The Justice System Fails Again

First off, restorative justice doesn’t punish people, and a criminal needs punishment. If somebody knows that they won’t get in trouble for doing something wrong, they will just continue to do it. Prison time has been proven to work effectively. The Observer states that tougher prison sentences reduce crime, according to research by a study from academics at Birmingham University.

The court is the second component of the justice system – once the suspect is arrested, s/he is referred to as a defendant. It is now up to the court to decide if the police had enough evidence for probable cause for arrest – if the determination is positive, then the defendant gets an opportunity to plead innocent or guilty. Once the court establishes that the defendant is innocent, s/he is released; on the other hand if the defendant is found guilty the court decides the type of punishment and then the defendant is turned over to the Corrections for the follow up of the punishment.

Prisons not only rehabilitate, but they also deter people from going to prison. The fear of going to prison is a great deterrence for a perspective criminal. Hard life styles along with loss of freedom tend to push the criminal away from the chance of being incarcerated. Numbers show that there are fewer rapes, and fewer murders, each year, all an obvious product of prison deterrence. After all, if a person has a friend who just got out of jail, and hears all of the war stories, that person would surely not want to go to prison and end up like his friend. By making life in prison hard, the prison is doing a great job in getting the word out. Prison is no joke! They are doing their job in deterring criminals from wanting to enter the gates of hell.

It seems to me that we need to be better at filtering the system instead if incarcerating everyone no matter the offense we should start seeking other alternatives. We should incarcerate those who are an endangerment to themselves and society. For the others we should try to get them treatment not just throw them in jail because that won’t end the cycle. When people are released they aren’t prepared for society. They don’t have anything just the clothes on the back and no money. The only way most released inmates know how to get money is to steal it. It’s very difficult for a person with a felon to get a stable job. Another flaw with releasing inmates is that when they released there are many regulations and rules they have to abide by that are very difficult. You have to pay a certain amount each month. You have to report, you have to employee, and you may have to stay in one place. These technicalities are what keep sending people back. These people when they get pout have nothing. How can you expect them to pay

Those criminals need to be corrected and helped, and then brought back into their societies and Imprisonment is thus not meant to be an avenue for inhumane treatment for members of the community who err in their behavior.

The case continues with the court system, which weighs the evidence to determine if the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If deemed guilty, the accused will be sentenced and remanded to the corrections component. The corrections system will use the means at their disposal, namely incarceration and probation, to punish and correct the behavior of the offender. Bureau of Justice Statistics (2010).

In the United States, the criminal justice system is a combination of laws and institutions. Laws are to be enforced in order for society to work appropriately as a whole. The many institutions of the criminal justice system include law enforcement, juvenile and adult courts, and correctional facilities. It is a unique system that has developed a specific process to serve justice. It is however, a process that is not without its faults. In order to protect and serve the many different faces of society, the process is structured to ensure the justice system continues to flow in the proper direction. Throughout this paper, I will summarize all the steps between arrest, pre-trial, trial, and appeals. I will explain the contingencies for each stage

In the article in The New York Times called Punishment Fails and Rehabilitation Works by James Gilligan he said, that at least two third of the prisoners will reoffend s crime within three years of leaving prison. Often they will do a more serious and violent offense than the one they did before. He also stated that 90% of the prisoners will return back to their community because if they do not go back then the prisons will be overcrowded. The author main goal is to figure out a way to find another way rather than punishment toward the criminals, but more of rehabilitation instead. He stated if prisons were to be demolish and replace to become more of an anti-prison and give a sense of community among the inmates then we might see some

For starters, our society is programed to be “tough on crime”, our perception of how to correct behaviors and the associated programs has not matured to the point that some other countries have. Parts of our society realize that community corrections, parole and probation has its merits, but, we, as a collective society are not willing to support the financial and human costs that are needed to truly make it work. Ideally, having the entire corrections system under

What if someone broke into your house and stole everything of value and sold it so they could buy their next dose of heroin? Would you rather see them spend the next ten to fifteen years in prison? Or would you prefer the crime never happened because they got the rehabilitation they needed so they never robbed you for drug money?  The United States correctional system uses both punishment and rehabilitation when dealing with offenders. There are many ways that the justice system handles these punishments such as incarceration, probation, and sometimes death. However, punishment does not seem to work. It seems that the only way to effectively handle criminals successfully is with rehabilitation.

To say that our justice system in America is perfect, is far from the truth. Dating back to slavery and Jim Crow, race has been an extremely heated issue. The only way to inform people about the racial problems is to actually discuss it. Arguments can be made that our criminal justice system is fair and just. However, you cannot take away from the fact that black Americans are receiving injustice from the corrupt legal system we have today. Statistics show that black Americans are more likely to have their cars searched, more likely to be arrested for drug use, and more likely to receive longer sentences for the same crime that a white American committed.

Many people believe criminals should be locked away for their crimes, society should look at programs to rehabilitate inmates, giving them a fresh start at life.Inmates should be given help if they are in there for drugs, robbery, and the abomination of crimes that did not involve murder. Rehabilitation could help them by offering college courses, jobs that the inmates are interested in, and community service. You can not just

The purpose of jail is retribution. To be incarcerated you have done something that violates a criminal code. Individuals who break these laws should have to give up their freedom and serve the time that is awarded to them. For example, the Long-Term Offenders Program offers those individuals incarcerated for the remainder or majority of their lives an outlet to spend their time and achieve something meaningful. I completely sympathize that rehabilitation is a fantastic way to reduce incarceration rates and free up space in jails for more violent offenders. Nevertheless, if you commit a crime, you are still breaking the law, and in turn, should be obligated to serve that time in

By going to jail or prison it makes it harder to get a job, keep a job or get a apartment/house and keep it because it is on their record. With jail or prison time on their permanent record and difficulty finding/getting a job it is hard to afford housing and many other necessities these criminals are put into the same position they were in before, break the law to survive. Instead of rehabilitating prisoners and showing them other ways to make money or go about things they use prison, jail and confinement to punish prisoners. Often the effects of prison, jail and confinement lead to psychological issues they didn’t have before and give them more violent tendencies than they had before.

This is where the prosecutor has to decide if there is a case or not. If there is the judge must decide on the terms of issuing a bail. Once this is done, the defendant will give his plead and the criminal court process will begin. During this process the courts are there to impose fair and impartial trials. The courts must make sure that due process is followed throughout the entire process. The criminal court will determine if the defendant is guilty or innocent. Their main goal is to make sure that the law is being upheld. They must ensure that there is fairness given to the defendant while being tried. The duty of protecting the rights and freedoms of a person that is going through the processing by the justice system lies within this system. Once found guilty, the defendant is