Prison Sentencing Case Study

Nixon’s declaration had pushed law makers and politicians across the states to implement more punitive drug laws. Prior to the Nixon’s declaration, New York’s governor Nelson Rockefeller “had backed drug rehabilitation, job training and housing” to combat the city’s drug problems (Mann, Brian. “The Drug Laws That Changed How We Punish”. NPR.). After Nixon declared a national war on drugs however, Rockefeller’s political views shifted. According to Joseph Persico, Rockefeller’s closest aid, Rockefeller turned to Persico and said, “For drug pushing, life sentence, no parole, no probation”. When Rockefeller Launched his campaign, he called for a

The War on Drugs is seen by many as an enormous factor of mass incarceration. There were more than 1.5 million drug arrests in the U.S. in 2014. More than 80% of them were for possession only (Drug Policy Alliance, 2017). 208,000 people are incarcerated for drug offenses in state prisons and 97,000 are incarcerated in federal prisons for the same reason. 1 in 5 incarcerated people are drug offenders (Peter Wagner, Bernadette Rabuy, 2017). According to Politifact, “The state and federal prison population remained fairly stable through the early 1970s, until the war on drugs began. Since then, it has increased sharply every year, particularly when Reagan expanded the policy effort in the 1980s, until about 2010…. In 1980, about 41,000 people were incarcerated for drug crimes, according to the Sentencing Project. In 2014, that number was about 488,400 — a 1,000 percent increase.” Even other factors, like

This essay explains sentencing in the United States Criminal Justice system. The objectives of punishment in the United States corrections is to help deter crime and to ensure reoffenders don’t reoffend. Sentencing impacts the corrections system and society in a positive manor by eliminating offenders out of the community. Sentencing may include one of the following: probation, fines, prison, community service, probation and so forth depending on the state you reside and the type of offense you commit. Each crime committed doesn’t have a set sentence, therefore they are determined on a case to case basis. The main goal of the criminal justice system is to defend the community and serve justice. Sentencing plays a vital role in the Criminal Justice system.

The prison business was getting more popular by the minute and even more expensive. The price to keep a drug offender in prison was more then doubled. The General Fund State Operations budget for New York State prisons went from 10% to 25% in a year (1982-83). This was more money then New York had ever spent for imprisonment of drug offenders. There were 8,880 drug offenders in NYS prisons under the Rockefeller Drug Laws in December of 1997 only. According to the Correctional Association of New York, it costs an estimated $265 million dollars to pay for these prisoners to be incarcerated. There was also an additional 12,102 drug offenders in NYS prisons under the Second Felony Offender Law, costing an estimated $360 million per year. In total there was an estimate of 22,670 drug offenders in the NYS prison system, showing a 33% of the total prison population. Compared to the estimate shown in 1980 when there was only 9%.

As agreed by Prisons: Problems and Prospects Prisons and the War on Drugs, “incarceration rates for murderers, robbers, and burglars have remained steady over the years, but the number of drug offenders who have been imprisoned has steadily escalated”. The “war on drugs” has, for the most part, added to prison overcrowding. However, it has particularly extended the degree of minorities who are sent to prison. Further readings by Nathan James (2016), “mandatory minimum penalties have contributed to the growing federal prison population”. In addition, this report also added some alternative to this development problem, “Even if Congress chooses not to repeal any mandatory minimum sentences, policymakers could review current mandatory minimum penalties to ensure that they are (1) not excessively severe, (2) narrowly tailored to apply only to those offenders who warrant such punishment, and (3) applied consistently” (James, 2016). “(1) Today narcotics offenders occupy 61% of the beds in federal prisons. (2) Meanwhile, 1 in 7 state facilities continues to operate beyond capacity. (3) Ohio leads the pack with a stunning 182% of capacity” (Smolowe, 1994).

The recording is based on research founded by Nazgol Ghandnoosh, who is a research analyst for the sentencing project. The sentencing project is a non-profit group that advocates for the criminal justice reform. She also, is an author of a report called “Race and Punishment: Racial Perceptions of Crime and Support for Punitive Policies, which is about her study of police shootings disproportionately affecting African American and how media coverage shows racial bias against African American. In addition, a 2002 survey found that people made an estimate that 40 percent of those that committed violent crimes were African American, but the real percentage was only 29 percent. According to Nazgol Ghandnoosh (2015), a research

Longer prison sentences along with stronger gun and drug laws can be traced back to the lobbying of private prison corporations. Private prisons only house inmates who are considered to be low risk. To be considered low risk inmates’ crimes either had to be non-violent or they have had to display exceptional behavior over the time of their sentence. The largest private prison corporation is Corrections Corporation of America known as CCA. CCA has spent $17.4 million on lobbying in the past 10 years as well as an additional $1.9 million in political contributions in that last 9 years. (Lee, 2012) Senate Bill 1070 in Arizona, which requires police to determine the immigration status of a person who is lawfully stopped if there is a reason

When, in 1971, Richard Nixon infamously declared a “war on drugs” it would have been nearly impossible for him to predict the collective sense of disapprobation which would come to accompany the now ubiquitous term. It would have been difficult for him to predict that the drug war would become a hot topic, a highly contentious and polarizing point of debate and, it would have difficult for him to predict that the United States would eventually become the prison capital of the world, incarcerating, proportionally, more people than anywhere in the world. Today, beyond being a popular political talking point, mass incarceration has become a veritable crisis. The United States now has over 2 million citizens languishing in prisons -- far and away in the most in the globe, and a nearly 68% recidivism rate. Most Americans are quick to blame the dire state of mass incarceration in the United States today on the punitive drug war policies instituted by the likes of Ronald Reagan, and Richard Nixon; however the reality is much more equivocal. Further analysis of mass incarceration - its causes and factors - in reality reveals a much less black and white situation: While these severe drug war policies played almost undoubtedly an integral role in creating the American system of mass incarceration, they are only a segment, emblematic of a larger systemic crisis of draconian, “tough-on-crime” penalties, which over the last forty years placed more Americans in prison than any other

Drug offenders are one of the fasting growing populations in federal prisons. Drug offenders constitute up to nearly half of the federal prison population (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2015). They constitute, by far, the largest percentage of the population with the second highest offense being weapons, explosives, and arson at a mere 16.1% of the federal prison population (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2015). In a 1971 press conference, President Richard Nixon labeled drug abuse “public enemy number one in the United States,” which the media shortly termed the “War on Drugs” (Public Broadcasting Service, 2014). In a measure to combat the War on Drugs, President Nixon implemented mandatory sentencing (Drug Policy Alliance, 2015). Mandatory

Cities with higher incarceration rates had increased socio-economic instability. Some neighborhoods decreased in population so severely that they became non-existent due to the mass incarceration rate. Because the government allowed the inmates to work for private industry for a fraction of what the standard wage was at the time, many free-laborers had difficulty finding gainful employment and had lost their ability to use collective bargaining. The free-labor loss of jobs associated with hiring inmates also increased poverty in urban areas which in turn increased crimes of

This thorough examination depicts the diverse conceivable option answers for ladies, and adolescent guilty parties. The Bureau of Justice Grant programs created motivating forces for different projects to diminish the packed conditions for most state and government jails. These gift programs gave the data and motivations to state governments to extend, manufacture, and adjust shut army installations as expansion of the elected correctional jail framework. This activity energized neighborhood and state courts to execute truth-in-sentencing and option sentencing ideas to reduce the weight of stuffed jail frameworks. The gifts partitioned down the middle for building penitentiaries to expand the bed space for rough guilty parties, and the other half for option answers for imprisonment. The motivation reserves utilized for more option arrangements; jail islands, or freight boats, or shut army installations.

Defendant Smith has been arrested for possession of enough ecstasy for two hits and has admitted to using alcohol, cocaine, and marijuana in the past. Clearly this indicates that he has a drug problem. However, he has no prior criminal record, has held down a job in construction for the past two years, and has a child for whom he must pay child support. He has fallen behind as of late and may be tied to his drug abuse, for which he has never received counseling or treatment. Give that he has never received treatment, has a job, and a child to support, I would recommend that he be placed into a Drug Court Program.

A recently released study indicates that the state of New Jersey is currently incarcerating 31% less people than its peak prison population.

The lawyers of Thompson Law Office in Lexington, KY handle a number of criminal and civil cases in the community. Their team of defense attorneys is experienced in providing assistance in DUI cases, drug possession and trafficking, wrongful death cases, and even divorces. This brother/sister law firm understands how family is affected by criminal and civil law and ensures success in the courtroom with appropriate representation.

To continue on this specific case, I was confused about this mans sentencing. Not because I personally thought he should deserve a harsher sentence but because legally I thought he should have days added to his current jail time. He had already been jailed for 60 days before going before he was tried for his 2nd crime. Why is it that he didn’t get a further sentencing, adding on top of what he had already done? To me if he had again committed a crime of the same stature shouldn’t there should be repercussions to instill in this man’s mind that what he is doing is not ok. They way I looked at it is that the judge figured since he had yet to complete the amount of time already given to him, why don’t we just wait and see if he’s a changed man