Alternatives to Incarceration Essay

Ever since the first prison opened in the United States in 1790, incarceration has been the center of the nations criminal justice system. Over this 200 year period many creative alternatives to incarceration have been tried, and many at a much lower cost than imprisonment. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s when our criminal justice systems across the country began experiencing a problem with overcrowding of facilities. This problem forced lawmakers to develop new options for sentencing criminal offenders.

A fallacy, by definition, is an argument that uses poor reasoning. Before one uses a fallacy, it’s important to have full understanding or else you risk losing your whole ethos aspect of your argument. Heinrichs gives three important parts to detecting fallacies. “All you have to do is look for a bad proof, the wrong number of choices, or a disconnect between the proof and the conclusion.” (Heinrichs 146)

An example of informal fallacy in our way of thinking is how people view their validation of others through social media; especially among youth. People say they have a lot of supports because they have a lot of social media supports. The amount of social media supports is a form of allowing one to emotionally be persuaded to thinking they have support and friends. Logic says that it is easy to hit a follow button and not really care about a person because there is no real human interaction. Informal fallacy occurs all the time in politics. In order for one politician to get the upper hand, any one of the grab bag of thirteen informal fallacies can be used. From name calling (abusive) to saying what the people want (popular appeal) politicians

An original example of the Strawman fallacy would be “We need to spend money towards fixing our city roads.” Says person A. Then Person B might might counter with something such as “So you’re against spending money to help the homeless!”This is an example of a straw man fallacy because person A is stating the need to repair the cities roads. Then person B is misrepresenting them by saying that they are against spending money to help the homeless.

An argument is an effective strategy used to persuade individuals or public that a general opinion or perception is either right or wrong. Although, as we try to create a reasonable argument, chances are we encounter logical fallacies. A fallacy is a faulty line in reasoning that hinder our ability to make an argument invalid, affecting our ability to argue effectively. Fallacies are more commonly used as a tool to influence opinion or actions of individuals or group of individuals to as to obtain a future goal while obscuring the truth of the matter. These are more commonly referred to as propagandas, which persuades the public to be “for” or “against” certain political ideas, religion, races and opinions as a whole. A propagandist wants invoke

Appeal ad Populum fallacy argues that something must be true because the majority believes it to be right. Just because many people believe something to be right does not mean it is. J.B Sanford uses this fallacy when he says that “courageous, chivalrous, and manly men and the womanly women, the real mothers and

What is incarceration? Incarceration is the act of placing someone in prison. Incarceration serves as a punishment for criminals due to their actions against the law. It is a solution for keeping the public safe. Prisoners follow a strict rules and schedules while following the culture within the walls among other prisoners. As a result of their crimes, convicts lose their freedom and are place among others who suffer the same fate. Crime is the cause of this establishment, but what are the effects of incarceration on convicts, their relations, and society? As the United States incarceration rate continues to increase, more people are imprisoned behind prison walls. While serving as a punishment to criminals, incarceration can create

Aura GonzalesLogical Fallacies Two1.A logical fallacy is poor reasoning2.A logical fallacy that uses a celebrity is a testimonial3.The logical fallacy that asks you to do something because “everyone else is doing it” is an example of the bandwagon fallacy4.The name calling fallacy is when someone distracts us by making fun of something else5.The fallacy that doesn't make a lot of sense. It is a Latin phrase. Non sequitur6.This fallacy involves circular reasoning. Answering a question with a question or not providing proof for your claim is called begging the question. 7.Card stacking is when you tell only the good stuff and leave out the bad. 8.This is vague or general or a slogan. It sounds impressive or catchy but doesn't really stay on topic. In advertising it doesn't really tell us much about the product. Glittering generality. 9.When we make a fast generalization based off of a

Begging the question is a logical fallacy in which, as stated by Donna Cross in Language and Awareness: readings for college writers that “Begging the questions occurs, when, in discussing a questionable or debatable point, a person assumes as already established the very point that he is trying to prove” (Cross P.254). What is meant by this statement is that a person is arguing a point in which they already assumes for it to be true without any sort of evidence other than the statement or claim itself. An example of begging the question, which is widely used in today's society would have to be with the question, “Are we born evil?” The topic of Are we born evil has been in debate for centuries and there has never been a solid answer in which could possible answer the question. With that in mind, people

The appeal to spite fallacy is a fallacy where spite is used as evidence when an argument is made against a claim (Labossiere, 2012). This is a fallacy because the actual feelings and emotions for spite do not serve as sufficient evidence for a claim (Labossiere, 2012). The appeal to spite takes on the following form: a claim is presented with the intent of generating spite, therefore that claim is or is not false (Labossiere, 2012). This is commonly seen in politics, and many examples of it can be found in the most recent United States election.

Reading about fallacies, specifically the appeal to the person, was an interesting read. Appeal to the person has became a very common way of discrediting someone's statement. Looking at the examples made me realize how common it is to hear and read comments like these especially concerning politicals right now when it comes to topic such as abortion and health care. I even stopped myself thinking how I have internally had this conversation with myself several times discrediting someone just because of their views, political part, etc. It was an eye-opening moment for me that this is not a correct way to disagree with someone.

Most arguments, whether intentional or otherwise contain some sort logical fallacy. It can be deceptive in its nature or it can be an honest misconception, caused by the party’s inability to present an effective argument because it does not thoroughly understand the logical result of the relationship between premises. Although it is not easy to memorize the many forms and terms of logical fallacies, it is crucial identify any inconsistencies within the premise-conclusion of someone else’s as well as one’s own argument.

Fallacies occur within our lives by strangers, friends, family and even our coworkers. Fallacies will always be around. They will surround us throughout our entire lives. You cannot escape them; however you can educate yourself on how to acknowledge them and learn to be aware of them. Throughout Chapter 13 in our textbooks we are given incredible knowledge on how to detect fallacies, how to understand them and how to deal with them.

People are exploiting other people and like, people that are really close to ask that person. I see where you are coming from.

I 've never really been the person that argues to show how they feel about something or to convince someone to share my opinions. Because of this, it is hard to think of a time that I strongly argued to convince someone to listen to my ideas. I 've never gotten into an arguement with my parents about where I wanted to go to college nor have I had to convince my team to participate in a polar plunge. Im not saying that I never use rhetoric. I actually use it quite often, but for simple things like convincing my family to order pizza for dinner instead of getting hamburgers. There is only one memory that I remember the most of and that is when I was trying to persuade my parents to get me my first smart phone. I know it sounds a little goofy and it probably sounds too simple but it is the only memory that relates to the topic that I could remember.