Unfair Sentencing: The Problem With The Criminal Justice System

On August 13, 2013 Pete Yost, a journalist with the Associated Press, published an article titled “Attorney General Eric Holder to Push for Sentencing Reform” informing of Attorney General Eric Holder’s view on the current criminal justice system at the time. Holder believes that the nation’s view of harsher punishments has become less effective as “Mandatory minimum prison sentences” have come to be the norm. (Yost, 2013) A proposed strategy that has been generated would focus the criminal justice systems attention to the “low-level, non-violent drug offenders [and] elderly non-violent offenders”. (Yost, 2013)

The initial thinking behind the creation of minimum mandatory sentences was created by congress to aim in the capture and imprisonment of high level drug traffickers, and deter others from entering into drug trafficking or using illegal substances, which would create a safer society. However, the nation prison has been expanded with low level street drug dealers, and the accessibility to illegal drugs is more obtainable then before the enactment of the mandatory sentencing act. In fact, the number of drug offenders in federal prisons has increased 21 times since 1980. Contrary to what congress has believed in the past about the dangers of crack cocaine compared to that in powder form has been proven to be untrue, but little has been done to reduce the number of prisons affected by that belief.

There has been an exceedingly high increase in the population in federal prisons. “The Federal prison population has grown by 750 percent since 1980 and our Federal prisons are approximately 30 percent over capacity” (). We are overflowing our prison cells with criminals of all degrees. We need Smarter Sentencing to keep people from have long drawn out sentences and crowding up our cells for people who actually need to be there for that amount of time. Over capacitated cells are actually ridiculous.

America’s criminal justice system need to make a change. We are constantly wasting millions of dollars on prison cells that won’t even be needed if they gave citizens who broke the law quick and easy punishments. In our society today many youths are being sentenced harsh punishments due to petty crimes, these harsh punishments include five or more years in prisons. Our criminal justice system is just plain corrupted and unreasonable. Judges show give fast punishments which are less severe to citizens who has broke small laws.

Why the prison system is flawed The american prison system is flawed and should be changed because it is very expensive to keep it running the way it is, the prison system is helping gangs grow and it can be fixed it is possible. I believe that it needs to change so that cities will have more tax money to fix other things and the people who don't deserve to get released won't be. The prison system is very expensive for taxpayers because they have to pay to employ the officers, they have to pay for the building, the tools, the food for them to eat, there clothing and bedding.

Crime! What do you think of when you hear the word crime? Crime can basically be anything dangerous. Sentence reform needs to happen a change needs to happen no doubts about it. The system is too nice honestly.

Criminal Justice: We, The Rainbow Party, believe that criminal justice should be very more different. Instead of the criminals facing time in prison we think they should just go to a rehabilitation center to get treated. Some criminals do the things they do because they have a mental problem and if they are just locked in a place full of other criminals they will only be influenced more harshly and won 't get the help they need. On the other hand, being in a rehabilitation center puts them in a position to be forced to get help and go to counseling. We as a party think prison is a harsh place were a very large amount of criminals come together and either argue and gang up on others or they stay far away in fear of getting raped or hurt.

$15,080. This is the most money a single person can make at a minimum wage job in a year. This is not a lot: a standard new car or light truck will easily cost twice this number. Yet, this isn’t what minimum wagers receive in a year. A portion of their already small paycheck goes to taxes, which are used to pay for criminals to live carefree lives behind bars.

As of September 26, 2015, there is a total of 93,821 inmates in prison for drug offenses, which is equivalent to 48.4 percent of the prison population. The use of illegal narcotics has been an issue within the country for decades; however, is incarceration the way to solve this problem? I think not. During the late 1960’s, poverty was a substantial issue within urban cities and secluded rural areas. On the other hand, recreational drug usage promoted by fashionable young, white Americans as a symbol of social upheaval and youthful rebellion coincided with the deprivation within many of these areas.

Jails in the Criminal Justice System Corrections as an element of public policy and the criminal justice operations has far too long focused entirely on those lengthy sentences in prisons as the driving element of the field of corrections. Jails are now seen as something that is more complex, challenging, and useful in becoming knowledgeable of the big picture of the criminal justice system. Approximately, there are 3,320 local jails or regional justice systems spread throughout the United States. Those same jails push us and demand that our attention be brought to the public policy process.