Do The time, Lower The Crime by James Q. Wilson and Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentences Waste Resource by Kevin Zeese

According to statistical data found in the Bureau for Justice Records, there are a number of problems that most prisons in the country face. The records indicate that the number of adult federal and state inmates increased from `139% in `1980 to 260% (Walker, 1999). As a natural default, the United States of America has the highest incarceration rate in the world. This in itself brings about one of the major problems that are faced in modern incarceration which is overcrowding in most prison facilities. The number of offenders in the country has increased rapidly over time while the country prison system has not really been able to cope with this rapid increase. Prisons intended for one or two inmates are now crowded with more than fifty individuals. Because of this most prisons are overcrowded and most of the facilities available are unable to cater for the needs of all the prisoners (Siegel, 2009).

Mandatory minimum laws, which set different minimum sentences for crack and powder cocaine possession, are policies that are inflexible, “one-size-fits-all” sentencing laws that undermine the constitutional principle that the punishment should fit the crime and undermine the judicial power to punish an individual in context of the specific circumstances. Similarly, 3-strikes laws also ignores judicial discretion. Truth-in-sentencing policies refer to policies created to have a convict serve the full sentence, regardless of good behavior or other deterrent. These policies are created to only incapacitate people—more specifically minorities—not to rehabilitate them. More people in jail and longer sentences are not helping ensure public safety.

In, “The Caging of America”, by Adam Gopnik explains the problems in the in the American criminal justice system focusing more on the prison system. Some of the struggles that Gopnik states in his article are mass incarceration, crime rate, and judges giving long inappropriate sentencings to those with minor crimes. He demonstrates that inmates are getting treated poorly than helping them learn from their actions. Using facts and statistics, Gopnik makes his audience realize that there is an urgent need of change in the American prison system. The main idea of Gopnik’s article is that the prison system needs to improve its sentencing laws because prisons are getting over crowed. Gopnik’s argument is valid because there is a problem in the sentencing laws that has caused a malfunction in the prison system as a whole.

In his chapter on “Assessing the Prison Experiment,” he explained that the increase of crime rate is not the sole reason that mass incarceration occurs, and it was also because the courts and the legislature did indeed became “tougher” on offenders (Currie 14). Currie discussed the circumstances of the war on drugs, which was launched by President Richard Nixon. He indicates that the incarceration rate and sentence longevity were increased dramatically since the beginning of the war on drugs. Some of these offenders were given a sentence for more than ten years without the possibility of parole, which is taking away any chance of the prisoner being released before the completion of his or her sentence. Locking people up is a failed attempt to descend the crime rate, and the adoption of mandatory minimum sentencing law is the root of mass incarceration. The government should reconsider the current sentencing laws and reform the correctional system in order to solve the current mass incarceration problem. Furthermore, establishing more community-based programs for youth offenders and initiating early release programs are excellent alternatives to resolve the issue of mass incarceration from both long-term and short-term perspectives, respectively.

In prisons today, rehabilitation, deterrence, incapacitation, and retribution are all elements that provide a justice to society. Prisons effectively do their part in seeing that one if not more of these elements are met and successfully done. If it were not for these elements, than what would a prison be good for? It is highly debated upon whether or not these elements are done properly. It is a fact that these are and a fact that throughout the remainder of time these will be a successful part of prison life.

Mass incarceration has been an issue in the United States since the start of the War on Drugs, because of the political agenda attached to the “tough on crime” regimen thousands of people have suffered as a consequence. The solution to this is one that can only be possibly solved by approaching through several angles. The ten steps presented by Michael Tonry, are an innovative and have merit to some extent. However, mass incarceration results from more than unjust sentencing laws, which is his main focus. If ever we are to resolve the issue, society and the criminal justice system must come together to completely reevaluate what we consider to be “tough on crime” and redefine the purpose of prisons, strictly punishment or rehabilitation. The focus has to shift from harsh sentencing, stigma, racial discrimination to a basic form of rehabilitation and reduction of the prison system in general. The criminal justice system has to do what they are actually meant to do and focus on rehabilitation measures, and when possible completely stop interaction with the prison system all together.

Longer sentences has been a major cause of mass incarceration. Thus, changing how governments respond to all crime, not just drug crime, is critical to reducing the size of prison

The concept of mandatory minimum sentencing has been plaguing the justice system of the United States of America for too many years and therefore must be abolished. If mandatory minimum sentencing were to be done away with, then the criminal justice system could finally start to bring desperately needed change to itself and start to get back to where it needs to be; a system that takes people with a problem and returns a reformed individual capable of positively contributing to society. By getting rid of mandatory minimum sentencing, the prison populations could be reduced, allowing for more attention to be given to the reformation of each individual giving them a better chance at success. The research shows that getting rid of mandatory minimum sentencing will be more cost effective, keep prison populations lower, limit unjust sentencing, and make sure that the punishment that an individual receives is proportional to the crime that they have been convicted of.

The mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug crimes should be abolished. Treatment and rehabilitation efforts

Within this paper, you will find a comprehensive review of the United States prison system, and why it needs to analyzed to better support and reform the people of this country. I plan to persuade the other side (politicians and society) into seeing that the way the prison system is now, is not ethical nor economical and it must change. We have one of the world’s largest prison population, but also a very high rate of recidivism. Recidivism is when the prisoners continuously return to prison without being reformed. They return for the same things that they were doing before. So, this leads us to ask what exactly are we doing wrong? When this happens, we as a nation must continuously pay to house and feed these inmates. The purpose of a prison needs to be examined so we can decide if we really are reforming our inmates, or just continuing a vicious cycle. What is the true purpose of prison besides just holding them in a cell? There must be more we can do for these hopeless members of society.

There are several different ways a judge can hand down a punish for a crime that a person commits. A first-time drug offender would be required to either enter a rehab program or serve a prison term. One of the most disproportionate way is to sentence a first-time offender is by immediately handing down a lengthy but mandatory 10-year prison term for just having a few ounces of any type of drug. Mandatory minimum sentencing is defined as that if an offender is convicted of the crime that they must be imprisoned for a minimum duration, as against to leaving the length of punishment up to the judges, (www.uslegal.com, 1). Susan Grigsby is a writer for the DailyKOS web-blog in her article titled, “Why Dropping Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentences Will Not Solve All of Our Prison Problems”, getting rid of the mandatory will not solve over-crowding. Daniel Horowitz is a writer for the Conservative Review media group who interviewed Jeffery Sedgwick in his article titled, “Busted: The 10 Most Dangerous Myths about Criminal Justice Reform”, this source is debunking myths about the cost. Michelle Ye Hee Lee is a writer for The Washington Post News Paper wrote a piece titled, “Yes, U.S. Locks People Up at a Higher Rate than Any Other Country”, she covers the high incarceration rate in the US even though crime is low. Michael Gonchar is a writer for the New York Times he wrote an article titled “What Should Be the Purpose of Prison?”, He covers what prisons

With the population of the United States prisons growing every day we need to evaluate if they are doing any good. Personally, I believe that we need to keep our prison system, but we need to take steps in reforming them rather than abolish them altogether. The United States has the highest number of incarcerated people than any other country in the world. We must sit down and look at other countries and see what they are doing different than the United States. In this paper, we will first look at what the prison system in America is like and what we can do to improve upon our prison system. Then, we will also look at the Finland prison systems and see if we can learn anything from them, since they have one of the lowest incarceration and crime rate in the world. We will then look at reforming our prison system or abolishing it. Finally, we will investigate other punishment alternatives other than the prison system that we could use.

Prison reform is a significant issue that the United States government should enforce. It would aid in creating a more organized system of incarceration. Prison reform is an attempt to improve, change, or eliminate certain conditions in prisons. It is believed that it should be enforced due to the cases of overcrowding, lack of proper education, and the lack of rehabilitation that could inform prisoners of societal values. Prison reform would increase the self-esteem that was diminished in the prisoner’s personal history. Prison reform is significantly important as it will heighten the amount of self-worth in the prisoner and cause a decrease in the population of prisoners who return to a life of crime. Recidivism, or chance of recommitting a crime, will therefore be reduced. Prisoner who are released will not have all the negative ideals or influence from the prison that is usually spread until their release. Prison reform will help society if the increase in education and decrease in overcrowding is ensued upon the prison system with this policy.

Over population in prisons are becoming a frequent problem. High crime rates and stricter law are causes a mass incarnation level. Due to budget cuts Ohio is letting 6,000 convicted felons out early. Prisoners with low-level drug offences are eligible for early releasement. These criminals will be released to half-way houses. There they will be monitored by probation officers who will help them reenter society. This was a new idea presented by the prison chief Gary Mohr. He presented a new budget to the Ohioan government with the idea to spend less money on prisons and more money towards rehabilitation programs. Chief Morh’s argumentative point was, “Do we invest in people or in bricks and mortar? To build and operate one prison for two decades would cost Ohioans one billion dollars”. Keeping jails operating is a hefty expenses. A study by Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts showed that Ohio’s crime rate dropped 23% in 1993 -2012 but surprisingly incarceration rate rose 17%. Hopes for the rerelease is to save the state tax payers money, as well as, to fix a broken system. I believe that the Nixon’s war on drugs campaign, produced inefficient drug laws and taxpayer money should be spent on rehabilitation programs rather than building brink and morters.

Over the past generation, the landscape of sentencing prisoners has changed dramatically. Over this same period, United States of America has made a number of modifications in one of the basis of American criminal justice policy, Prison Term. Prison Terms has taken the place of public flogging, death penalty and torture. Stastics has shows that many states has abolished death penalty. Today in order to deter the crime, Nowadays, only few states in the United States of America such as Texas, practices Death Penalty. Nevertheless, many fierce criminals are sentenced for a long prison term; in order to ensure public safety. In a response to fight against crime, there is an increase in the use of imprisonment. Conversely, many state legislatures have reduced prison term, discharging more prisoners (directly to the society) in order to maintain the prison management. A statistics of released prisoners over the decade/