Why Do People Commit Crimes In America

In this paper, I will be explaining what the three strikes law is and its purpose. I will also be explaining why the three strikes law is controversial by defining the defending arguments from the pros and cons sides. I will also use relevant facts and statistics to demonstrate the response from the public in regards to the three strikes law. Lastly I will argue, why we should eliminate the use of the three strikes law due to its injustice to not only the criminals, but also to those of us who are innocent of crimes. The three strikes law was first passed in 1993 by Washington State to keep repeated criminals off the streets along with deterring crime (Clark et al, 1997).

Today’s court and justice systems, as well as our prison system, are flawed and don’t do enough to not only hinder any further crime from occurring, but put those who may cause further complications in our society in jail. In the article “Why Prisons Don’t Work,” Wilbert Rideau, a murderer sentenced to life in jail, explains his reasons and provides evidence on why our prison system is counterproductive. According to Rideau, many of those who are thrown in prison, were convicted due to their unskilled, impulsive, and uneducated actions. Putting these men in prison may seem like a good idea, but there are underlying reasons why prisons don’t work.

This country is very hypocritical in its so-called Christianity of forgiveness. A man does the time that is imposed by the judicial system but spends the resting of his nonprison life paying and repaying for a wrong done years ago. It is not surprising that the recidivism rate is so high among released prisoners. If so few employers will hire former prisoners, how are they to live; it is impossible for them to become productive citizens of the

The US faces a very big and real problem that affects mainly repeat criminal offenders. Bail, which is a sum of money paid to a court to guarantee an appearance in court is very often set too high and does not consider current financial circumstances to the fullest. Infact, in New York City alone, one in ten defendants are unable to pay for bail at their arraignment (nytimes). Kenneth Humphrey, a retired 64 year old who had prior substance abuse and multiple felonies, followed a disabled man into his home and threatened him and demanded money, of which he got five dollars and a bottle of cologne (nytimes). His bail was set at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and being a retired shipyard worker, his retirement could not pay out.

By serving their time, felons have supposedly paid their debt to society. Felons aren’t allowed to own a firearm or serve on juries, so it doesn’t seem right that they would be allowed to vote. Being convicted of a felon has everlasting consequences whether these advocates like it or

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.

This shows how the government should start funding these programs to help lower the jail population. This is why the government should have a sentencing

The conflict and consensus models reflect two opposite systems in criminal justice. In the conflict model, which works to protect individual rights, “justice is more of a product of conflicts among agencies where the component parts function primarily to serve their own interests”(Cronkhite, 2013, p. 202). Laws in this model reflect the beliefs of the interest groups with the most power and are “used primarily to control the behavior of the defective, dependent, and delinquent, the dangerous classes” (Hagan, 2009, p. 11).

Coupled with a lower-paid prison staff and less spending on educational programs, violence in private prisons is higher compared to public ones (Quandt 2014). Because of increased violence and fewer programs that help young minorities integrate back into society, a higher recidivism rate exists in private prisons. Hence, a transition back to public prisons that better emphasize programs useful towards younger convicts will keep more out of prison longer, strengthening communities and reducing the incredibly disproportionate number of racial minorities in the United States. Of course, no matter how good the policy, meaningful change only comes through public outcry to pressure their representatives in prioritizing the elimination of private prisons. To exterminate private prisons, the communication of the policy needs to be framed in a way that galvanizes the public to change their opinions on prisoners.

Chapter 2 Article 2: Obama: ‘Much of Our Criminal Justice System Remains Unfair’ It should come as no surprise to most to discover that numerous people commit crimes on a daily basis. That being said, some might ask themselves, what happens to criminals after a crime has been committed? Chapter two of the textbook, Constitutional Law and the Criminal Justice System by J. Scott Harr, Karen M. Hess, Christine Orthmann, and Jonathon Kingsbury discusses a detailed overview of the United States legal system. According to the textbook the main motivation for establishing the U.S. legal system was to create behavioral boundaries for its citizens (Harr, Hess, Orthmann, & Kingsbury, 2015, p. 31).

If crime is decreasing and incarceration is increasing, society is in danger. In other words, incarceration is producing crime and perishing human growth by drawing government interest from promoting education, community ties, and the desire to excel in a working environment. Consequently, considering the history of political influences on the American justice system, high incarceration rates is a larger benefit for public officials who influence crime management in oppose to the needs of society, which indicates the purposeful process of incarceration. Rather than addressing the root of the crime to efficiently prevent crime, public officials have invested in the prison system by falsifying a “tough on crime” image to pleasure the public and glamorize their personal

Food stamps are provided to help Americans who struggle with food insecurity. People that are not sure where there next meal is coming from are given help so they can get by in difficult times. Maine's Governor, Paul LePage has lobbied that food stamps should ban the purchasing of candy and sugary drinks. The purpose of food stamps is not violated by this restriction, candy and soda hardly count as a nutritious, filling meal. However this bill was shot down by the Federal Government, LePage's response was to threaten to scrap the food stamp program if these new regulations are not included.

I think we all know that by criminals being incarcerating, crime won’t stop. “We have been growing the prison population whether crime rates went up or went down, whether we were in good economic times or bad, during war, during peace, when the number of young men in the crime-prone age group was increasing at the same time that it was decreasing”. (WEBPAGE) When someone from the neighborhood goes to prison, the neighborhood try to replace that person. So when the person comes back to the neighborhood from prison, there is now more offenders in the neighborhood.

This includes the expensive bill they receive when they come out of jail and the strict rules associated with the parole system. The government needs to find a way to “Help parolees reenter society while managing risk to the public” (Glazer 2). In Rosenberg’s article, a guy named Constantino saw this problem of ex-cons and their debt and started a program called “The Clapham Set” which helps these individuals learn different skills and trades that could potentially land them a job. Carlos (a formal inmate) came into the program with over $300 worth of debt and started as a dishwasher. He now is the supervisor of the kitchen.

The world is a goblet of different types of people, all of which are trying to live the best they can. There is, however, only one earthly or physical guiding force for our actions on earth-the law. Alternatively called the “party killer”, the “great annoyance”, or more simply, the government’s ten commandments, the law is the law-people will either heed to it, try to covertly slip past it, or try to be “above” it. Those who attempt the last scheme are simply law-breakers. Those people could be life-long law-breakers or maybe “one-hit” wonders.