Title: Reforming And Strengthening America’s Criminal Justice System
Outline
Title of Paper- Reforming and Strengthening America’s Criminal Justice system
Introduction to Paper
Through the utilization of the article ‘Reforming and Strengthening America’s Criminal Justice system’ by Holder, (2013)and the related literature, this paper will seek to present an analysis of the criminal system of justice in America and then generate recommendations of how the current justice system in America and be reformed. The article raises issues that are related to social issues, violence issues as well as the issues that surround the justice system in communities. The article asserts that the American individuals have the right to acquire information on whether the American system of justice practices fairness as well as equality. The purpose of developing the article according to the author is to develop public awareness. He aims at accomplishing this as he brings out facts in in the context of the justice system to allow the public to develop their personalized decisions. Therefore with the utilization of available academic literature and Holder, (2013), work, I will, therefore, discuss the issues that are associated with criminal justice system’s problems.
In this section I will provide details of the article by Holder, (2013), this will therefore include the causes of incarceration of mass, the strategies of enforcing the law, the criminal system of justice and prisons reforms in America. The article raises concerns and creates awareness based on the growing mass incarceration rate in America. Law offenders are subjected to various injustices. Mass incarceration results into negative effects especially to the community and this is generated by the lack of a proper system of justice provision in America.
Literature Review
The paper will review literature developed by, Chesney-Lind, & Mauer, (2011), Falk, (2010) and Stuntz, (2011). The review will, therefore, be based on the following, origin and incarceration causes, mass incarceration catastrophic collateral effects and the efforts of facilitating reforms legislation.
Critical Analysis
According to Chesney-Lind, & Mauer, (2011), American holds the largest rate of mass incarceration which holds negative consequences on the offenders as well as the communities. The incarceration rate in America should, therefore, be reformed soon by ensuring that the justice system maintains fairness. On the other hand Falk, (2010), the American justice system works with the influence of injustices like corruption and discrimination. Falk, (2010) asserts that the system of justice will only work if proper reforms are utilized.
Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations
The current mass incarceration situation in American was developed by various justice system reforms. This is mainly because the existing justice policies are associated with distinct issues which necessitate innovative and thoughtful solutions. This will, therefore, assist in developing an effective justice system. An effective justice system should ensure that the pretrial financial release is reduced to reduce the number of individuals convicted. In addition, federal and state leaders should take measures act to eradicate mandatory minimums, reduce the period of sentencing terms and limit the ranges of offenses applicable for the conditions to return more discretion to sentencing judges.
Reforming and Strengthening America’s Criminal Justice System
Introduction
This paper will provide a critical analysis of the justice system in America, the issues that surround the system as well as recommendations in the context of the criminal justice system. I will provide an analysis of Reforming and Strengthening America’s Criminal Justice article authored by Holder, (2013). This will focus on several topics which will include the following: Origin and incarceration causes, mass incarceration catastrophic collateral effects and the efforts of facilitating reforms legislation.
Bold Steps to Reform and Strengthen America’s Criminal Justice System
Holder, (2013), raises concerns as well as creates awareness in regard to the growing mass incarceration level in America. Holder, (2013) identifies the social injustices that occur when enforcing the criminal law on the offenders. Holder, (2013), states that the issues of mass incarceration are due to the fact that most of the offenders are held by the legal system for an extended period without a good rationale. In addition Holder, (2013) stated that the basic level of the justice system in America is inadequate and thus cannot be able to overcome the issues that are subjected by modernity. The justice system in American has not completely embraced fairness and it works by the influence of discrimination which has contributed greatly to the mass incarceration issue.
According to Holder, (2013) in order to several measures should be adopted by the criminal stem of justice in American in the quest of reducing the rate of mass incarceration and the consequences. Holder, (2013) new policies need to be generated to ensure that the offenders serve minimum sentences with adequate benefits. This can, therefore, be achieved through the development of initiatives such as counseling programs, training as well as rehabilitation. These initiatives will help in transforming the individuals as sentences are not mainly aimed at delivering punishment but also to change the offenders. Reducing the sentences will help in ensuring that the effects of incarceration in the legal system are reduced. On the other hand, discrimination can be reduced through the implementation of policies to ensure that every offender is treated equally through the utilization of the law. This will work in promoting fairness as well as equity in the criminal system of justice in all the American states.
Literature Review
The aim of the of the justice system in America is to provide justice to all individuals by convicting and subjecting punishments to the individuals that are found guilty in order to assist them in respecting the law while offering protection to the innocent citizens (Chesney-Lind, & Mauer, 2011). The criminal justice is therefore meant to offer equal protection to all individuals based on the law and to administer the criminal law in a fair way. However, the criminal justice is termed as unfair because it tends to be in favor of several groups based on their race, language or even origin. In the justice criminal system in America, racial disparities exist in a high incarceration rate. The American system of criminal justice seems to have abandoned its purpose as the system has developed more issues than solutions (Chesney-Lind, & Mauer, 2011).
It is essential to ensure that individual’s rights and the criminal laws are observed at all times. The raising rate of prisons sentences is based on the mandatory implementation lengthy sentences that are aimed at reforming the offenders (Falk, 2010). This has therefore resulted in an increased rate of mass incarceration which affects both the offenders as well as the community. This strategy can be termed as both expensive for the government and inappropriate. This is mainly because the lengthy sentences are not accompanied by programs that are purposed on reforming offenders. Mass incarceration results in misappropriate stress because the society is forced to face the social and family network disruptions which in turn generates additional crimes as well as infectious diseases. Despite the fact, the sentences reduction may assist in reducing mass incarceration and the associated effects the lengthy sentences can be utilized in generating value rather than the primary purpose of shaping individuals behaviors. This strategy can be expensive as it will require more resources as well as the utilization of expertise to provide the rehabilitation services increase the centers as well as offer training (Falk, 2010).
The justice system in America is far from being efficient as it seems to have collapsed a long time ago since the policies developed to ensure justice are rarely utilized (Stuntz, 2011). Mass incarceration and the injustices that are witnessed in the justice system can be solved through the eradication of discrimination, lengthy sentences, promoting equality and developing adequate policies with enough capability. This will help in ensuring that the offenders, as well as communities, are not offended in any negative way (Stuntz, 2011).
Mass Incarceration Catastrophic Collateral Effects
The effects of mass incarceration are not only based on financial issues as they additionally result in social complications. Finical issues have resulted from the expenses that are associated with developing more prisons as well as the associated financial obligations of maintain the structures and handling the growing number of offenders (Holder, 2013). In addition, financial issues may be generated by the fact that the offenders require reforming programs which necessitate the employment of high expertise. Individuals jailing holds several social effects as it rises as the opportunity of criminal behavior exhibition in the future thus impacting individual’s economic aspects. In addition, the sentences reduce the opportunities for individuals in participating in productive activities in the community. Moreover, a prison record destroys one’s reputation as well as integrity and this hinders the chances of an individual to secure employment. The incarcerated individuals are additionally bound to suffer huge losses in terms of housing and education. These effects are passed to generations thus affecting the general status of families of the involved persons (Holder, 2013).
Efforts to Facilitate Legislation Reforms
The democrats, republicans, as well as individual persons, are currently working in collaboration to promote reforms legislations in the quest of reducing mass incarceration and its effects. For example bi- partisan supported the development of smarter sentencing as an act both in the house as well as in the senate. The act is aimed at offering the necessary reforms to the present sentences for individuals involved in drug offenses. In addition, the bill will seek to reduce the sentences for the users of drug and even provide a strategy that will ensure that the nonviolent offenders are sentenced below the minimum sentence. Moreover, the smarter act of sentencing will ensure that all federal prisoners can search for retroactive relief based on 2010’s act of fair sentencing which minimizes the racial disparity in cocaine users sentencing.
Critical Analysis
According to Falk, (2010) worrying mass incarceration rate in the United States currently than in the previous years. For instance, those individuals that have been imprisoned based on drug offenses are approximately two million as compared to three hundred and fifty thousand individuals imprisoned in 1972. This therefore shows the need of implementing the poisoning policies.
Chesney-Lind, M., & Mauer, (2011) argues that the wars of drugs intensify the mass incarceration rate in comparison to other offenses. In addition, the drug sentences exhibit higher levels of implications in relation to racial discrimination and corruption. In order to solve the social injustices that surround the sentencing, equality is highly required in the application of criminal law. According to Stuntz, (2011) the government and the justice system should implement policies as well as initiatives in order to develop a more reformed justice system in America. This is relative to Holder, (2013), who holds that the sentences should be reduced and the policies reformed to ensure that mass incarceration rate is reduced.
Summary, Conclusion, and Recommendations
The present incarceration level in America developed over time due to the implementation of various policies. The existing criminal system policies result in multifaceted issues that necessitate the development of innovative and thoughtful solutions in order to overcome the modernity challenges that hinder the criminal system in America to achieve equality and efficiency. Therefore the state and federal leaders are highly necessitated to utilize measures in order to eradicate mandatory minimum sentences by reducing the sentencing terms as well as limiting offenses ranges. In addition, the policy developers should focus on providing opportunities to the convicted individuals of specific offenses to close their records of conviction so that their reputation may not be destroyed.
The pretrial requirements should additionally be reduced to ensure that the family networks of the convicted individuals are not affected. This will also work to ensure that mass incarceration rate is reduced. Federal, as well as the state leaders, should strive to ensure that the offenders are given rehabilitative services that focus on developing a productive individual. The most important thing is that the involved leaders should appreciate total the innovative approaches application in order to solve the severe impacts of mass incarceration that is caused by to the society.
References
Chesney-Lind, M., & Mauer, M. (2011). Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment. New York: New Press.
Falk, G. (2010). The American criminal justice system: How it works, how it doesn't , and how to fix it. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger.
Holder, E. (2013). Bold Steps to Reform and Strengthen American’s Criminal Justice System. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5ec06d55-723d-4f87-a88a-4a4e42725e03%40sessionmgr101&vid=0&hid=119
Stuntz, W. J. (2011). The collapse of American criminal justice. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
