Mr Obama's Chance To Show Mercy

In the article, “THE REAL ANSWER TO MASS INCARCERATION”, Gilad Edelman analyzes President Obama's views on the increasingly high prison population in the United States, and what his plans are to help the mass incarceration issue our country faces.The author refers to the statistics given by Obama during his speech that demonstrated the high percentage of prisoners we have in the United States compared to the rest of the world. Gilad Edelman also addresses one of Obama's main focuses which is the impact nonviolent criminals have in our prison population, and how new policies need to be implemented in efforts of shortening sentences or releasing some prisoners. Another reference the author makes is to Leon Neyfakh with regard to the topic

Bryan Stevenson’s bestseller, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, is a study of the malfeasance and inhumanity that blights America’s criminal justice system and an attempt to shed light on prison conditions, mass incarceration, racial bias and excessive punishment (Stevenson 293). After Jimmy Dill’s death, a man wrongfully sentenced to death and executed, Stevenson articulates his feelings, and finds comfort even after his perceived failure: ‘I understood that even as we are caught in a web of hurt and brokenness, we’re also in a web of healing and mercy.’ (Stevenson 294) Just as hurt and healing are a concatenation, mercy, and brokenness are linked together.

When I originally began this research some three years ago the population of bodies behind bars during Obama’s time has since, has increased beyond any other president since. However knowing the policies of Bill Clinton through influence of ALEC has led to the

Almost every day, we hear about justice being served upon criminals and we, as a society, feel a sense of relief that another threat to the public has been sentenced to a term in prison, where they will no longer pose a risk to the world at large. However, there are very rare occasions where the integrity of the justice system gets skewed and people who should not have been convicted are made to serve heavy prison sentences. When word of this judicial misstep reaches the public, there is social outcry, and we begin to question the judicial system for committing such a serious faux pas.

Just Mercy Persuasive Essay In the book Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson argues that the current criminal justice system in the United States of America is inherently corrupt, especially to people of color and people in poverty. This argument is laid out throughout the course of the book, woven through different stories and backed with concrete evidence. Throughout the book, Stevenson builds upon this argument and creates an extremely strong stance for criminal justice reform and for protecting human rights. Bryan’s Stevenson’s argument for criminal justice reform in Just Mercy can be considered effective as it fulfills his goal of persuading the reader that America’s current court and prison systems are corrupt and need to be reformed.

“Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption” is an inspiring memoir written by American lawyer, social justice activist, and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson’s story reveals a poignant insider view of the racial and economic injustice within our criminal justice system. Stevenson illustrates through his impassioned storytelling, that the use of technicalities and plea-bargains, and the lack of safeguards against corrupt legal officials in our adversarial system of justice in effect, is the main contributor to the injustice that plague our justice system and perpetuates the cycle of oppression for the most vulnerable and defenseless members of our

Obama also saw inequality in the United States justice system. He noticed that the number of mass incarceration for petty crimes was out of hand. In 2014, Obama began a mercy plan that reduced the sentences of mostly nonviolent drug offenders (PBS). For example, Norman Brown was in prison for 24.5 year for distribution of drugs; because this was his third strike that meant life without Parole (PBS). His sentence was cruel considering his reason for conviction because of outdated drug penalties. Obama not only granted Mr. Brown's petition for release but he granted 1,324 other ones and shortened the sentences of 1,176 (PBS). "By exercising these presidential powers, I have the chance to show people what a second chance can look like"(PBS).

For one, it had the ability to shock me out of the presumed complacency I had assumed from the beginning of the essay. I appreciated the chance to have my views changed and my assumptions challenged. This essay challenged me to think about other issues and perspectives of prison, rather than the widespread media ideas about it. Moreover, I appreciated the thoughts and idea Hopkins introduced in his essay. His opinions about prisons and their changes (over a relatively short period of time) are actually incredibly important. If the trend of just “giving up” on prisoners continues, negative effects will be seen throughout our country and society. As Hopkins says, many officials and members of the government want prison to have negative connotations. They want the threat of prison to keep people from committing crimes. However, as Hopkins explains, not only is this plan not working, but it’s also keeping prisoners from having the chance of rehabilitation, parole, and education. The removal if these institutions from the prison system is defining prison as the “last stop”, giving prisoners no chance of release or the ability to change their lives around. There is a litany of problems with this, but the main one is the loss of hope and expectations prisoners receive, and the removal of a second chance. By exploring these issues, Hopkins is confronting concepts and ideals most Americans would rather not think about, and forcing them to challenge their preconceived notions about the prison system, as well as what it means for a person to be sent into

In a speech given at a convention hosted by the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP) for U.S. civil rights organization, Obama laid out his plans for criminal justice reform. On Thursday, he will make a visit to the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution, the federal prison in Oklahoma, making him the first-ever sitting president to do so. It is anticipated that the President will meet with inmates during his trip to the prison. These events and the commutations of the prison sentences are a part the Obama administration's more broad-scaled attempt to revise the structure of the criminal justice

Statistical elaboration has shown that decreasing the prison population does not affect the well being of the community. Diminishing overcrowding within our jails should be of great importance for state administrations. Our President Barack Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act into effect in 2010. The method must be two-fold: first, understand how the Fair Sentencing Act works, and second, put a greater emphasis on the recommendations given in reducing the disparity in sentencing.

President Obama made headlines in January when he granted clemency to roughly 2000 inmates, mostly convicted of drug-possession crimes, The clemency pardoned the prisoners from their mandatory minimums in an effort to rebuild their lives. Mandatory minimums are the required amount of time that convicted felons have to serve for the crime they are guilty of, which is influenced by the type and frequency of the crime. Obama’s action is representative of the increasing criticism of mandatory minimums, due to the belief that instead of creating a safer landscape, the minimums only increase prison populations. Mandatory minimums are detrimental due to their influence on society’s perception of prisoners, psychological toll on prisoners, and destruction of prisoners’ relationships; many propose alternatives to the mandatory minimum such as restoring sentencing power to judges and creating rehabilitation programs as an alternative to minimum sentencing.

With regard to solutions, considerable attention has been paid to the federal prison system. Between 1980 and 2013, the federal prison population increased by 790% from 24,640 to 219,298. Since peaking, the number of federal prisoners has lowered to 190,452 today. The decline is the result of criminal justice reform efforts in the past few years, such as former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s modification of the Department of Justice’s charging policies in 2010 and the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s passage of Amendment 782 (“drugs minus two”) in 2014. In spite of their moderate success, such responses have failed to

When we think about prisons, jails, and courthouses, our minds are meant to draw a connection to cold, hard, justice and fair punishments for guilty and deserving parties. Yet, in our judicial and prison systems around the world, this idea is nowhere close to reality. From inhumane punishments, to mass incarceration, and “trapping” people in the system based on race or financial status, justice is far from being served.

President Barack Obama has recently commuted 46 prisoners before his historic visit to a federal prison in Oklahoma. Most of the prisoners he commuted are drug offenders. In a video posted on Facebook, Obama demanded that the punishment of the commuted prisoners was overloaded and overwhelming. In his language- these prisoners are not “hardened criminals,” so “their punishments didn’t fit the crime.”

The power to pardon is not the most discussed power of the President of the United States. However, there have been some controversial cases that sparked the debate about limiting this power. This paper deals with the origins of this constitutional clause, its limits and interpretations by the Supreme Court of the United States. I would like to mention some controversial cases and connected debate about limiting this power.