Hillary Clinton's Arguments For The Rehabilitation Of Incarceration

In a fight to reduce overcrowding, improve public health and public safety, and reduce the costs of criminal justice and corrections, federal, state and local leaders are constantly looking for alternatives to incarceration. A number of strategies have been put in place to save public funds and improve public health by keeping low-risk, non-violent, possibly drug-involved offenders out of prison or jail while still holding them accountable and securing the safety of our comminutes. These programs have been put in place to help those who don’t necessarily need to be in jail, get their priorities straight while also holding them accountable for their actions. They have been put in place to help reduce incarceration rates, but also help those who may have mental health issues or substance abuse issues that have caused them to make bad decisions (Treatment Court Divisions).

The War on Drugs is one cause for the mass incarceration that has become apparent within the United States. This refers to a drastic amount of people being imprisoned for mainly non-violent crime (“Mass Incarceration” 2016). In addition to people who are not an immediate threat to society being locked up for a substantial duration of time, the economic consequences are costing states and taxpayers millions of dollars. Specifically, every one in five people incarcerated is in prison due to some

Since the origination of drug treatment courts, there has been countless numbers of offenders who have successfully completed the program and fought their way past drug abuse. There are also a handful of offenders who may have struggled to change their drug abuse or addiction, and fell short of completing the program. In this second part of my report, I will be determining whether drug treatment court programs actually work. To accomplish this task, I will be reviewing three empirical studies to evaluate how effective the program truly is.

On the end of the Democratic Party, both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders presented comprehensive plans to help eliminate student debt, although they vary on how to deal with the cost of education and how much the government should pay (Josuweit, 2016). Clinton created the “New College Compact,” to address both the current and future educational costs, her main focus on addressing existing debt and allowing borrowers to refinance student loans at the rates allowed to students taking out new loans, which Clinton claims would provide to relief to twenty five million borrowers (Josuweit, 2016). In addition to this, Clinton wants to reduce interest rates on new student loans which would facilitate enrollment in IDR plans (Josuweit, 2016). On future tuition, Clinton claimed she would provide help so that students never have to borrow to pay for tuition and other fees attending a four year public college in state (Josuweit, 2016).

In the past, law enforcement was taught to arrest anyone distributing or using opioids. The state believed that jail was the best method to get addicts off the streets and to stop using drugs. The issue with this method was when these addicts were released from jail, they went right back to using. United States President Barack Obama, has been working on a plan to reform the nation’s criminal justice program. He proposed that drug courts, which are fundamentally substance-abuse boot camps, are the best way to help treat addiction (Redmond A3+). Obama’s plan involved getting rid of mandatory minimum sentences, which he believed would also be a very cost saving solution. Obama stated, “We should invest in alternatives to prison, like drug courts and treatment and probation programs which ultimately can save tax payers thousands of dollars each year” (Redmond A3+). The problem with Obama’s method is that he does not seem to be concerned about the mental health of these

We have recently seen a change in the way that drug abuse and addiction are viewed. Considering addiction to be a chronic and relapsing disease is a new concept for the public, policymakers, and even health care professionals (Leshner 46). With this in mind, we can recognize that corrections without the benefit of treatment will fall short in correcting drug-seeking and addictive behaviors (Leshner 46). These, of course, are also the behaviors that most often cause an individual to return to crimes that promote their drug use upon leaving jail or prison (Leshner

She believes that all students should have the opportunity to graduate from colleges in their state without racking up thousands and thousands of dollars in debt. She cites that families that have an income under $125,000 won’t pay for tuition in in-state colleges by 2021. While during her first term she pledges to make in-state public college free for families that make up to $85,000. Building on Obama’s plans, Clinton promises to make community colleges free of tuition. She believes that states need to “invest in higher education” while colleges should consistently be working to control tuition costs. She wants to give extra aid to historically black colleges as well as other institutions that aid minorities. In Clinton’s plan, no one will have to pay more than 10% of their income to student loan bills, after 20 years the debt is forgiven. Borrowers that are struggling will be given aid and Hillary wants to drastically cut interest rates for future borrowers and so that the government is never profiting from student loans. Clinton would like to simplify the process, and entice employers to help with student loan debt, while entrepreneurs should be allowed to defer their loans, and in certain circumstances the government should forgive up to $17,500 while they are in the process of risk taking. A big part of Clinton’s plan is just reducing penalties against borrowers and making refinancing simpler. Clinton plans to

Currently, drug courts have been proven to be successful at reducing recidivism of offenders. In the United States there are about 120,000 people receiving help in order to rehabilitate them and to try to reduce the chances of recidivism (Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2011). These programs require individuals to participate in the programs for a minimum of one year. During this year the individuals are required to appear in court and be drug tested at

A popular but controversial method of treatment is the use of drug courts or the stipulation of an offender to treatment. Mackenzie, Mitchell and Wilson (2006) addressed this concern by asking, how effective can treatment be if it is forced upon someone? Drug courts are similar to the research by Alterman et

In her claim of issues on “addiction and substance abuse”, Hilary Clinton claims that millions of Americans suffer from drug addiction. Clinton states that millions of Americans suffer from drug addiction, explaining that few people get treatment and even fewer recover. Clinton intends to launch a $7.5 million dollar fund to support new programs that will work throughout communities. She puts emphasis on drug education for adolescent, first responder access to naloxone, and rehabilitation and treatment over incarceration. Clinton states that through improved treatment, prevention, and training we can end this epidemic once and for

The United States Correctional System is often challenged as to whether it wants to rehabilitate drug offenders or punish them, and because of this it mostly does neither. Even though drug abuse and drug trafficking are widely spread national issues, the mental, social, and economic costs of "healing" through incarceration are only making the "disease" worse. Never before have more prisoners been locked up on drug offenses than today. Mixed with the extremely high risks of today's prison environment, the concept of incarceration as punishment for drug offenders cannot be successful. Without the correct form of rehabilitation through treatment within Michigan's Correctional System, drug

Those incarcerated today are not given the chance to change their behavior patterns, especially when it is in regard to drug addiction. The criminal justice system in general does not consider drug abuse as anything but a crime and does not think about treating the disease of addiction in order to reduce or eliminate the crimes that come as a

For years the price of colleges and universities has been going up. Most of the people going to these schools are young adults, who do not yet have a job, and sometimes are newly married. And because of this, it is causing these young people to take out tremendous student loans, therefore starting their lives out already in thousands of dollars of debt. Donald Trump “has been critical of the government for profiting off student loans and said that he empathized with students dealing with the rising cost of tuition” (Rappeport). Trump does not believe that student loans should be government business, he thinks they should be an issue for private banks. Trump wants to push reforms “to ensure universities are making a good faith effort to reduce the cost of college and student debt in exchange for the federal tax breaks and tax dollars.” (Education, Trump). Trump plans to make colleges lower tuition costs to reduce debt. Although they both agree that colleges should be less expensive, instead, Clinton plans to “put forward a plan that includes free tuition at public colleges and universities for students whose families earn less than $125,000 annually. Her $500 billion plan would require tax increases on the rich so that more students could graduate without debt” (Rappeport). Hillary’s plan would help lower income families help to afford colleges and graduate without as much debt. Hillary believes her

Scientific research shows that treatment can help many drug using offenders change their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors; avoid relapse; and successfully remove themselves from a life of substance use and crime. Treatment can cut drug use in half, decrease criminal activity, and reduce arrests. It is true that legal pressure might be needed to get a person into treatment and help them stay there. Once in a treatment program, however, even those who are not initially motivated to change can become engaged in a continuing treatment process. In fact, research suggests that mandated treatment can be just as effective as voluntary admission to rehab centers.

One of the most profound problems that plagues our society is drug addiction. With drug addiction comes those who offend and have run-ins with the law. Our country deals with these drug-addicted offenders by placing them in jails for a year or longer, only to have them come back out to society when their sentence is over. They are still drug-addicts and so they return to the street only to commit yet another crime. From here the cycle of crime, arrest, jail, and return to society continues, solving absolutely nothing. Therefore, placing drug-addicted offenders in jails fails to confront the major problem at hand which is that of the drug abuse. If drug-addicted offenders were placed in drug treatment centers instead of being incarcerated,