Prison Reform Case Study

Facts: Defendants were arrested after being charged. They were charged in a 29 count indictment alleging various RICO violations. These included mail and wire fraud offenses, extortion, and criminal gambling violations. At Ds arraignment, government moved to have them detained based on the Bail Reform Act of 1984. The government moved on the grounds that no condition of release would keep the safety of the public.Government made a detailed progger of evidence. This was based mostly on conversations intercepted by court ordered wiretap that found the two Ds had been part of wide-ranging conspiracies. Salerno opposed the motion and challenged the credibility of it and the government’s witness. D offered testimonies of many witnesses and a letter

Drug policy is a crucial topic in the country today. Substance abuse, as well as drug-related crime rates, are a huge problem. This is a fact. The way to fix the problem of substance abuse, however, is widely disagreed upon. Some think that stricter laws regarding drug possession and use would solve the problem, while others believe that loosening the restrictions would be a better option. The issue of legalizing drugs, especially marijuana, is one that is debated all the time. In fact, in 1995, a survey was conducted on the most important policy issues and eighty five percent of the country placed drugs at the top of the list (Falco 1996). Many states are actually beginning to decriminalize, and even

Reform movements generally sought to improve American society and reformers wanted to repair the social and political climate of the current day. The statement “Reform Movements in the United States sought to expand democratic ideals”, is valid in that movements like women’s rights, public school, abolitionism and prison reform sought to improve the tight wounds of society and expand the democratic nature of society to even more people. Inspired by the Second Great Awakening and the recent Transcendentalist movement, these reforms were key in expanding the social, cultural and political world between the years of 1825 and 1850.

When people think of reform movements, they often look for one key sign, and ask one key question of whether that the reform was a success. Did the reform create a lasting change in the way people view the institution that was reformed? All the great reformation movements, from Horace Mann and his education reforms, to Martin Luther, and the Protestant Reformation, to the civil rights movement, all created lasting change in the minds of the average person. One other reform, often overlooked historically is the Prison Reform movement. As the world shifted from 18th to 19th century ways of life, many key aspects of life underwent tremendous change. As the United States gained their independence from Britain and began to shape their own

The Age of Reform was a time period in the history of America that included many social and political changes to the government. This was in the middle of the 19th century and where issues like slavery, women rights, prison reform needed attention. For many of the serious crimes that were committed, the sanction was usually something along the lines of the death penalty or confinement. Many of the prisoners' families had to pay for the costs for food and lodging. Previous to the 1830’s inmates would be regularly caged and chained up in places like closets and even cellars.

All the drug related charges are forcing the prison population into overwhelming numbers. Were drug usage decriminalized this could relieve some of the stress on the penal system. Baird states in her piece that the prison population would diminish greatly with legalization and all the money saved can then be used for many more beneficial things “…like treatment for addiction, health, and prevention.” Walter, standing on the

The United States is considered the land of the free, and yet it is also the country with the highest incarceration rate worldwide. Even countries with a higher population than the States like India, who has a population of approximately one billion people, do not come close to the number of prisoners held in penitentiaries. Although the prison rate is so high most Americans could not bother to care about the people inside. Within the 30 years between 1980 and 2010 the number of prisoners has risen six fold making it evident that the expansion of the prison system is a priority for the United States. The 13th

She argues that the reforms suggested by the conservative party would cause unintended harm to the people they are attempting to help. The author forms her argument by analyzing the prison reforms initiative put forth by republican politicians. Bruenig concludes that these attempts to bring needed modification to the criminal justice system have not improved the lives of disadvantaged people. By focusing on cutting prison costs the author states, the conservative’s suggestion for reform will fail to provide support to community programs that help people stay out of prison. This would make the reform meaningless. It would also rid communities of prevention programs.

How many of have a relative or a friend who is staying in prison? I believe we have or at least we had, so what we can do is seek for reform for them. According to UNODC that prison reforms are necessary to better the conditions for prisoners to enable the creation of an efficient and reliable correctional system. In reforming the prison system, it is essential for alternatives to imprisonment to be explored. There has been large number of people serving prison sentences in American prisons. In fact, America has the world’s highest number of prisoners with over 2.2 million Americans in prison.

In the essay "Prison "Reform" in America," Roger T. Pray points out the much attention that has been devoted to research to help prevent crimes. Showing criminals the errors of their ways not by brutal punishment, but by locking them up in the attempt to reform them. Robert Pray, who is a prison psychologist, is currently a researcher with the Utah Dept. of Corrections. He has seen what has become of our prison system and easily shows us that there is really no such thing as "Prison Reform"

Prison reform is an issue that has been a concern for a long period of time. The problems that Angela Davis brings up throughout her book are only some of the problems with the prison system. Whether it be the influence of corporations on prisons and legislators, the role that racism plays, or the safety of the prisoners. Her solution to these problems is the abolition of jails and prisons by creating policies that will reduce the number of people sent to prison. This would destroy the prison system as the main concept of punishment. The ways that she aims to do this is by providing physical and mental care to everybody, demilitarize schools, and change the justice system to one based around reconciliation rather than retribution. I find myself to agree with many of the concerns that she lists and believe her argument to be somewhat convincing. However, I do not believe that a complete abolition of prisons is what is necessary to fix the prison system. This paper will explore the concerns that she voices in her argument, how convincing I find them, and what I believe to be the flaws in her conclusion.

Most of today’s prisons focus only on punishing criminals, and not rehabilitating them. This is why so many inmates struggle to reintegrate into society and end up being arrested multiple times throughout their life. If prisons increased their focus on rehabilitating criminals and preparing them for outside life when they are eventually released, more inmates would be able to get their life back on track and become productive members of society. Some other areas of the prison system that need attention include overcrowding, health care, and the education of prisoners. Improving the prison system will benefit inmates, their families, the economy, and the community around them. There are many issues with the

The privatizing of the prison systems, around every country is a huge revenue source the overcrowding and use of prisoners as a profit tool and; it simply isn’t meant for rehabilitation, but as a tool for cheap labor, convicting the innocent, and monetary gain. Prison this is the place where all the lowlifes go the scum, rapist, and desperate marauder’s that stalk in the night. Prison is in the place where the bad people go away from society to serve a potential life sentence for one’s crimes or for years on end all the while trying to correct their deviant tendencies. Yes, we all see prison as a place for reform of the morally corrupt to become better through the lesson of freedom and most rights taken away. To be put into a harsh environment

There are many major factors at one point time in society, the most controversial is drug decriminalization. When the topic of drug or drug related discussion arises, many individuals would choose to ignore the topic entirely. Why not approach the topic head on? Attack the issue at its roots and refuse to give up until proven wrong. Drug decriminalization is a topic that needs to be brought to the front of discussion with politics and legislation. State and federal laws should be readjusted and in many cases removed in regards to drug policy. As a society, we need to treat the way we handle drug users and drug cases differently. Our current approach is not working anymore, and it’s time for a change. To change, everything has to change from the start.

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.