The recommendation calls for civil rights advocates to put mass incarceration on their agenda similar in the ways civil rights advocate’s affirmative action agenda. In my opinion, America is at a turning point where mass incarceration is slowly fading away with state lawmakers trying to cut prison cost. Being labeled as a felon is a stigma that can and will follow individuals for the rest of their lives. However, there is a change in the atmosphere and how society view individuals with felony records. Opportunities are slowly becoming available such as jobs and education, allowing these individuals to reenter society. It’s been 29 years since the War on Drugs campaign was announced and is not going to be overnight to reverse some of the effects of mass
Felon disenfranchisement did not start in the United States. In fact, the practice of felon disenfranchisement began in ancient Greece and Rome before evolving even more in England with “outlawry”, by the time this practice came to the United States it began to evolve into what it is today based on the other nations practices (Grady, 2012, pp. 443-445). Felon disenfranchisement, for those who do not know, is taking away a felon’s right to vote. Usually, this only occurs when they are incarcerated, but some states also do not allow the ex-felons to vote even when they are back in regular society. In Michigan, felons are granted their right to vote again once they are freed from incarceration. Though some may disagree, the state of Michigan should
It is so hard to find a job and with this act it is very helpful in deterring people from reverting back to their old ways. I am on Probation right now and it is so hard to get a job. It feels like no one will hire me even though I just have a misdemeanor on my record for a weed charge (Weed is legal in other states in America so I do not understand why people judge weed so harshly.) North Carolina has many different resources and programs to allow paroles and people with criminal records a chance to find work and better their lives. Programs like North Carolina Criminal Justice Resource Directory, Resource Center without Walls, NC Prisoner Legal Services Resources to Assist Inmates after Release, North Carolina Handbook for Family and Friends of Inmates, and A Reentry Guidebook for Incarcerated Veterans in North Carolina. All of these plus many more are resources Paroles and people with criminal records can use to get a job and help them make better choices and hopefully deter them from re-entering that life they had before where they did illegal
Did you know the United States now locks up a higher number of it population than any other country in the Word. We now have over 2 million people incarcerated today (Jacobson, 2005, p. 8). Of the people who go to prison only 5% stay or die in jail, the other 95% are released from jail, and of those 95%, 80% are released to parole and are supervised by the system (Jacobson, 2005, p. 131). So these people are now on the streets trying to live their lives and face the challenges of paying bills, relationships (getting along with people), get education for a personal growth, getting a job or a good job with benefits, and even a house over their head, plus let’s not forget food. These are some of the basic struggles of human kind. I believe some of mankind’s basic needs are food, shelter, since of belonging. With a google search I seen that human s needs for basic life are: biological and physiological (food, water, shelter, sleep, sex), safety needs (stability, protection, order), belongingness and love
Many speculations are made when it comes to allowing ex-felons or felons to vote. Felons should have the right to vote because everyone’s vote counts when it comes to electing a new president for the country. Felons are a part of the country they should be permitted to vote all the least. To some, felons or ex-felons should not be allowed the right to vote. This is because many people believe that felons have gone against their own country and defiled their country’s name. So the ones, who think felon’s or ex-felons should not vote, hold a grudge and begin to despise the idea of allowing a felon to vote. People want to continue with felon disenfranchisement and exclude felons from their own country. Although felons seem to have no morals. In all honesty, they do and they should be allowed at least one right that all Americans are able to share with one another.
They have more opportunities because they have not been locked in a cell for a number of years. Instead in restorative justice the offender is required to do things like community service and communicating with the victim of their crime. Giving offenders more options after they have committed a crime can help them get back on their feet because they would have a better chance of getting a job. They would have a better chance of getting a job because they wouldn’t be out of a job as long as if they were in jail for years. Also hopefully by the offender not spending years in jail and doing things like community service they learn their lesson and will be less likely to commit another crime in the future compared to someone who spent years in jail.
Something will always need to be fixed in society because society is a reflection of us, and we are not perfect. Recently, there’s been many issues that have caught the attention of people living all across the world. Things such as police brutality, sexual assault in the workplace, and immigration law, just to name a few, but there’s also been an underlying issue that people are becoming more informed about, and that I believe matters - prison reform. Prison reform matters because in many instances, prisoners are treated inhumanely when they are locked up, and aren’t treated as humans when they have served their time. I believe we can bring about change in the prison system by changing the way we punish people who do commit crimes and focusing more on actual rehabilitation.
Sentencing reforming is highly recommended due to the outrageous modern sentencing practices we have today. People go to jail or maybe even prison for such petty crimes that doesn't deserve the many years that were given to them. Even the innocent get sentenced major years for crimes that weren't even committed by them. Sentence reforming needs to take action.
The American Dream is being able to achieve whatever a citizen wants as long as they are willing to work hard for it; being financially stable is a key factor to being successful. This is the main reason many immigrants come to America. They want to start a life that allows them to build a family in a successful environment. The American Dream started in the early 1800s saying that anyone was able to achieve what they want as long as they worked hard and never gave up. America is one of the best countries to achieve the idea of “being successful.” Although there are many obstacles in life, the American Dream is pretty realistic.
The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for several reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. This literature review will discuss the ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system and how mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism has become a problem.
Today, more and more people often find themselves on the opposite side of the law. This can be for various reasons and some of the people who are convicted for crimes may in fact be innocent. There has always been a controversy on whether convicted felons should be able to vote or if they should be ostracized from political matters in general. In Texas, voting rights should be unalienable and be given to everyone including felons when they are incarcerated because if everyone doesn’t have the right to vote, this could be seen as a form of discrimination and result in prejudice acts against them.
The idea of taking away a criminal's right to vote has been around since ancient Greece and Rome. A condition called "civil death" in Europe involved the forfeiture of property, the loss of the right to appear in court, and a prohibition on entering into contracts, as well as the loss of voting rights. Civil death was brought to America by English colonists, but most features of it were eventually abolished, leaving only felon disenfranchisement intact in some parts of modern America.The United States is one of the world’s most unyielding nations when it comes to denying the right to vote to citizens convicted of serious crimes. A significant 6.1 million Americans are forbidden to vote because of what scholars call “felon disenfranchisement,”
A flourishing down town with fine dinning and shops. You are few people shy of the population of Dallas and Austin. Life is great, businesses are growing, Families are happy and there is little to none of poverty. Now imagine, all that gone, within a day. You look out the window or up from the porch you are sitting on and see a dark greenish sky. The once cool summer breeze is now still air. You look up out of curiosity and see approaching clouds of debris. Then while so very humid large hail fails but no rain. Then you hear them, you hear them loud and panic comes over you, you do not have long to react. Tornado warning horns are blaring, what do you do?
Through the years, the world has made substantial progress towards ensuring equal treatment under law for all citizens. However, the cycle continues, as disparities within the justice decision making process is growing at each level of the criminal justice system. Although the drug policies and sentencing guidelines that are put into place by our legislators are said to be “race neutral,” they have actually shown to be pervasively biased, affecting both innocent as well as guilty minority citizens.
First thing I would like to implement is where I would recommend that all offenders placed on probation and parole would have a baseline drug test. Then those with a drug abuse problem or history would have mandatory substance abuse counseling. This is because approximately two thirds of probationers can be characterized as alcohol or drug involved offenders (Treatment, 2005). I believe that this would help to lower the recidivism rate because the offenders would no longer have negative habits that take away from their monthly finances. It would also take away the need to commit crimes to pay for their drug or alcohol habits. Second, I would recommend that there be some form of government funded employment opportunities for parolees.