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John Pfaff Lock In Sparknotes

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Crime, Law, Administration of Justice Professor: Kelly McGeever 04/25/18 Topic- Reflection on lock-in by John Pfaff Provide your reflection on the book and argument The justice system in America caused mass incarceration to become overpopulated from the 1970s to 2000. The reason being people were sentenced for more minor crimes which resulted in prisons to become overcrowded. Based on the book Lock In by John Pfaff, the three main reasons causing mass incarceration in America were; long sentences, war and drugs, and prosecutors. Pfaff mentions that most people are in prison for non- violent drug offendes. According to Lock In by John Pfaff, "there are 200,000 people make up only about 16 percent of state prisoners, but that number almost …show more content…

Pfaff mentions the prison population is full of drug crimes while other people shouldn't be there. The prisons population would reduce if there wasn’t a lot of a drug crimes offender there. According to Lock In “war and drugs have fuelled tougher responses to all sorts of crimes, including those not related to drug use or drug trafficking, this indirect effect could matter even if the direct impact of war is less than believed” (Pfaff,2017, P22). Most people sell drugs to earn an income because there is no employment in their neighborhoods. A person who is on probation has to sell drug because that is the only job available to them at the moment. Prosecutors have the power to send offenders away which allows them to make harsh decisions. They offer plea bargains to offenders which often will enable them to do time in prison. Pfaff stated that "as long as prosecutors simply use the tough laws as a bargaining chip, not real punishment, legislators can reap the political benefits of looking tough on crime while avoiding difficult financial decisions" (Pfaff, 2017, P136). Prosecutors offer a plea bargain to get rid of cases quickly and not allow offenders to go to trial because they might receive more prison …show more content…

It's going to be hard because the standard story put the shocking story out which are not essential problems facing prison population. People more likely to gravitate that story rather than the story that could help the country. According to lock in, “in a survey of registered US voters by the Pew Research Center in early 2016, 44 percent of all residents said they believed that “reforming the criminal justice system should be a top priority”; the percentage rose to 73 percent for black respondents and 48 percent for Hispanics" (Pfaff,2017, P5). People have faith in reforming the justice system. This survey was carried to see if people are satisfied with the justice system and have the voter’s responses that they believe it should reform. One of the major steps toward changing the justice system is to ban private prison because people are benefiting from

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