formed to manage inmates. These teams are known as Special Operations Response Team or SORT teams (Foster, 2006)...
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...Criminal Justice System Criminal Justice System Crime is defined in different ways by different sources. I will show two different sources that define crime but ultimately they mean the same thing just worded differently. The definition of crime in The Merriam-Webster dictionary is defined as an act or the commission of an act that is forbidden or the omission of a duty that is commanded by a public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law; especially : a gross violation of law. Crime defined in the criminal justice field is defined as conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, the federal government, or local jurisdiction for which there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse. There is a very unique relationship between crime and the law. If there are no laws then what constitutes a crime? There would be no crime because there would be no violations that would be punishable. This would cause mass chaos among the people. People would take matters into their own hands. Each individual would become their own judge, juror, and executioner. This is something that society could not handle and this is why there is a need for order by making laws and enforcing them. The two most common models that society deems what and which acts are criminal are the Consensus model and the Conflict model. The Consensus model is a perspective from the criminal justice field that it is assumed that all the components work together consistently to...
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...steps to stay on track and continue to be a better individual. In this paper rehabilitation will be discussed further. Rehabilitation has many definitions depending on the person that is defining the word. If someone wanted to give a simple definition they would define rehabilitation as something that make the criminal better. When being specific, prisoner rehabilitation can be defined as specific programs applied within the prison setting, whether inside or outside the prison, intended to put a halt to criminal behavior from the individual, which also is called desistence, which is defined as to stop or cease (Foster, B. 2006). According to the text the origin of prisoner rehabilitation comes from the early to mid twentieth century, in which social scientist, criminologist, social workers, and other prison administrative worker took theories from fields such as: sociology, psychology, and psychiatry and applies them to study crime and punishment and also to create a better prison environment for the prisoners (Foster, B. 2006). It has been stated that although prisoners are placed in rehabilitation programs there is still a good chance that they will end back up in prison (Foster, B. 2006)., which affects the prison because it says that the punishment that he or she received was not harsh enough for them to realize that committing a crime is wrong. Prisoner rehabilitation affects...
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