...Prison Overcrowding in the United States First, we need to discuss the causes of prison overcrowding before we dive into potential solutions. The main obvious cause is fluctuating crime rates, the increase in the crime rates, in the United States leads more people to being locked up in prison, causing prison populations to sky rocket. Another main cause is changes to the laws, when changes are made, making the penalties higher, it causes people who might just go to jail for their crime, to end up in the prison system. Another serious issue that the United States prison system has is its return rate, with high lapses of criminals in today’s society the U.S has a 60% return rate. This rate cannot be tolerated, we as a society need to do something...
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...The Problem of Prison Overcrowding in the United States "The Land of the Free has 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of its prisoners. In all, about 2.2m Americans fester behind bars: one in every 107 adults" (ALEC.Org).With that many Americans in prison, providing enough space for each individual in becoming quite a difficult situation. The amount of space that is available for each inmate, the amount of time each inmate is incarcerated for, and the living arrangements, as well as many other factors, are all involved with the problem of overcrowding. Many people think that if a person commits a crime, then they should be locked up for good and the world would be a better place. Tougher laws are one idea that people come up with to create a safer world. It is true that we would all probably be safer, but then we would have an even bigger problem with our prison system being overloaded. The United States prison system is already crowded and creating tougher laws would just increase the problem. The states are constantly making changes to their approach concerning prosecution. They are lengthening the confinement time for some crimes and shortening the time for others. This also is a huge addition to the overcrowding problem, as well as the seesawing of crime rates. Sometimes the crime rates are going through the roof, while at other times a violation is at its lowest. When rates are high, overpopulation becomes more of an issue. (Portland) The U.S. has to find ways to...
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...The United States in number one is prison population, because the prison system is broken, and the only way it can be repaired is for it to be torn down. The broken nature comes from racial bias, and life sentences for non-violent crimes, while certain violent crimes occur with impunity. Then, the prison system breeds those inside for recidivism, rather than prolonged freedom. In 1993, South Africa under the apartheid system imprisoned 851 black men, while in 2010, the United States, imprisoned 4,347 black men; that means black men are imprisoned at about five times the rate they were imprisoned under an apartheid system. Due to this, the America is an apartheid state, where guilt is deemed by the coloration of skin, rather than the true culpability. There is the issue of people serving life sentences for non-violent crimes, and many of them are also black. There are over 3,000 people in prison for non-violent crimes, and some of the crimes are as simple as shoplifting a jacket, and selling marijuana....
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...the same as the United States and then there are some who do just the opposite. The American correctional system is designed to incarcerate and try to rehabilitate offenders, if possible. I chose to compare the American correctional system with that of the Iraqi correctional systems. This paper will show the differences in the two. It will also show how the American correctional system is run in comparison to that of the Iraqi correctional system. The American correctional system is set up with different types of prisons. Most prisons are run by the state government although the United States does have federal prisons. The federal prisons are run by the federal government. In the United States, prisons are operated at various levels of security, ranging from minimum-security prisons that mainly house non-violent offenders to Supermax facilities that house well-known criminals and terrorists (DeMaille, 2007). In the United States, prisons house more than two million prisoners. The majority of criminals in the prison system are because of drugs and violent crimes. As of the end of August 2010, there were approximately 210,000 prisoners in federal prisons with about half of those for drug related crimes (BOP, 2010). In the United States there are two well-known federal penitentiaries. They are Alcatraz, which is closed, and the Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas. The biggest drug related crimes is transporting illegal drugs across state lines. Prior...
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...An Overview of Federal Prisons Stephen Hayden CRJ 101: Intro to Criminal Justice Post University 4/19/15 Abstract Federal Prisons in the United States have evolved since 1930. The United States Federal Prisons range in security levels to house inmates that have been incarcerated on a federal level. Based upon the security level in a facility, inmates are given more freedom and have lower staff to inmate ratios. Inmates are required to work so long as their health is cleared, and some prisons offer inmate labor that can contribute to them returning to society. Prisoners are required to have their basic needs met while housed in a federal correction facility, which includes education, health care, and religious demeanor. While federal prisons are trying to maintain standards they face issues such as overcrowding, which can largely effect how the facilities are ran. Recommendations to overcome overcrowding and better facilitate a prisoners release to society will be provided. History of Prisons in the United States “Pursuant to Pub. L. No. 71-218, 46 Stat. 325 (1930), the Bureau of Prisons was established within the Department of Justice and charged with the "management and regulation of all Federal penal and correctional institutions." This responsibility covered the administration of the 11 Federal prisons in operation at the time.” (Federal Bureau of Prisons, n.d.). Since correctional facilities were mandated they have grown and evolved to this current day, and still...
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...THE BUDGET COST AND EFFECTS OF PRISONS IN THE UNITED STATES Christina Adonia Turner June 15, 2013 Introduction to Public Administration TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Table Of Contents…………………………………………………………2 2. Executive Summary………………………………………………………..3 3. Scope and Statement of the Problem………………………………………4 4. Literature Review………………………………………………………….5 5. Methodology………………………………………………………………7 6. Analytical Results………………………………………………………....8 7. Discussion………………………………………………………………...10 8. Bibliography………………………………………………………………16 9. Appendix………………………………………………………………....17 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In summary, the cost of housing an incarcerated inmate does affect the budget of the United States. Whether, the inmate is sentenced to life imprisonment or the death penalty. The facts in this research paper leans heavily in favor of life imprisonment as a cheaper form of punishment verses an inmate being sentenced to death row. The judicial system and politicians have formed several alternatives to assist our country with the ability to lower the cost of housing an inmate in our prison system. For example, the United States detaining systems are concentrating more on issuing a fair sentence to nonviolent offenders, such as, substance abusers and prostitutes. They realize that the majority of the inmates are in need of drug rehabilitation and have a mental illness. Also, the research shows that women offenders are the most affected with drug addiction...
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...The Conditions of Prisons Worldwide Society usually does not concern themselves with people in prison but what they fail to realize is that they could be the ones incarcerated. Every day, there are people who state they do nothing wrong to be put in prison but anyone can watch the news, and it states how people were on vacation and something unexpected resulted in their incarceration while in a foreign country. The conditions in both American and Third World prisons have poor living conditions and deprive prisoners of health care that cause them to be susceptible to life threatening diseases. Society needs to be aware of these conditions and the possibility that it may happen to them; these conditions are not suitable for human beings. Prisons worldwide have poor living conditions. There are prisons in other parts of the world that conditions are unspeakable, and just inhumane. The living conditions in the majority of United States prisons can be very poor; there are not enough beds or cots because of the overpopulation. There was a new story on a prison in Arizona where the warden had the inmates sleeping outside under canopies. The inmates still had beds or cots, but they were outside in the natural elements with no protection from the weather. Those conditions are not nearly as bad as some of the prisons in the third world countries. In Syria, prisoners are treated like slaves and are even beaten with pipes, other weapons...
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...Prison Overcrowding in the US Name: Institutional Affiliation: Prison Overcrowding in the US Introduction Prison overcrowding in the US is a serious problem that has remained elusive for many decades. The problem of prison overcrowding emerged since the invention of prison as correctional facilities in the 19th century and until now; it is still troubling the authorities. Overcrowding in modern prisons is multidimensional problem. Various reasons are blamed for the challenge but they significantly differ from one nation to the other. Causes of prison overcrowding are not limited to the bounds of criminal justice but stretch to other facets of authorities including social welfare plans, availability and ease of access to health services, formal education and job opportunities. Debates on how to handle this issue on political platforms is an enough illustration of the problems political leaders undergo in looking for a lasting solution challenged by increased pressure from court orders and rigorous financial crisis. It is therefore evident that it is much easier to have overcrowded prisons than it is to develop and implement effective and efficient ways to manage overcrowding in prisons. Overcrowding in prisons is a broad problem that is centered on issues of policies and crime research. These issues involve criminal sentencing, the role of correctional facilities and sentences, accommodation of prisoners with access to health care and rehabilitation services and causes of crimes...
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...Why is the Incarceration Rate in the US so high? The United States has about 300 million residents, about 5 percent of the total world’s population, but the prisons in the United States account for 25 percent of the world’s inmates. This statistic gives the United States the highest incarceration rate in the world with 743 of every 100,000 people behind bars (Levin 2013). On the other hand, Canada, our northern neighbor only has 113 per 100,000 of its citizens in prison (Levin 2013). So the question is, what really is behind the high incarceration rate in the United States? The difference is substantial and cannot be ignored; the incarceration rate in the U.S. is nearly 6.5 times larger. This is a staggering statistic and begins to raise some valid concerns, could it be that the United States court system is structured in a way that unfairly treats criminals? Or could it be that people in the United States just commit more crimes per capita than the rest of the world? The latter doesn’t seem like a plausible explanation, the United States and Canada are so similar it almost seems unrealistic to assume that the crime disparity could be so wide. That leaves us with the idea that the United States court systems unfairly treats criminals or just treats criminals harsher than any other developed country in the world. This thought is certainly very frightening and should be a concern for every United States citizen. Even though most people are good, law-abiding citizens, sometimes...
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...the u.s The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners. Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations. Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations say they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American prison sentences. The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation, according to data maintained by the International Center for Prison Studies at King’s College London. China, which is four times more populous than the United States, is a distant second, with 1.6 million people in prison. (That number excludes hundreds of thousands of people held in administrative detention, most of them in China’s extrajudicial system of re-education through labor, which often singles out political activists who have not committed crimes.) San Marino, with a population of about 30,000, is at the end of the long list of 218 countries compiled by the center. It has a single prisoner. The United States comes in first, too, on a more meaningful list from the prison studies center...
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...a symbol of death and torture. That same prison became a symbol of disgraceful conduct by a few American Troops” (Asser). With the fall of Saddam’s regime, the United States gained control of the prison because they needed a protected area to keep Iraqi’s who were suspected of assisting Saddam from hiding during the American occupation. Outside the walls of this prison, it seemed to have an acceptable reputation; however, many did not know what happened behind the walls. People that were put in charge of running the prison were not well prepared to serve that position which lead to many problems throughout the prison, including failure of leadership, failing to ensure that officers were properly...
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...Running head: PRISON COMPARISON PAPER Federal Prison Comparison Paper Jessica Cantu University of Phoenix Introduction to Corrections CJA 234 Jeffery Newton November 12, 2011 Federal Prison Comparison Paper There are different kinds of state prisons are: supermax, maximum security, close-high security, medium security, minimum security, and open security. Supermax prisons are permanent lockdown. Maximum security prisons are usually older, larger, walled facilities. They also have the most rigorous security procedures and the lowest inmate to guard ratio. Close-high security are a kind of maximum security but less restrictive and the inmate to guard ratio is a bit higher. Medium security prisons are smaller and newer, and have double fences instead of walls. These prisons also have dorm or pod housing rather than cells; however, the inmate to guard ratio is a bit higher. Minimum security prisons are also newer and smaller as well as minimal perimeter security and fewer internal controls. Again there is an even higher inmate to guard ratio and the inmates live in rooms or dorms and have more privacy and amenities than those in other prisons. Open security prisons are better known as nonsecure facilities; work release centers, prerelease centers, and halfway houses. These facilities have no armed guards and no fences (Foster, 2006). John Gotti John Gotti grew up in poverty but quickly rose in prominence, and was one of the crime family's biggest...
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...Community Corrections Community corrections are the programs which manage offenders outside of jail or prison. Community corrections include probation and parole. Probation is a correctional supervision within the community rather than jail or prison. Parole is a period of conditional, supervised release from prison. There are some offenders who do not present any threat to society, and to incarcerate them in a dangerous correctional system, which could cause harm or damage to the person, and possibly lock them into a life of crime. Community corrections would be less costly, and more effective to let them remain in the community under the supervision of a trained court officer. The offender can receive treatment that might help to turn their life around. There are a variety of community sentencing alternatives today that are cost-effective. There is the house arrest concept that requires convicted offenders to spend a designated amount of time per week in his or her home. The sentencing authorities must be assured that the arrestees are actually at home during their assigned times, so random calls and visits are a way for officers to check on the compliance of the house arrest orders. The electronic monitoring device is used to manage an offender in most home confinement orders today. The most secure intermediate sanction is a sentence to a residential community corrections facility; located in the community that houses probationers. Most often, residents are allowed to...
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...organized gangs in the American Justice System have been a growing problem. Drug trafficking, continued violence, and overrunning prisons are a few of the main challenges that the justice system faces when trying to control these gangs. Based usually on race, these gangs are believed to be some of the most dangerous in the world and are only getting larger. Even though measures are being taken to try and prevent these gangs from growing in size, most attempts fail as the gangs are becoming too prominent and too powerful. Prison gangs by definition are criminal organizations that originated within the penal system and they have continued to operate within correctional facilities throughout the United States. They[Prison gangs] are also considered self-perpetuating criminal entities that can continue their operations outside the confines of the penal system. Typically, a prison gang consists of a select group of inmates who have an organized hierarchy and who are governed by an established code of conduct. These gangs vary in both organization and composition, from highly structured gangs such as the Aryan Brotherhood and Nuestra Familia to gangs with less formalized structure such as the Mexican Mafia. Prison gangs are usually more powerful within state correctional facilities compared to the federal penal system (Trusty). The first recognized prison gang was originated at the Duel Vocational Institution in Tracy, California. It was originally founded by thirteen inmates who were...
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...Recidivism Abstract In recent decades, the United States has undergone a substantial increase in prison population. Across the country, prisons are faced with the problem of severe overpopulation. Although crime rates have dramatically decreased over the years, the rates of incarceration have gone in the opposite direction and continue to increase. One of the major underlying factors for the increase lies within recidivism. Repeat offenders make up a large component of the overall prison population. The purpose of this paper is to present the causes of recidivism and the aspects of an offender’s life that tend to lead to re-incarceration. The term recidivism has been derived from the Latin word recidivus, meaning recurring, as well as the term recido, meaning to fall back. It essentially is used to describe a person who has repeated and undesirable behavior after they have already been treated or trained to stop the behavior, or have already suffered the consequences of that behavior. In the criminal justice field, the term is used to describe released inmates who are rearrested, reconvicted, or re-incarcerated. In the past thirty years, incarceration rates have tripled in the United States, and the national state and federal prison population has surpassed two million inmates (Western 3). The statistics regarding recidivism in the United States are baffling compared to the rest of the world. In fact, according to a...
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