Summary Of A Death In Texas

When the American prison system began, it was believed that rehabilitation, the act of restoring one’s character, could be beneficial for criminals to start over. According to Tom Wicker, “The system…began as a reform impulse, the idea that if offenders were isolated, shielded from the public mockery that had accompanied hangings and the stocks, given time to repent, and worked hard, they could be turned away from crime and transformed into useful citizens” (xii). Criminals could become better citizens and have a positive outlook for a future if they worked hard and were secluded from the outside world. Although this idea seems more humane, it did not last long in the prison system because many people believed that any crime committed deserved

More people get incarcerated for non-violent crimes and crimes caused by mental illnesses or drug abuse (Webb, 2009) and because these people get put in regular prisons, instead of in mental health facilities or facilities to help against drug addiction, where they could be treated to further prevent crimes driven by their illness (Webb, 2009), the prisons get overfilled and cannot hold the more ‘important’ prisoners that needed to be locked away from the public.

The current system that incarcerates people over and over is unsustainable and does not lower the crime rate nor encourage prisoner reformation. When non-violent, first time offenders are incarcerated alongside violent repeat offenders, their chance of recidivating can be drastically altered by their experience in prison. Alternative sentencing for non-violent drug offenders could alleviate this problem, but many current laws hinder many possible solutions. Recently lawmakers have made attempts to lower the recidivism rates in America, for example the Second Chance Act helps aid prisoners returning into society after incarceration. The act allows states to appropriate money to communities to help provide services such as education, drug treatment programs, mental health programs, job corps services, and others to aid in offenders returning to society after incarceration (Conyers, 2013). The Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program is another attempt to provide better treatment for people who are convicted. The study showed that drug offenders who underwent a treatment program outside of prison had a 26 percent less rate of re-arrest after two years than a control group that was sent to prison (Justice Policy Institute, 2010). Rehabilitative programs like the Second Chance Act and the Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program has shown to growth and positive

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.

Crime is on the rise and has been for a while. The issue we face isn’t necessarily more criminals, instead it’s repeat offenders. A question that has been proposed many times is “can you rehabilitate criminals”. Yes, it’s extremely possible. In Other Wes Moore, other Wes faces the challenges of trying to reintegrate into society. He is met with harsh resistance as nobody wants to hire a convicted criminal, forcing him to live job to job. This eventually results in his return to the drug game, as it’s the only option he has to make enough money to support his family(Moore 144). If we want to stop crime, we need to prevent

In fact, according to 48 Hours Nobles refused to meet with one of his victims mother’s for many years. He finally agreed to the meeting when it was aimed to be on television. Also for as much regret as he claimed to have, he sure was trying to do anything at all that he could do to get out of his death sentence. Someone who is truly sorry and full of remorse would accept their punishment not try to get out of it by trying to be an organ donor. That was just one attempt of many to get his death sentence turned over. He filed a number of petitions in hopes to get a new trial according to Murderpedia. During his last words on his death bed he was still all about Jonathan Wayne Nobles, he expressed his remorse to one of the victim’s mother but did not at all mention the other girl that he brutally stabbed to death. If one has true remorse wouldn’t they be sorry for everything they done

He stopped creating problems and even began to help others.When Nobles' sobered up, he found Catholicism. He was involved in the Dominican Order of Preachers. He even stood in as a God Father for another prisoner's baptism (Earle, 76). He also offered to help his good friend get his son to stop using marijuana by bringing him to Ellis (Earle, 76).

He spent a dreadful twelve years in prison while facing that his own life, awaiting denaturization from the state of Texas’s death penalty. Nobles met with some hopeful catholic priests that had hoped for his salvation, possibly inspired by the story of St. Catherine of Siena, who had argued with the death penalty of another murderer that was executed in the 1300’s for his brutal acts of murderous rage. Nobles consulted with a famous American singer and songwriter, Steve Earle, who was definitely against the death penalty Although he never came right out and said so. Earle witnessed Nobles’ execution and later wrote a song about him. During the execution Nobles apologized to the living victim and the victim’s families, while expressing they all received his love. He gave thanks to everyone who had helped him to gain the freedoms and perks he received after having better behavioral

First off, the change in his behavior. His behavior changed drastically, he went from being a basic criminal and killer to a reformed Catholic. A reason for this change in Nobles was in some eyes just a façade. The reason for him converting to Catholicism is he finally found comfort in knowing he found acceptance. His whole life he never knew what it was like to be accepted, so once he found it, he ran with it. Nobles noticed that other inmates and even guards gave him respect and let rules slide, so he took advantage of his new-found religion.

In Steve Earle’s essay, “A Death in Texas”, Earle gives descriptions of his and Nobles interactions and how he behaved during the days that lead up to his execution on October 7th, 1998. The essay gives a glimpse of Nobles through Earle’s eyes, depicting him as a sorrowful man who confessed to his murders and was working to atone for his sins. Earle’s wrote about how he changed his behavior by getting clean and finding God, as well as earning the respect of the inmates and guards along the way. Reading Earle’s descriptions of Nobles could lead one to believe he was rehabilitated and could have possibly been fit for society, however, some evidence points towards the direction that Nobles may not have been completely rehabilitated after all.

Earle wanted to believe that Nobles was rehabilitated because he had been in that position before and tried to make himself feel a little better too. The religion Nobles had claimed was Catholic and he thought he was doing good. When they gave Nobles a death row interview, he said "I don't think I'm a terrible person today, Nobles said in a recent death row interview. I don't think I'm the monster who perpetrated these terrible acts. Nothing I can do for a thousand years can relieve me of my responsibility." What kind of person says they aren't a terrible person after killing people? I believe Nobles don't reach rehabilitation for all the things he said to try to get out of prison. With that statement, all he was trying to do is to get people to think about it which buys more time. Nobles believed that if he could say the right things and act decent enough people would say he was a changed man. People knew better than that back then and punishments were still a little harsh. He wasn't in his right mind in the first place when Nobles killed the people, but Earle wanted to believe so badly that Nobles had changed from his ways and could be

Unfortunately the process failed in the case of Dude Freeman and he reoffended and was sent back to the facility to be sentenced for the eighth time. “While dude waited again for the terms of his punishment to be determined, he was thrust into this institutional confusion, and, to some extent at least, it was through the drug game that he imagined his way out. And of course, he was not alone.” (Bergmann, 2008:156) The system does not always work because the judicial system hopes that when the individuals are released back into the general population that they have learned their lesson through their experiences in the juvenile detention facility. What the system does not recognise is the factors which lead them to offending to begin with, those that influenced their lives and the memories that go with those experiences they had before arrest. As Dude says, “early as I can remember my daddy was selling dope. My brothers, my sisters, mother. They all taught me the game. And I learned the game from the hood where my daddy was living...”(Bergmann, 2008:108) Dude learned about selling drugs from his parents which means that it has been a constant characteristic of his life, all his life. Something so ingrained in his life would not be disposed of so quickly and lightly as the sentence he received from the court of attending some classes and undergoing some probation

As America got tough on crime and launched its war on drugs in the 1980s incarceration rates soared. People believed just locking criminals up for all crimes, even non-violent drug offenses was the best option for fighting crime. However, the rate of recidivism would say this ‘lock them up and they will learn their lesson’ philosophy is not working. A 2014 BJS report showed that 76.6% of offenders released from prison in 2005 were arrested for a new crime within five years. In that same time frame 76.9% of drug offenders released in 2005 were re-arrested. (Durose, Cooper, & Snyder, 2014, p.

Then there were Mr. Nobles’ final moments. On his deathbed as his final minutes left him he addressed the victim’s mother Mitizi Nalley. Nobles said,” I’m sorry, I’m sorry I wish I could bring her back to you.” Then he addressed the victims boyfriend Ron, crying out’” I took so much from you. I’m sorry. I know you probably don’t want my love but you have it.” These were amongst Nobles last words and he deeply meant them. He was going to die ether way yet he still took the time to apologies, when he had so very little time

Due to the releasing of about 95 percent of criminals, our community needs to better our treatment and rehabilitation programs. If more offenders went into a treatment facility, rather than serving time, they would most likely not