The Role Of Truth In Sentencing

The U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are most notable for their protection of the rights of suspected and accused individuals. All to often we forget it also covers the rights of those persons convicted of a crime. There are two positions when it comes the rights of convicted and imprisoned persons, which are rights-are-retained and rights-are-lost. In retrospect, they are both right because prisoners rights may not be granted rights nor shall rights be withheld that are not supported by law. Therefore, prisoners are given Conditional Rights because they are constrained by the legitimate needs of imprisonment. The Conditional Rights of inmates are communication and vision, religious freedom, access to the courts and legal assistance,

The criminal justice system used today is to follow principles that protect and establish equality for all and while the United States criminal justice system may strive to follow these right of the people, but unfortunately, this is where the system falls short of fundamental American principles. Repeatedly the criminal justice system does the adverse of what it’s supposed to do. It does not protect the many liberties the people should have. Some may argue that the criminal justice system is indeed fair for

The United States prison population has grown seven-fold over the past forty years, and many Americans today tend to believe that the high levels of incarceration in our country stem from factors such as racism, socioeconomic differences, and drugs. While these factors have contributed to the incarceration rate present in our country today, I argue that the most important reason our country has such a high incarceration rate is the policy changes that have occurred since the 1970s. During this time, the United States has enacted policy changes that have produced an astounding rise in the use of imprisonment for social control. These policy changes were enacted in order to achieve greater consistency, certainty, and severity and include sentencing laws such as determinate sentencing, truth-in-sentencing, mandatory minimum sentencing, and three strikes laws (National Research Council 2014). Furthermore, I argue that mandatory sentencing has had the most significant effect on the incarceration rate.

Although contrary to the prison system which is negatively affected because of many issues in the past within the prison and criminal system. Likewise, there are many instances that show how ludicrous many people and places have been affiliated with the CCA were investigated in 2015. Personally it is hard to believe that an institution such as CCA could try to keep such monstrous acts towards inmates under wraps but then again most companies are corrupted.

“Most Americans harbor the presumption that their criminal justice system is fair and blind. Within that a priori delusion, an assumption is made that no person shall ever be convicted for a crime that he or she did not commit (Huff, 2002; Marquis, 2005),” (Jones 2012) .The United States upholds itself on the ideology of freedom yet represses the freedom of innocent American citizens. From a young age, children are taught that if they don’t lie, cheat or steal, they won’t have

These crimes include low-level offenses; drug offenses, sex offenses, property offenses, etc. With 94% of inmates in Arizona prisons being sentenced on behalf of these specific low-level crimes, the rate of those who are incarcerated increase drastically. By incarcerating inmates based off of low-level offenses, correctional costs increase as well. Arizona’s increases in mandatory sentencing laws do not deliver justice nor does it improve public

Kingsley refused the orders and the officers handcuffed him, forcibly removed him from his cell, carried him to a receiving cell, and placed him face down on a bunk with his hands handcuffed behind his back. The officers testified that Kingsley resisted their efforts to take off his handcuffs, however, Kingsley testified that he did not resist. They all agree that Sergeant Hendrickson positioned his knee into Kingsley’s back and Kingsley impolitely told him to get off. Kingsley testified that Sergeant Hendrickson and Sheriff Degner slammed his head into the concrete bunk, but the four officers deny this claim. However, both parties agree that Sergeant Hendrickson then told Sheriff Degner to stun Kingsley with a Taser. The Taser was left on Kingsley’s back for approximately five seconds. The officers then left Kingsley handcuffed in the receiving cell until they returned about fifteen minutes later to remove the

The novel The Trial identifies a citizen with no constitutional rights. The government of his country was weak and oppressive. Joseph K the protagonist in the novel struggled with depression, loneliness, frustration and anxiety after his arrest and trying to deal with the coming interrogations, court sessions and a lengthy trial. Citizens in the United States of America with a democratic government, constitutional rights are guaranteed under the United States Constitution, which is the Supreme Law of The Land. “US Constitution”.

Truth-in-Sentencing laws deter crime because they ensure that offenders are in prison for at least 85% of their sentence. Therefore, the convicted offenders stay in prison for longer periods and not able to commit additional crimes and endanger the member of society. TIS laws are the assurance of longer prison terms as punishment and serve as an effective deterrent from criminal actions to the serving offender and others who may be considering criminal acts. The laws provide the ability for the criminal justice system to operate more effectively by lowering violent crimes as well punishing violent criminals. According to the publication from University of Alabama at Birmingham (2005) citing data from Bureau of Justice Statistics, in the decade following the passage and implementation of the truth-in-sentencing laws in 1994, the arrests for violent crimes were reduced by 16% by the year of 2005. The TIS laws also limit some of the

The emphasis on truth in sentencing created, in effect, a sentencing environment of “what you get is what you serve.” Truth in sentencing has

The United States has been staring down a crisis to our nation for decades; the overpopulation of inmates housed in our prisons. Our nation has five percent of world population yet houses twenty five percent of the world’s inmates (Liptak, 2008). As states turn to private prisons for as a quick solution to their ever expanding inmate population they are sponsoring the very originations that are responsible for creating overcrowding to begin with. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) – which is the largest private prison company in the United States -- has lobbied away 17.5 million dollars in the last 10 years; 17.5 million taxpayer dollars spent on making immigration laws and drug laws stricter (Lee, 2012). CCA is a public traded stock with emphasis as any business would have on their profit. Private prisons seems like a quick solution for states that are running out of space and focused on saving money up front seems yet they are not the answer when their corporations are

The use of private prison has been a serious issue in the United States. The main issue is the amount of money that private prison companies are consuming. The private prisons are making millions of dollars from housing inmates. Between 1970 and 2005 the U.S. population has grown by 700 percent (Private prison, 2013). This massive increase in the U.S. prison population is far outpacing the population and crime rate. Due to this, America has the biggest prison rate than any other country worldwide. Juveniles make a huge amount of the population as well. Since there is such a high number of mass incarceration worldwide the private prison companies are making huge profits. The use of private prison companies such as the Correction Cooperation of America (CCA) and the Geo Group, Inc. has had a lot of controversy. These two private prison companies are known as the largest two private prison companies in the United States. However, since crime rate in the United State have been decreasing over the past decade. These two groups are starting to suffer because less people are incarcerated. According to Hanna Kozlowska, “Collectively, these two private prison companies has lost around $2.2 Billion dollars.” Unfortunately, since crime rates is decreasing private prison companies are losing money. Therefore, the Correction Cooperation of American and the Geo Group, Inc. has resulted to aggressive tactics to make money. In my opinion, I think that private prison companies

Alternative sentencing has always been a consent debate due to the rise of corporation run prisons; many agencies argue that with our current prison system is void of human rights, promotes detrimental social impacts and the cost of imprisonment. Since the 1970's offering parole and probation options as an alternative helped reduce prison overcrowding. Lawmakers needed to develop new options for sentencing criminal offenders and enforce alternative correction programs, that would provide local courts, state departments of corrections, and state parole boards with a broad range of correctional options for offenders. When lawmakers discussed alternatives to incarceration they noted that there was a need to achieve the following goals rehabilitation,

Prisons run by the government are often in violation of human rights. The largest U.S. private owned prison,Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has claimed 54,944 beds in 68 buildings that are in development in the U.S., Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The global trend for CCA is giving more women public punishment and they just opened up a women’s prison.This company calls California the “new frontier.”

While lawful incarceration deprives prisoners of most of Americas Constitutional rights, they do maintain a few constitutional rights. Federal courts, while hesitant to impede with the internal administration of prisons, will interfere to rectify violations of the constitutional rights that prisoners are still entitled to. A prison guideline that oversteps on a prisoner’s constitutional rights is lawful only if it is reasonably related to the safety of the inmates or the rehabilitation of that prisoner.