The American Criminal Justice System

The speaker argues that the criminal justice system in America treats you better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent. Do you agree? Why or why not?

The incarceration rate within the United States is skyrocketing compared to the global percentage of incarcerated people. The United States alone makes up 25% of the world's incarcerated population ("Incarceration Nation"). In

The Cause of Mass Incarceration mass incarceration is a big problem in the United States, it has affected our country multiple ways whether it gives our country a bad reputation with the highest number of incarcerated in the world, or it gives us a bad image and makes seem as if the United States is a dangerous and terrible place to live in. The rate of incarcerated has increased from 300,000 prisoners in the early 1970’s to 2.3 million today. Some of the causes of mass incarceration involve the war on drugs and racial discrimination. The war on drugs is a big factor in mass incarceration, as it is said in ACL.org, “Drug arrests now account for a quarter of the people locked up in America” This means that more than half a million people are in prison due to use or possession of drugs. Another big factor to consider for a cause of mass incarceration is racial discrimination according to ACL.org “One in three black men can expect to be incarcerated in his lifetime. Compare that to one in six Latino males and one in 17 white males.” This a very big difference between the three different races blacks having the highest probability of being incarcerated compared to whites. These are not the only factors of mass incarceration in our judicial system, there are many more flaws in our judicial system that has caused it to overflow prisons throughout the states. Therefore, what is the biggest flaw in our criminal justice system? That is causing the majority of incarcerations in the U.S.

Current trends show that incarceration numbers continue to grow higher each year. The United States rate of incarceration is the leading nation in rates of incarceration. Other countries have much lower percentages than the U.S. does. There a implications because of inmates reentering the prison system within three years after being released. In 1994 51.8% of inmates that had been released were back in the prison system (U.S. prison populations: Trends and implications, n.d.). Other implications

Courts are established social, political, and judicial institutions necessary for the manifestation of justice and the maintenance of law and order. The courts are part of the judicial branch of government, as outlined in Article III of the United States Constitution. Courts are the arenas in which the law is tried and applied. Judges are the presiding officers of the court. The United States Supreme Court is the most fundamental court because has "the authority to decide the constitutionality of federal laws and resolve other disputes over them," (United States Courts, 2012). This is true even though even though the court does not expressly enforce that law; enforcement is the province of the executive branch.

The United States is five percent of the world’s population and has twenty five percent of the world’s people incarcerated. This is the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Mass incarceration has been a problem in this country for decades. The war on drugs has increased the odds of incarceration and the length of sentences for non-violent offenders. Ninety five percent of prisoners have plead guilty and one out of five are serving sentences for drug related charges (REF).

In what ways is the indigenous justice paradigm in conflict with the principles of the traditional, adversarial American criminal justice system? In what ways do the principles of Native American justice complement more mainstream correctional initiatives?

The United States criminal justice system is not working. We throw the criminals into the system and forget about them. There is little to no effort to reintegrate them into society. “According to a report from HM Inspectorate

The current crime and incarceration trends have declined since early 1990s, which in part is due to the current reforms that takes place within the criminal justice system, such as early release dates for drug charges and non-violent crimes (Mauer, 2011). The incarceration rates in the United States are “three to four times that of other industrialized nations,” and the punishment scale is viewed as “out of proportion to that of other industrialized nation” (Mauer, 2011).

Predictably, the United Stated states leads the world in number of prisoners, housing around 2.3 million criminals. Individuals are put in prison for several crimes ranging from burglaries to drug use. Additionally, the United States incarcerates prisoners much longer than other countries. Criminologists and legal experts research that America’s high incarceration rate is due to higher levels of violent crime, potentially stemming from the availability of guns, harsher sentencing laws, racial turbulence, enthusiasm for battling illicit drugs, American temper, and minimal public safety. Furthermore, democracy stimulates it, as many elected judges desire harsh justice. This is due to America having a criminal justice system that is highly politicized. Compared to other nations, the United States has harsher prison sentences, keeping criminals in prison longer, adding to the number of inmates in confinement. Though the assault rate in New York City and London are comparable, the murder rate is much higher due to the easy access of firearms. Despite the decline of murder in the United States, it is still about four times higher than most countries in Western

Incarceration is immense in the United States. Since the 1980s, the United States has experienced a massive increase in incarceration. The overall rate has increased from 139 prisoners per hundred thousand US

“The court finds you guilty on all accounts. You are sentenced to 35 years in federal prison. Court dismissed.” If only justice in America was the same as a hollywood movie, where, in the end, each and every person put on trial receives a true and just verdict. It would be nice if America’s justice system was designed so that “you couldn’t be the next victim of corruption - innocent and sent to prison, or strapped to a table and put to death; or robbed of your life savings by American lawyers” (Sachs, America’s Corrupt Legal). Welcome to the new America, where all it takes is pockets as deep as the Pacific Ocean to be innocent and poverty to be found guilty, thrown in jail, and not given a second thought. Although America often prides itself on its just ways of governing and dealing with potential criminals, the justice system is often corrupted because of social issues, ethical issues, corrupt officials, and control of the press.

The majority of the crimes are committed by white offenders. This happens because the majority of the people in the united states are white. The runner up is African Americans. That is just for men, The women are relatively the same, the only difference is that the number is slightly lower, this is because the total crime rates are lower in total. There are also minorities, but only about four percent of them get rearrested in the next five

One major problem facing American prisons are the extremely high incarceration rates. According to a report released by the National Research Council, “The US rate of incarceration, with nearly 1 of every 100 adults in prison or jail, is 5-to 10-times higher than rates in Western Europe and other democracies.” (Zurcher, 2014, para. 3) Based on this report it is clearly illustrated that the incarceration rates are absurdly high in comparison to other major countries. Furthermore, strict sentencing laws and minor drug offences are a major contributor to America’s prison population. Miller writes, the US prison population grew by 700 percent due to an influx of drug arrests and tough sentencing laws. As of now 1.6 million people are behind bars in federal and state prison, leaving America with the largest prison population in the world (para. 11). With a 700 percent increase in prison population one question comes to mind. Does America have an increase in criminal activity compared to other countries? Despite the massive increase in incarcerations, crime has not increased significantly increased over the years, and prison doors are still clanking at an exorbitant rate.

Fact: the United States accounts for five percent of the worlds’ population yet, it houses twenty-five percent of the worlds’ convicted criminals. (Liptak, 2008) The U.S. Department of Justice compiles the statistics of inmate population then releases those figures to the public. In reviewing the released numbers the break downs according to state, age, race and sex are able to be compared along with the overall number of citizens incarcerated. When state incarceration is combined with the federal incarceration 1,574,741 are behind bars in this country as of 2013. Inmate population breakdown by sex and race reveal even more statistics that cannot be ignored. There are roughly thirteen