The Criminal Justice System

Prisons hide prisoners from society. “If an inmate population is shut in, the free community is shut out, and the vision of men held in custody is, in part, prevented from arising to prick the conscience of those who abide by the social rules” (Sykes, 1958, 8). The prison is an instrument of the state. However, the prison reacts and acts based on other groups in the free community. Some believe imprisonment

Prison is an important place, because it takes away the power from individuals. This means that the criminal is no longer acting upon his will, but that of the officers, judge, guards, etc. “They are the foundation of society, and an element in its equilibrium.” (215) All the techniques, when created, they “attained a level at which formation of knowledge and the increase of power regularly reinforce the other.” (216)

In prisons today, rehabilitation, deterrence, incapacitation, and retribution are all elements that provide a justice to society. Prisons effectively do their part in seeing that one if not more of these elements are met and successfully done. If it were not for these elements, than what would a prison be good for? It is highly debated upon whether or not these elements are done properly. It is a fact that these are and a fact that throughout the remainder of time these will be a successful part of prison life.

The second supporting argument that Parliament imposes the judiciary to place too much emphasis on incarceration is characterized by the reduction of credit for pre-sentence custody credit. Fortunately, this was amended in 2014. The Truth in Sentencing Act, one of the government’s early “tough on crime” laws was passed in 2009, but became operative on Feb. 22, 2010. This Act contributed to the changes regarding the credit offenders received for pre-sentence detention or “dead-time,” that does not count towards any parole or early release eligibility. This curbed judge’s ability to give a break on sentencing when a convicted offender has spent lengthy time in pre-trial jail custody. This discount in sentencing had evolved to recognize that

Prison’s were established a long time ago to try to put an end to the rapidly increasing crime rate, however over time we are seeing the effectiveness of the most prisons decreasing. As a result of this epidemic, prisons have a higher recidivism rate and over 40 percents are currently operating over maximum capacity (Holder.) Through different types of research, we are finding out that our prison systems are no longer effective and there is a serious need for improvement. The United States has only 5 percent of the world’s population, yet we incarcerate almost ¼ of the worlds prisoners (Holder.)

The ongoing role of prison within the UK Criminal Justice System is becoming increasingly unclear. On the one hand in the 21st century, it is considered to be a “state strategy for crime control, a deterrent for those contemplating crime and punitive response for those who have broken laws”McAvinchey (2011 pg.10). On the other hand, it is also supposed to have a rehabilitative purpose, the intended role of a prison is to rehabilitate the offender so that when they have completed their prison sentence, they can be successfully rehabilitated back into the community and live a crime free fulfilled life. Yet, when examining the vital statistics that underline an increase in prisoner population, it is clearly apparent that the system neither

In this paper we will discuss some descriptions of jail’s place in corrections and its role throughout history on most of these offenses come with a sentence of a year or less and anyone with over a year sentence is usually sent to a prison facility (Seiter, 2011). On the other hand, prisons have an ample amount of time to work with, rehabilitate, and reform offenders. Prisons do this with the hope that offenders can eventually be placed back into society and limit their recidivism back to crime. “The first jails were created in England and they were called goal” (Seiter, 2011,

Have you ever wonder why prisons are made? It is known that prisons are built to isolate and punish everyone that committed crime in their lives, whether it is in the past or present. However, lately there have been some arguments on whether everybody that committed crime should be put in jail or they should be allowed to stay outside of the prison, but with very strict supervisions. Nowadays, there have been some cases in which criminals are given the freedom to stay in their usual surroundings. The reason is people agree that criminals may have done something bad, but not all of them should be put in jail. There are other ways to punish those who did wrong aside from putting them in quarantine.

All crimes are not conducted with the exact process and mind behind it, which is why it is essential for a variety of sentencing options presented to court to maintain a just criminal system. The extensive array of sentencing options provides judicial benefits as they ease the selection process as he/she are not limited to one particular sentence but can impose a suitable punishment corresponding to the nature of the crime. When courts have these other options available, they can tailor a cost-effective sentence that suits the crime and offender. Incarceration (imprisonment) is a famously common sentence among the system however this traditional approach can be replaced by many alternatives that could be selected when imposing a sentence.

Criminal justice study, a subcategory of social science, gathers information traditionally from three sources: survey research, government statistics, and one-off studies of particular people, places, or events (King, 2013). However, the astonishing pace of technology advance has changed this pattern. In next 50 years, the exponentially increasing magnitude of information sources will extremely affect both our research and practice in criminal justice. On the one hand, criminal justice course needs to handle problems created by high technology, e.g. the application of new technology in law enforcement and relevant criminal procedure issues. On the other hand, the high technology also provides new tools for the expanding of the discipline, e.g. the application of big data methods in the discipline. Criminal

Incarceration has been in existence since the early age of society; at the beginning it was being used as a form of punishment in order to force the inmate to reflect on the consequences of his/her actions. Basically, it was a way to incite the self-consciousness within in order to prevent the same from occurring. At first, it was seen as a form of counseling. This practice was later

This paper analyzes both the Pennsylvania, and the Auburn prison projects.This is done in order to help understand the progression of these experiments, and to compare them to the prison culture of today. Through evaluation, it is clear that while many practices in prisons have in fact change. Mostly due to discrepancies relating to cruel and unusual punishment. The end goal has till remained the same. That being to deter people from committing crime by using the fear of going to prison as a weapon.

Although the police have a vital role in determining who goes through the criminal process, sentencing within the courts has an immediate impact on the penal system (Cavadino&Dignan,2007). Policy shifts within sentencing over the last two decades has been dominated by populist influences which is seen in contemporary prison population statistics. This is due to the fact the public believe the aim of sentencing should be deterrence and incapacitation, the offender should be taken out of society which would work as a deterrent to others.

Imprisonment, or the forcible confinement of a person, has been a long standing practice and tradition in the world’s history (Roberts). Dating as far back as 400 B.C., prisons have held a variety of meanings and served a wide array of functions, but in its fundamental use, prisons are intended to supplement the rise of a state as a form of social organization (Roberts). The most common use of prisons is as a supplement to a state’s justice system, in which individuals found guilty and convicted of crimes are sent for a set period of incarceration (Roberts). Outside of punishing civil crimes, prisons have been used by numerous regimes as tools of

The recent history of criminal legislation in England and Wales is a startling one, a reluctance to be seen as soft on crime has seen successive governments oversee not only the sharpest rise in prisoner populations but also the total largest number of prisoners in UK history. Throughout most of the 20th century it has almost become common practice to having a new criminal justice act in each successive government. Generally these previous criminal justice