abortion laws

Abortion is looked at as a taboo thing to many cultures. So many people consider it as murder and are completely against it. However, there have been many instances in which women get abortions or somehow give themselves abortions and it has led to very dangerous outcomes. The United States has made abortion legal up to a certain stage of pregnancy, but many countries have yet to do this. Countries like Burma where abortion is illegal are facing issues with illegal pregnancies and their potential consequences. Young poor women are getting pregnant and abandoned by the baby’s father, the women have no means of raising he child.

               The only times abortion is legal in Burma is when it involves saving the life of the mother. In other words, if the mother is having complications with the pregnancy, and can lead to both her and the baby dying, then terminating the pregnancy is permissible. However, when it comes to just terminating the pregnancy for other reasons, then there are extreme consequences that may come from it. The legal repercussions from having or assisting in an abortion vary. Some punishments are jailtime and others are just fines, it all depends on the stage of the pregnancy.

               For most abortions done on purpose, the punishment is 3 years of imprisonment. If the mother was caused to miscarry because of someone else causing it, only the culprit will receive punishment, but if both parties were involved then both will. The punishment becomes more severe with the longer pregnancies, punishment can be up to seven or ten years. That amount or years of punishment is the same for people who also kill the mother during the abortion whether it be intentional or not. It’s interesting that the time of imprisonment is only ten years for something that is essentially considered murder. Women who get pregnant and do not want to be, go through some very traumatizing experiences attempting to abort the child.

               A lot of Burmese women will attempt dangerous abortions, and will not even succeed in terminating the pregnancy. Many women will go to people who do not have any actual experience in properly giving abortions, and often will result in the women having to go elsewhere to receive proper care. Most times the expectant mothers are given a combination of things to kill the baby and then perform pummeling, insertion, or abdomen massaging to finish killing the baby. When these methods do not work, the women will cross the border to Thailand to a clinic that will treat them. Some women are in such bad condition that there is no hope for them, and others are able to recover from the failed abortion. This is why having abortions be illegal can have a lot of consequences.

               Even if there is a vast majority of the population who are against abortion, it only makes since to legalize it in order to prevent dangerous at home abortions. Hopefully, with time more countries will realize this and legalize abortion and in turn be able to regulate it better. For now, these women will continue to risk their lives in order to terminate their pregnancies. Abortion policies are much different here, but still have problems.

               In 2007, the United States banned abortions in the second trimester of pregnancy. Even though doctors have said that it is better for the mother’s health to do it during the second trimester. Being that a lot of politicians are prolife, has made it so most health insurances do not cover abortions, unless being done to save the mother. In order to prevent abortions, people need to have better sex education, and better access to contraceptives. However, certain laws have made it quite hard for women to get abortions even within the 20-week mark. When a woman goes to get an abortion, they are forced to take a class that tells them about the negatives sides to getting an abortion. The women also need to have at least two appointments before getting the actual abortion. Which, may risk them not having enough time to get the abortion and potentially having to keep the baby.

               The United States is a country that prides itself on freedom, and pursuit of happiness. However, the United States cannot be all that free, when women are barely even allowed to make their own decision, and lack the same rights to that of a man. The United States needs to take a look at other developed countries and consider the differences and why the United States is behind in some areas, when it is as developed in should be in line with these other countries.

Sources:

https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/abortion/federal-and-state-bans-and-restrictions-abortion

https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/abortion/types-attacks

What Motivates Serial Killers

In the article, Why do Serial Killer Kill, I learned that most serial killers are so in their own heads fantasizing about their potential crimes that their real crimes are well planned. Not only are they well planned but they rationalized every aspect of their own behavior and do not feel as though what they are doing is bad. They typically choose victims who are strangers, and view as weak. They feel that they need to brutally kill the victim, because they are a menace to society. They usually pick homeless people or prostitutes. This article states how most serial killers are white, members of the lower middle class, and between the ages of late twenties and early thirties. As children, they set animals on fire and torture them. It is also common for these children to have an interest in joining the police force type of positions, or military and security forces to have a sense of authority. This article really stresses on the mental instability of potential serial killers. It taught me that familial issues are not the only reason why people turn to killing.

Psychological Phases is an article that goes through all the phases a serial killer goes through before and after they kill. Before and while killing their victims, the killer’s mind goes through some phases. The first phase is called aura phase, which is when the killer withdraws from reality and his sense be heightened. This phase can last from hours to months up until the murder takes place. This phase can even cause the killer to self-medicate with alcohol and drugs in efforts to stop feeling this way. Next is the trolling phase where the killer identifies and stalks his victims. Then there is the wooling phase where he gains the victims trust before luring them into a trap. The capture phase is exactly what it sounds like. This is typically one of the killer’s favorite moments. The victim is either locked in somewhere or rendered unconscious by a hard blow. The murder phase is next, the killer reenacts similar situations from his childhood the difference being that he is the one with the power this time around. Totem phase is where the killer feels the need to preserve their success. They do this by keeping a souvenir from the murder or pertaining to the murder. They collect things like news clippings, parts of their bodies, eat, wear, and/or show it to there later victims. Some of them even photograph their victims and keep the photos. The last phase is the depression phase. When all is said, and done the killer still feels empty inside and has not escaped any of his old feeling of hatred towards everyone including himself. In order to escape these feeling the killer usually sets out for their next victim quickly.

I read a text called What Motivate Serial Killers to Kill and this one went into a little more depth as to why they feel the need to. The author describes how most people who become serial killers fear rejection, need to feel powerful, and perfect. These fears in turn make them quite insecure individuals, they will not even form relationships in fear of rejection. They are also terrified of being exposed, abandoned, and humiliated. This roots back to their upbringing, being that most of their fathers abandoned them. The texts states how the majority of serial killers have intercourse with their victim pre-and/or postmortem. The need for control causes for the killer to try and prolong the death of the victim in efforts to feel even more powerful, because their life is literally in his hands. For them the only power that truly matters are the one that can cause pain, kill, and destroy. Killing is usually the only way they feel empowerment. The author explains how serial killers think that they are doing a good thing by eliminating people they deem as unclean, and feel the need to continue their work. However, the main reason they continue killing is because they become addicted to it and feel some sort of euphoria each time. Another reason they do not feel the need to stop is because they rationalize their behavior. However, they still understand that there are consequences that can occur by their behavior, and usually avoid getting caught. They feel no sympathy or remorse but are able to simulate it by observing other peoples.

capital punishment

Capital Punishment is a topic of a lot of controversy, but I am not here to change anyone’s minds. I am simply here to drop some basic information that everybody should know before taking an actual stance on the issue. First things first, what is capital punishment? According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, it is death as punishment for a very serious crime. In the United States, the capital punishment varies case by case and state by state. Different states use capital punishment for a variety of different serious crimes. For example, Minnesota has had capital punishment banned since 1911, and Utah has it legal for anyone who commits a capital offense such as multiple murders and so on. Capital punishment is viewed as a necessary evil by many.

               When this topic is brought up, most people are quick to ask, “wouldn’t you want the person who raped and killed your daughter to die?” For many, this is an easy question to answer, and for most the answer is yes. The next question is, if all the other first world, developed countries have done away with capital punishment, why has the United States not? Most of the developed countries would answer, that capital punishment is barbaric and no longer necessary. They see as when killing a person because of their actions behind closed doors does not really deter the general public from committing terrible crimes. However, being that one of the five purposes of punishment in the United States is in fact retribution, there is no possibility of banning capital punishment until that form of justice is gone.

               There are some important facts that everyone must know when it comes to capital punishment. There are a lot of people who feel that lethal injection is too gentle, and that the inmate should suffer more. Others feel as though it somehow makes capital punishment okay when it is done in a humane way, such as lethal injection. What those people do not know is that lethal injection can be painful for the inmate. When an inmate is given a lethal injection, it is typically done by one of the guards and not by an actual doctor. Therefore, the inmate’s height and weight is not taken much into consideration by the guard giving the lethal injection. When the dosage is not high enough or just did not do what it was intended to do than the inmate is subject to suffering. Different people react to chemicals differently and even though they are most likely going to die from the dose, they still may react to it differently. There are three chemicals that make up the lethal injection and one of them is intended to put the inmate in a deep sleep immediately. There have been cases where this does not occur and the inmate is completely aware of what is going on but is paralyzed and suffocating. Not only can it be painful, but it is there is a very real chance of the inmate being innocent.

               Between 1973 and 2015 there were 148 people who were exonerated from death row. Those are too many innocent people that could have died for crime they did not even commit. Studies have shown that the amount of innocent people who have been sentenced to death row is even higher than the amount that was exonerated. It is estimated a 1 in 25 defendants sentenced to death row are innocent. Often times prosecutors are the ones to blame for this. Some prosecutors have hidden evidence that can be beneficial to the defense team. Statistics have also shown that race can influence if whether a not a person is sentenced to death row. When being sentenced, black people will be put on death row more than white people, even if the crime is the same. With all of that being said people will take their chances and side with capital punishment because it is the only way to get retribution for the victims.

               Capital punishment is a practice of ancient times, but people still feel the need for it today. Being capable of feeling empathy for all sides of the situation, have it be the victim, the victim’s family, the offender, or the offender’s family. It is hard to say what decision one will make when put in the situation. Many of us behave differently than we think we would have when put in one of those situations.

Sources:

https://www.aclu.org/issues/capital-punishment

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=130959&page=1

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/execution/readings/history.html

Why some people become serial killers

Serial killings have increased exponentially within a century. Being that populations are bigger and people have better chances of getting away make it easier for people to commit heinous crimes. People become serial killers because they have antisocial personality disorders or other similar mental disabilities.  People believe that there is more to becoming a psychopathic serial killer such as traumatic experiences while growing up, or the environment that they grew up in. In reality it is that some people are born with chemical imbalances in their brain, which make them more likely to have antisocial disorder or borderline personality disorder.

            Antisocial personality disorder is when a person has traits of irritability, impulsivity, and remorselessness. Not all people who have this disorder are psychopaths but the ones who are display a greater lack of empathy and grandiosity (De Brito and Hodgins, pg. 133). According to Personality, Personality Disorder and Violence: An Evidence Based Approach ASPD and Psychopathy are very different however both can cause a real burden to society. People who suffer from ASPD tend to commit crimes, do not keep a job, and harm their loved ones because of the crimes they commit. ASPD combined with psychopathy is what most serial killers have been diagnosed with.

 Only one third of people ASPD are diagnosed with psychopathy, however every individual diagnosed with psychopathy have ASPD. There are certain biological signs that can also show if a person is more prone to becoming a serial killer or not. It all starts with the brain, most psychopaths brain scans’ show low activity in areas related to self-control, empathy, and ethics (Ehrenfeld). Other markers to potential criminality are brain damage, low resting heart rate, being male, gene variants, and a mother who smoked, drank, or both during pregnancy. All of these markers can vary depending on the person and not all people with these traits are psychopaths. Adrian Raine, a college professor, did a study on people with brain scans similar to psychopaths.

In Raine’s study he discovered that there are “pro-social psychopaths” (Ehrenfeld). In other words, there are people who have all of the traits of a psychopathy but can still be contributing members of society. This is supposedly because psychopath’s who have parents who are devoted to them and show constant love and affection, have a better understanding of how people should behave in everyday situations. This theory is flawed because there have been people who come from a good and healthy family and still commit terrible crimes. Therefore, being a psychopath is the only reason why people become serial killers.

In Raven’s article What Creates Serial Killers and Psychopaths: Genetics or Environment? Raven states that “all serial killers are psychopathic, but not all psychopaths are serial killers.”  The things that drive these people to kill is their desire for control and sexual or aggressive drive towards another living, breathing being. Having psychopathy does not mean that a person is crazy or insane it means that they suffer from chronic mental disorders and violent and aggressive social behavior. They feel no guilt, sympathy, or remorse for their actions. This is the difference between psychotics and psychopaths, psychotic people go through a period of psychosis where they do not remember what they do. They can also feel remorse for their actions.

Psychopaths on the other hand can tell the difference between right and wrong but they do not feel as though it applies to them. They view themselves as being above everything including the law, this is due to their egocentric and narcissistic behavior. Over 90 percent of serial killers are white males with normal to bright IQ’s, however even with being so intelligent they are quite unstable. Most serial killers are very charming and manipulative, they can usually persuade people into thinking they actually care. They tend to not learn much from experiences and when from their actions occur they typically turn hostile. In doing so it gives them justification for more violent behavior (Raven).

Taking a look at all those characteristic in turn creates a profile for psychopathic serial killers. There are a few specific traits to look for in potential serial killers. They begin to feel depressed and fail to succeed at anything. They also become socially withdrawn, but display attention seeking behavior. These characteristics do not really explain why they choose to kill but the reason is because they like to have some sort of control of a situation. Psychopaths have the tendency to blame everything on society. When they kill and torture people they feel as though they are getting revenge for what was done to them. This furthers the idea that people who become serial killers do so because of brain abnormalities.

riots

Jail and prison riots are very much real and a huge issue when comes to the safety of the inmates and the staff. However, they are not as common of an occurrence as they once were. In earlier times and up until the 1980’s jail and prison riots happened frequently and lasted days at a time, taking a large number of lives (Burkenstien, 1). There were a few major riots that took the lives of a lot of people, one in New Mexico killed 33, one in New York killed 43, and the last major riot in West Virginia took 3 peoples lives’, which was in 1986. Since then, the amount of riots a year has gone down significantly. In 2003 alone there were less than 3 riots that occurred that year. The assaults on staff members also dropped during the same time period. That is quite impressive being that the incarceration rates have increased since then.

               One of the few reasons there has been a decline in riots or violence within correctional facilities is that the number inmates in there due to violent crimes has gone down. Those who are in there because of a violent crime, tend to be in some form of higher security facility. The management of these facilities has improved, there has also implementation of security squads. The squads are called Correctional Emergency Response Teams, and they have been incredibly beneficial when it comes to violence among the inmates (Birkenstein, 1). These teams have really impacted the severity of riots that have occurred since their inception, because they stop the riots before too much harm is done. However, riots still occur even though they are less frequent.

               There are many reason as to why inmates become violent. Racial issues are one of the major reasons that there is violence in correction facilities. Different races correlate with different gangs, and if a member of a certain gang so much as talks to a member of a different gang, said member will be punished. Therefore, not only is there violence within each gang but also between the different gangs. The main way to get by in jails and prisons is to stick with your own race and always be willing and able to defend them or help them when need be. For example, when a riot does occur each member of the gang must get involved to help their fellow members (Lichten, 1). If a person from the gang that is being a part of the riot does not help, they risk the chance of getting beat after the fact.

               The main ways to try and prevent riots or prevent them from getting out of hand, is staff. Having a decent number of staff on hand to be able to keep the inmates in check is crucial to maintaining order. If there is not enough staff then correction facilities have high chances of getting overthrown by the inmates, even if just for a few days. When guards are able to patrol, and keep a constant watch on all sections of the facilities, inmates become too intimidated to attempt to revolt. Therefore, the more staff is around, they are able to detect tensions between the inmates. Less staff means less opportunity for catching any kind of tension or potential threats to the facility.

There have been many huge jail and prison riots in the United States but, there have only been a few notoriously bad ones.  One of them being the one at Alcatraz in 1946, where an inmate and few others were able to disarm the guards and tried to escape, but accidently jammed the door and were stopped before anything too bad could happen. Another one was in Montana in 1959, two inmates were able to disarm all the guards and release all the inmates. They killed the Deputy warden, but no one else’s life was taken. One of the culprits ended up surrendering by killing his partner and himself. There have been many terrible riots in the United States, and even more gruesome ones in other countries where many more people lost their lives.

Fortunately, now riots in the United States have gone down significantly. This is due to various reason, one of the major ones being that staff is now more prepared to handle these kinds of situations, and they have team dedicated to diffuse possible riots. However, they are still very possible and can get really horrible if not managed properly.

Sources:

http://listverse.com/2014/08/06/10-bloody-prison-riots/

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/12/have-a-safe-riot/354671/

http://www.policeandjailprocedures.com/live/jail-and-prison-riots.html

rehabilitative justice

Rehabilitative Justice, in my opinion, is the most important of the justice purposes. Many believe that the best way to help offenders is by being able to alter their state of mind. By altering their state of mind, it in turn alters their behavior. Thus, helping the offenders gain better behavior and cope with tough situations. Rehabilitative justice critics believe that this form of punishment does not provide enough justice for the victims and their families. However, now in today’s society the idea of revenge or retribution is considered barbaric. In many instances this is true, it is more important to attempt and make the individual at fault understand that their behavior was wrong then to punish them by making them pay for what they did.

            When do we as humans draw the line? What makes it okay do wrong to others as was done to us? Now, it does not mean that punishment is not necessary. It most certainly is, however the form of punishments that have been put in place so far have done little to lower the rate of recidivism. For instance, even though crime rate has gone down since 2008, it is still happening far too often. Jails and prisons have remained incredibly overcrowded, and the amount of money being used to keep these facilities running is very high. A lot of people argue that rehabilitative justice, say that it will cost more to get rehabilitative programs up and running. In the long run, it will more cost efficient because people will be less likely to go back into jail.   

            Most people who are against rehabilitative justice are people who do not view the offender as a human. They do not take into consideration that everyone makes mistakes, and everyone has different ways of reacting to certain situations. People have different brains, therefore think differently, and behave differently. Some people think it is okay to lie if it keeps somebody from getting hurt, and others feel that it is never okay to lie. Some crimes are too serious and this analogy may not apply, but is it not our divine right to be there and help one another.        

            It is hard to justify crimes like rape, murder, child molestation, etc. As a matter of fact, there is no justification for those types of crimes. The place where rehabilitation programs are more effective would be in jails. Most times jails hold people who are in there for less serious crimes such as, drug related crimes, robbery, stealing, just to name a few. These are the offenders who have a chance and learning behavior that will prevent them from committing the same crimes. Those who have committed heinous crimes are usually suffer from some sort of psychological disorder ranging from, psychopathy, sociopathy, and a many more. Many of these criminals are unable to benefit from any kind of rehabilitative program.

            The main goal of rehabilitative programs is to alter an offender’s behavior for the better. They attempt to do so by teaching them different and better ways of dealing with frustrating circumstances. Many times, when someone who has a history of criminal behavior, encounters those situations, it results in criminal behavior or activity. The main goal is to help the offenders reshape their thinking process, this is key in prevent and stopping criminal behavior.

            Rehabilitative justice is a crucial form of punishment. It would be very beneficial if everyone realized such and gave it a chance. I understand the reluctance towards it, but it is time to realize that the previous way of punishment are not being effective, and it is time to give rehabilitation a shot. 

Synthesis

Criminal behavior has become an epidemic in the United States. In more recent years, the issue of overcrowding in jails and prisons has only increased. The amount of people going to jail because of drug related crimes has been one of the main reasons for the overcrowding issues in jails, and even prisons. Due to laws, such as the Three Strikes Law, after more than two offenses criminals are sent to serve longer sentences in prison even if the crimes are less serious. This begs the question of, what are the options for decreasing the number of offenders going in and out of prison or jail? There are a few different forms of punishments and the one that proves to be the most effective is rehabilitative justice. Rehabilitative justice is the most beneficial for decreasing the amount of recidivism, and in helping offender learn how to become contributing members of society. 

          Rehabilitative justice is proven to be the best form of punishment, even though a lot of people believe it lets the offender off too easy. Both rehabilitative and treatment programs are crucial in potentially improving the life styles of inmates upon their release. It is important to understand most jails and prisons provide a variety of programs to help inmates resist criminal activity once out of corrections (Rehabilitation, 1). However, a number of people feel that spending money on these programs is a huge waste of it, and that enough money is already being spent on criminals (Meyer, 3).  The daily cost of each inmates is $79. 49 per day, per inmate (Cost of Corrections, 1). This number does not take into account what type of security it is; for instance, if the inmate is in maximum security the cost rises. Therefore, rather than making sure criminal are incarcerated, the court should be making sure they are getting help to stay out of corrections. Most jails and prisons do have programs available in helping the inmates with day to day life outside of confinement.

          All of the programs that jails and prisons offer can be very beneficial to the inmate, when they take the program seriously. Almost all jails and prison have programs that allow inmates to get their GED’s or even a high school diploma (Rehabilitation, 1). The importance of this is because corrections believe doing this will help them make better decisions upon release and continue to want to better themselves. The inmates who participate in the program typically do not pursue higher education, but they do look and aim to maintain a job, (Rehabilitation, 1). Another program they offer is teaching them how not only to maintain a job but also relationships. They teach them certain skills to build healthy relationship in either work, romantic, familial, and or amicable. Having better relationships with people will lead to less recidivism because they will be less motivated to partake in criminal behavior out of fear of losing the relationships they have built. That, of course, only applies to those who have truly taken the teachings to heart and care to make their lives’ better. Jails and prisons also offer psychological treatment.

          For many inmates, receiving psychological help is imperative in their willingness to get better. Especially for those who are in there because of drug charges, they need the opportunity to get better and many times these programs give it to them. However, most of them do not have the financial means necessary to do this on their own, even if they do want to, and most rehabilitative programs outside of a correctional facility are extremely expensive, (Rehabilitation, 1). Most people who find themselves in jail or prison because of drugs do not have the money to get psychological help for their addiction. That is terrible because a meta- analysis, which is a form of measuring statistics, concluded that rehabilitative programs reduce recidivism by 10 percent, (Davis, 1). The reasons these programs are crucial is because the intent behind them is to alter the inmates’ way of thinking and behaving, (Rehabilitative,1). In achieving this, they help the inmate learn other forms of expressing themselves, when they would have originally done some form of criminal act.

          Another way Jails and prisons try and help inmates learn work ethic, is by assigning them tasks around the facility. The tasks are usually maintenance on the facility, working on the prison farm, and working in a prison industry, (Rehabilitation, 1). Many people feel that rather than trying to teach them skills, the facilities do this to keep the inmates from just standing around all day. Jails and prisons also provide something called work programs. Work programs teach the inmates to basic things like how to make a resume, interview, and how to apply for a job. Learning these basic things really help with them and being able to get ahead in life upon release, (Rehabilitation and Reentry for Former Prisoners, 1).

          In summation, there are a plethora of evidence proving that rehabilitation and treatment programs are prevalent in helping inmates. The number of re-offenses is still high and without attempting to change each individual nothing will change that. In creating more programs more inmates will get a chance at reestablishing a healthy life with healthy relationships, and day to day activities. Ensuring their psychological help is essential and more people need to make it a focus to help inmates. 

Rehabilitation, Parole, and Probation

Does rehabilitation actually work? Logically, it makes more sense than all the other forms of justice purposes, i.e. deterrence, incapacitation, and retribution. Rehabilitation is the only one out of all of them that focuses more on changing offender, versus just getting them out of society. They all have the same main goal which is to prevent and stop crime, and to decrease recidivism. Many argue that rehabilitation does not work, when in reality it has been the only form of justice that has the most results.

               In more recent years, more criminologists have studied the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs. The studies have provided substantial evidence that proves that rehabilitation works.  A meta- analysis, which is a way of measuring statistics, concluded that rehabilitation programs reduce recidivism by 10 percent, which is more than deterrence, retribution, or incapacitation have produced. The meta- analysis also narrowed down which should be the primary focuses for the programs. A few of them being to provide treatment intervention for high- risk offenders, use cognitive- behavioral treatment to eradicate criminal behavior, take into account the different characteristics of the offenders, and so on. Using the primary focuses can make a real difference in the minds of the offender and allow for better results. Does this mean that the future of rehabilitation programs in correctional facilities will increase?

               Many surveys have proved that more and more people are coming around to the idea of rehabilitation programs for inmates. A decent amount of the population, claim to believe that it is important to treat offenders. They believe this for the sake of society, the better offenders are treated the less likely they are to reoffend. All of the justice purposes are set up to protect society from the harm that criminal can cause. Probation and parole are another form of punishment. However, they fall mostly under incapacitation, but can also be considered a rehabilitative punishment. Most people think that incapacitation only means getting put behind bars, but it is any form of take away an individual’s freedom in order to ensure the safety of the community.

               Probation and parole are technically two different things. Probation is a form of punishment given to an offender prior to actually going to jail. Probation allows the offender to rehabilitate themselves, in effort to not go to jail. The offender will either not get a sentence or have their sentence suspended while on probation. If the offender violates probation they either serve the sentence that was originally given, or the judge then gives them a sentence to serve. While on probation, the offender will be required to complete certain tasks, and adhere to certain rules. For example, they will most likely have a curfew of some sort, they will be required to participate in a rehab program, frequent drug testing, etc. The length that a person can be on probation varies from crime to crime, and state to state. Being that probation frequently requires the offender to go to therapy or participate in a rehabilitation program, make probation fall under the rehabilitative justice. Parole differs from probation in just a few ways.

               Parole is a term used to define the period of time after a person is released from prison. Parole has a lot of the same requirements as probation. Parole may require the offender to live in a halfway house, and have other financial duties. One of the major differences of between probation and parole is that a parole officer’s main duty is to help the offender become a member of society again. When violation occurs, it is up to the parole board, and not the court room, on whether or not goes back to prison to finish their sentence. For instance, if the offender serves 15 years of their 30-year sentence, gets out and violates his or her parole, the offender is then subject to finishing that 30- year sentence.

               Parole and probation are the two form of incapacitating punishment that is also part of rehabilitation. This is because most probation and parole agreements require the offender to either participate in a program or receive some form of counseling or therapy. Probation and parole are used quite frequently because of the overcrowding of prisons and jail, therefore the less amount of people they can have in prison or jail, the better. The people who actually participate in the programs required by parole or probation, typically have less chances of recidivism. 

Programs Jails and Prisons Offer

Jails and prisons have various types of programs, which all aim at helping the inmate in some form or another. Almost all prisons have educational programs, a large quantity of inmates end up getting their GEDs while incarcerated. Correction facilities believe that teaching the inmates things like math, literature, science, and history will motivate them to continue to better themselves and even pursue higher education. Although, very seldom upon release, they pursue higher education, but they do feel capable of getting and maintaining a job.

               Jails and prisons also provide work programs, which better ensure them getting and maintaining a job. The work programs teach the inmates special skills they can use upon release to get a job. The programs will teach the inmates basic things like how to apply and interview for job, being that many do not have the best experience in doing so. Many programs also teach them how to manage their own money and making it last, how to manage a household, and live a healthy life. These programs also teach them how to form and keep relationships with people in any kind of setting, have it be work or romantic. A long with teaching them these basic skills needed for acquiring a job, some institutions will also give the inmates certain work assignments. The assignment includes maintenance of the facility, working on the prison farm, and working in a prison industry. Some believe that the prison or jails main purpose for assigning the inmates to these types of jobs is to prevent them from just standing around doing nothing, rather than trying to help them learn work skills for their release into the free world. There are also psychological and counseling programs available for inmates.

               The psychological and counseling programs main goal is to alter the offender’s way of thinking and behaving. They aim to stop the criminal acts by having them confront their issues and understanding what they did was wrong. The most common form of treatment in jails and prisons for drug use. There has been a huge increase in drug related crimes or crimes committed under the influence of some form of drug. Therefore, it has become extremely important to treat the inmates suffering from drug use or abuse. Even though the amount of drug treatment programs has risen, it is not keeping up with the number of inmates that need to be a part of it. Group counseling is another form of treatment that is common for inmates, these programs prioritize having the inmate give up their criminal ways of thinking and behaving. There are many other forms of psychological treatments and ways of helping the inmate change their criminal behavior.

               Most people are not aware of the fact that some of the people that are currently in jail or prison have some sort of mental disorder. This is due to several different reasons. I recently visited the Utah county jail and learned that some of the people in there with mental disabilities are in there because the other institutions could not fit them. Others are in there because of committing heinous crimes due to their mental disabilities. For example, a few years ago, two young girls attempted to murder their friend because the “Slenderman” wanted them to do it. The young girl who was the brains of the who operation was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which is a brain disorder that cause realistic illusions. The young girl genuinely believed in “Slenderman” and convinced her other friend to kill the other young girl in efforts to protect their families from him. This most definitely is not the first case where people commit crimes because of their mental disorder, a lot of murderers have psychopathy and when not treated correctly can cause them to do terrible things. Therefore, it is imperative to have programs that can prevent these people from doing terrible things while in prison.

               Few, believe in the necessity for treatment or rehabilitative programs in jails and prisons. However, its prevalence is obvious, especially when it comes to the inmates who still have a chance becoming people who can be a good member of the community. The need for more programs is growing and people have to realize it is fundamental in getting people to stay out of jail and prisons. In the long run this will be more beneficial, financially, for each state.

Sources:

http://law.jrank.org/pages/1935/Rehabilitation-Correctional-programs-in-United-States.html

annotated bibliography

Annotated Bibliography on Jail and Prison Dynamics and Problems They Are Facing

Builder, D. F. (n.d.). Prison History. Retrieved March 03, 2017, from http://www.adpsr.org/home/prison_history

          According to Morris G. Caldwell’s Group Dynamics in the Prison Community, there are two separate groups within them. There is a formal group and an informal group. The formal group is the prison personnel, their purpose is to maintain order, organize work, and help with the rehabilitative programs. They get the inmates in to groups and assign tasks, the inmates are in charge of the maintenance of the prisons. The staff is responsible making sure the tasks are completed and done properly. The informal group is made up of the inmates, and their roles with each other. These roles include, gambling, sexual perversion, moonshine makers, and so forth. These roles are secretive, but their hierarchy roles are often not. For instance, most guards can tell which inmates are the alphas and which are betas. However, the details of these roles are frequently looked passed. All jail and prisons have their own set of norms and rules; however, it is important to understand why society needs institutions like this.

          It is so amazing to read about how different jails and prisons are from each other. They definitely have their similarities, but most people do not realize they serve somewhat different purposes.

Criminal Law, v. 1.0. (n.d.). Retrieved March 02, 2017, from http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/4373?e=storm_1.0-ch01_s05

Criminal Law by Lisa M. Storm, is an article that briefly describes the five purposes of punishment. The five being, Specific or General Deterrence, Incapacitation, Rehabilitation, Retribution, and Restitution. Deterrence prevents crime by putting fear in the defendant or the public. Incapacitation does it by taking the defendant out of society. Rehabilitation aims to prevent future crime by attempting to change the defendant’s behavior. Retribution tries to achieve crime prevention by “having the punishment fit the crime,” resulting in the society feeling that no one will get away with any sort of crime. Restitution prevents future crime but using money to punish the defendant. Often times the defendant will have fines to pay or cost of damages.

This was quite relevant to the research because it explained how each form of punishment works and its importance to the justice system. It also provided more knowledge on each one and effectively summarized the goals behind each of the punishments.

 E., P., E., E., C., E., . . . Farrell, A. (n.d.). Prisons: Prisoners - Inmate Subcultures And Informal Organizations. Retrieved March 02, 2017, from http://law.jrank.org/pages/1796/Prisons-Prisoners-Inmate-subcultures-informal-organizations.html

In this article titled, Prisons: Prisoners - Inmate Subcultures And Informal Organizations, the author goes extensively into the unspoken social norms within prisons and even jails. These norms are more common in prisons being that the inmates spend longer time there, thus developing a subculture. Certain inmates play certain roles and people must recognize all roles and play their own parts as well. Most times the guards have an idea of some of the roles that the inmates play in their prison community. However, even the guards who spend the most time with the inmates, know exactly how the subculture works and its rules. The article also touched on the slang names of each of the different roles and what they are responsible for. Prison guards try to regulate as best they can, but many times the inmates get creative with their tactics and it results in them still having their subculture intact along with everything that comes with it. For example, somehow being able to get things from the “Free-world” inside of the prison.  This is common and even though it is really hard it can still be done.

The article was really helpful in learning the day to day dynamics of prisons. It was very interesting to read on how they all play a different part, and that most of them just know it without having to actually address it.

Incapacitation - The Scholarly Literature On Incapacitation And The Measurement Of Incapacitative Effects. (n.d.). Retrieved March 03, 2017, from http://law.jrank.org/pages/1353/Incapacitation-scholarly-literature-on-incapacitation-measurement-incapacitative-effects.html

In the United States the most common form of incapacitation is imprisonment. That is why most jails and prisons are highly crowded. Being that the United State has more regulations and laws concerning human rights, cause for there to be more incarceration, longer sentencing, and less harmful punishments. Incapacitation needs to be further studied especially if it is one of the more common forms of justice. Many of the numbers and statistics concerning it are, skeptical because it is really hard to measure if whether a person was going to even commit a crime in the first place. There are a lot of things left unsure and unanswered with this type of punishment.

All forms of justice are imperative in the criminal justice system. Incapacitation is the most common form of punishment, and it is necessary because it remove the harmful person from society.

Minton, T. D., & Zeng, Z. (2016, December). Jail Inmates in 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2017, from https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ji15.pdf

          Jail Inmates in 2015, is an article that describes the population of jails in the recent years. According to the article, jails reached their peak of inmates in 2008 with 776,600. That number is the amount of inmates in jail daily divided by the number of days in a year. In 2015 the number remained at a steady 721,300, which is quite a decrease from 2008. With such a decrease in the daily average of inmate, the number of bed space increased while the population decreased. The numbers however, are still high and prove the people are still going into jail a ridiculously fast rate. The article shows that smaller jail have a higher turnover rates, versus their larger counterparts. This is mainly due the facility being smaller and needing the space for newer offenders.

          This article was less relevant, still very insightful. However, it will most likely not be making it into the final paper.

Restorative Justice Briefing Paper. (2005, May). Retrieved February 16, 2017, from http://www.d.umn.edu/~jmaahs/Correctional%20Assessment/rj%20brief.pdf

          Restorative justice is “a new movement in the fields of victimology and criminology. Acknowledging that crime causes injury to people and communities, it insists that justice repair those injuries and that the parties be permitted to participate in that process. In other words, the main focus is to repair and to restore as much of the damage as they can. Restorative Justice views criminal behavior and actions as not just lawbreaking, but also realizes that it they harm done to the victim, community, and themselves. It also allows for more victims and communities to respond to crime, rather than just the government and the offender. Additionally, it measures success by the amount of harm that is repaired or prevented, instead of how punishment is administered. One of the ways that this form of justice is applied, is by face-to-face meetings.

          It is important to know all components of each forms of justice. This will help to narrow down why rehabilitative justice is the best form.

Schlanger, M. (2003, April). The Differences Between Jails and Prisons. Retrieved February 20, 2017, from https://www.law.umich.edu/facultyhome/margoschlanger/Documents/Resources/The_Differences_Between_Jails_and_Prisons%20.pdf

This article goes quite in depth on the differences between jails and prisons. It starts off with their size, jails are often very small but there are a few quite large ones. Jails, often times, are more chaotic than prisons because jails usually have more inmates. Jails are considerably more dangerous than prisons, because they are more crowded with people who are more dangerous. Jail inmates may be considered more dangerous because they are usually going through a lot more emotionally and can react badly to everything. They are also more crowded which leads to more chaos. Jails have less funds available to them due to their funds coming from the county, and prisons get it from the government. This in turn, leads to jail having poorer living conditions, and less treatment programs available to them.

This article was fantastic, it had a lot of important information. It was great because it had a lot of studies and statistics that made it more credible. It was also originally a book that was uploaded, which is also nice to have.

Thigpen, M. L., Hutchinson, V. A., & Geaither, R. E. (2002, January). Jail Crowding. Retrieved January 3, 2017, from http://static.nicic.gov/Library/017209.pdf

          Jails are becoming more and more crowded, even though the rate of serious crime is going down. Less people are having to spend the rest of their sentence in prison because their crimes are not grave enough to do so. The most common crimes are drug related; these crimes do not require a lengthy sentence, but do require jail time. Most of these offenders continue to offend after getting out of jail, and eventually find their way back into jail. The article also touches on the purposes of jails, and who make up the population of jails. Most jails hold offenders who are in there for property and public offenses. However, this does not mean that they do not hold dangerous criminals who have committed serious crimes, those criminals just typically go to prison fairly quickly. Most people who spend time in jail usually only stay from 10 to 20 days. The majority of jails can hold offenders for up to a year, and some for even up to 2 years, it varies depending on the jail.

          Very interesting information, not sure how significant it will be. It further proved how rehabilitation program in jails are imperative to truly helping and changing the inmate. 

Incapacitation

               The idea of incapacitated justice dates back to ancient times. It has been practiced for centuries and will continue to be practiced. Incapacitating was originally introduced to take the person who caused harm to society, out. It still works the same way and is used for the same purposes, just the methods being used have changed. In earlier times, things were a little bit more extreme and the conditions in which prisoners had to live in were almost inhumane. However, the main question of incapacitated justice is whether it prevents crime significantly.

            Not many studies have been done to prove if incapacitating criminals is at effective as it sounds. What has been proven over time is that there is a directs correlation between crime rate and incapacitation. There has been little concrete evidence to prove that incapacitation prevents crime. Crime rates did not necessarily drop drastically, but many argue that it could have been higher if it weren’t for incapacitation. There are many ways that the law can incapacitate us.

            Incapacitating people can come in many different forms. One of them is house arrest. House arrest is when a person is taken out of society by placing them in their homes for a certain amount of time. The offender is unable to leave their home and has some sort of tracking device on them to be able to regulate whether they leave their house or not. Some forms of this are with just ankle monitors, in these cases the offender is allowed to leave their dwelling, but may not be allowed to stray too far for too long. There are still countries that have more barbaric forms of incapacitating their offenders.

            For examples, some of the countries that are still under the Islamic law will use significantly harsher punishments, than the ones that are used here in the United States. Theft is considered a very serious crime in these countries and the people who steal punishment is to have their dominant hand removed. For women, not men, that commit adultery will get stoned to death. These punishments sound very ancient and most would not think that they are still used today. Imprisonment is not as commonly seen in some countries as it is seen in North America.

            In the United States the most common form of incapacitation is imprisonment. That is why most jails and prisons are highly crowded. Being that the United State has more regulations and laws concerning human rights, cause for there to be more incarceration, longer sentencing, and less harmful punishments. Incapacitation needs to be further studied especially if it is one of the more common forms of justice. Many of the numbers and statistics concerning it are, skeptical because it is really hard to measure if whether a person was going to even commit a crime in the first place. There are a lot of things left unsure and unanswered with this type of punishment.

            There is no way to actually tell whether or not someone was going to commit a violent crime. Therefore being able to measure it, is incredibly difficult, and frankly we’re not psychic. Incapacitation only leads to more arrests and incarceration, which most definitely, is not the answer to the United States overcrowding issue in the jails and prisons. Due to the fact that most offenders are spending all this time being incarcerated, they lose any ounce of social skills they had. They get released no longer knowing how to behave in a normal daily life setting. They struggle finding and maintaining a job, they struggle forming and maintaining relationships, and usually find their way back in jail or prison. Few people realize that incarceration only solves the short term problem without confronting the lasting effect of incarceration.

            Incapacitation is a necessary means of punishment, but it is not the only means. People will leave jail or prison and almost immediately fall back into their bad habits and routines. What people need to focus on, is getting people to truly want to stay out by having a good and healthy life. A lot of people in jail or prison will get too used to being in there and somehow always find their way back. People gravitate to what they are comfortable with, and a lot of times prison/jail are these peoples comfort zones.

 http://law.jrank.org/pages/1353/Incapacitation-scholarly-literature-on-incapacitation-measurement-incapacitative-effects.html

Jon'a F. Meyer's Retributive Justice

Retributive Justice, by Jon’a F Meyer is an article that primarily focuses on retribution style of punishment and how it is best form punishment. The article has a few main points and solid evidence to back up the author’s claim. Throughout the article, it is apparent that the author favors retributive justice over any other kind. However, retributive justice is not the only good form of punishment, even though the author strongly believes that it is.

          In many ways treatment, has proved to be more effective than just regular punishment. In a different article, Punishment Fails, Rehabilitation Works., by James Gilligan, he states that providing more programs in prisons decreases the chance recidivism. Receiving a high school diploma program alone has had a 100 percent effective in the past. If prisons were to develop more programs to help prisoners become more contributing members of society upon release, they number of re-offenses would go down. However, too many people believe that making people pay for what they did is more important than making them learn from the mistakes they made. Now, it is understandable that there are certain crimes where this may not be the answer.

          There are cold blooded rapists and murders who do not feel remorse, therefore do not benefit from therapy. Still, understanding their behavior is crucial in preventing it. Many who spend a significant amount of time in prison are there mainly because they continue to offend. These people are the ones that will gain the most from rehabilitation, psychotherapy, and other educational programs. In learning, how to overcome their issues, it will help them get out and stay out. Without adequate treatment, these people are going in to prison and coming back within 3 years (Gilligan, 1).

          Rehabilitation programs in jail and prisons have always been limited. Many believe that feeling the need for revenge is outdated and does not solve any of the underlying issues that led to the crime in the first place. Taking the criminal away from being able to cause harm is the primary focus for the government. In doing so they are not doing anything to help them decrease their chances of reoffending once out. This also does not help the issue of recidivism because, people leave and go back often which spends taxpayer’s money and becomes nearly unmanageable. Meyer makes it clear in various parts of his article that he favors the “eye for an eye” approach.

          The authors diction throughout the article is indicative of siding with retributive justice. For example, “The value of the retribution cannot be cheapened by using it to compensate for inadequacies of the justice system.” (para. 5) Using words like “cheapened” and “inadequacies” express his emotion towards the justice system, and how it can diminish the worth of retributive justice. However, for him, that is impossible because he knows the true worth retributive justice and its importance to society. He thinks that people must pay for their actions.

          Meyer then, brings religion into his topic because he knows a lot of people are religious and they will strongly take into consideration what he says about it. He

explains how the concept of retribution often reoccurs in religions, (para. 12). He then gives examples of several religions and moments in which they used retribution as a way of punishment. He does this to prove that most religions are guilty of doing this, and that it is a necessary form of punishment. Throughout the rest of the article he uses logos and ethos to show that retribution is the best form of punishment, this appeals to the people who are not as religious or not even religious at all. For instance, “No other punishment philosophy gives so much importance to actus reus and mens rea.” This is a great example of ethos and knowing actual criminal justice terms gives him more credibility on the topic. Meyer is extremely good at being able to persuade his reader with the facts and information was given in the article.

          Retribution is key in punishing people and giving the victims a somewhat sense of closure. As previously mentioned people should move away from this ideal and consider the benefits of providing better treatment to the offenders. This does not mean that the offenders will be receiving no sort of punishment it just means that the punishment will be different from the norm and potentially more effective. It is hard for society to even consider changing the ways of punishment but it is obviously become necessary. If people keep getting put in jail or prison for same crimes, there is something wrong with them and it needs to be addressed and treated.

          The idea of punishment is very important in society, because most people feel that criminals must get what they deserve. When does it become too much? When are, the good guys becoming the bad guys? As a population, people need to focus more on helping each other, rather than just keeping incapacitating. It is understandable that in order to prevent future harm, that harm must be taken away. The people who harm need to realize what they have done, and must receive some sort of help to understand their issues better. In a way retribution is important, but it dismisses too many other forms of punishment and does not give enough attention to the underlying issues of each criminal.

          Jon’a F Meyer, does a fantastic job at trying to get his reader to side with retributive justice, and to understand the importance of it. He even has a great section in which he mentions why people do not support it, which shows the reader he is educated on all sides and knows what he is saying is valid. In summation, the article was good in getting the point across, but does not show in enough ways how retributive justice can fail.

sources:

 Galligan, J. (n.d.). The New York Times Company. Retrieved February 20, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/12/18/prison-could-be-productive/punishment-fails-rehabilitation-work

Meyer, Jon’a F. “Retributive Justice.” Britannica Online Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2017

Deterrence Justice

Deterrence is one of the 5 forms of justice. Deterrence is pretty self-explanatory, the idea behind it is to deter people from committing crime, by unpleasant punishment. For instance, if someone commits and crime, the punishment is so horrible that no one will ever want to experience that, so they do not commit crimes. Another form of deterrence is increasing the inevitability of conviction. The more number of officers patrolling the highway, the more people will drive the speed limit. Theoretically, these two aspects of deterrence should prevent crime.

               However, that is not always the case, this form of punishment would work in a perfect world where everyone is capable of making sound and rational decisions. In the world, we live in, people commit crimes due to various different reasons. Often times they commit crime while under the influence of some sort of drug. During this time people are unable to make adequate decisions. Most times the offender could care less about whether they get caught or not, or if the punishment will be bad. Financial struggles can also come into play, many times people feel the need to steal, or sell drugs in order to get by. In deterrence, there are two forms, one is the certainty of the punishment and the other is the severity of the punishment (Valerie Wright, 4).

               In Valerie Wrights, Deterrence in Criminal Justice, he states that the certainty of punishment is more effective than how severe the punishment it, when it comes to recidivism. When people are more aware of the likelihood of them getting punished, than they are less likely to commit a crime. This does not apply to everyone but studies have shown it to be more effective. Same studies show that the severity of the punishment does not directly correlate to the chances of reoffending. This is because, eventually they will get out and it is harder for them to readjust into everyday life.

               After serving a long sentence and being away from friends, family, and employment it can be quite difficult to get resituated. The offenders who serve shorter sentences or just different kind of punishments, have an easier time getting back in there day to day routines. When only having left for a short period of time or not even at all, make it so the offender does not reoffend due to their reentrance into society. Not only is that a benefit, but with harsher punishment, come more expenses.

               Deterrence has been the reason for certain laws such as, three strikes law. The three-strike law was great in theory; it does not allow for offenders to continue to recommit the same offense or similar ones. The three-strike law was established for those who do not commit serious crimes, but they commit crimes nonetheless therefore they are arrested after the third time. The problem with this was that people would still commit crimes and find themselves in jail. Deterrence is a huge reason for the overcrowding of jails. The more people are in jail, the more that people need to pay in taxes to be able to finance jails.

               Rather than spending the money on incarceration, it would make more sense to spend it on treatment for these people. Valerie state in his article that “spending on drug treatment in community-based programs versus incarceration yields a higher return on the investment while at the same time improving the life outcomes of drug users.” (Valerie Wright, 10) It is only logical that this technique would be considerably more effective than deterrence.

               I understand the deterrence goals; however, it ends up not being as effective as planned. The Deterrence Justice relies too much on people’s rationality and knowledge of the justice system. Many offenders do not even know about the three-strike law, so how are they supposed to be expected to not reoffend? They also do not know the consequences of their actions. A good option in making Deterrence justice more effective is to come up with ways to inform communities of new laws and policies. By that, I don’t mean city council meetings, rather sending newsletters and such. That might not even be helpful, but it might be worth a try. I still strongly fell that the best way to prevent and stop crime is by making treatments readily available.

Sources:

http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Deterrence-in-Criminal-Justice.pdf

Restorative Justice

Last week I discussed what Retributive Justice was, this week we are going to go over Restorative Justice. All forms are obviously necessary; however some people favor a certain one over the other or favor a few and completely disagree with the other. The point is that all the forms of justice are heavily criticized and in order to criticize each one, one must first be familiar with all of them. There are many people who have not given an actual effort to learn about all of them. Restorative just has fundamental elements, that will truly help some criminals.

               Restorative justice is “a new movement in the fields of victimology and criminology. Acknowledging that crime causes injury to people and communities, it insists that justice repair those injuries and that the parties be permitted to participate in that process,” (Restorative Justice, 1). In other words, the main focus is to repair and to restore as much of the damage as they can. Restorative Justice views criminal behavior and actions as not just lawbreaking, but also realizes that it they harm done to the victim, community, and themselves. It also allows for more victims and communities to respond to crime, rather than just the government and the offender. Additionally, it measures success by the amount of harm that is repaired or prevented, instead of how punishment is administered (Restorative Justice, 1). One of the ways that this form of justice is applied, is by face-to-face meetings.

               Having meetings between the victims, and their offenders, and even the affected members of the community are influential in understanding and confronting the fact that crime and justice correlate with one in other. In understanding their correlation, there is more possibility of crime repair and prevention. These meetings only occur when the offender has admitted to the crime at hand, and both parties are willing to participate. One form of the meetings is called Victim Offender Mediation, it allows for the victim and the offender to meet in a controlled environment. There is always a mediator present and both the victim and the offender discuss what happened, the victim talks about the harm that was done to them and how it affected them (Restorative Justice,2). This internalizes with the offender and they take responsibility for the damage they have done, preventing them to want to do it again.

               In the United States, there are only 300 victim offender mediation programs. There has been some research done on these programs and their result. The research indicated that there is more satisfaction with the victims and offenders who participated in the program, their chances of completing their restitution obligations increase, the victims fear decreases, and offenders are less likely to reoffend versus their normal court process counterparts (Restorative Justice,2). Another form of Restorative punishment is group conferencing. In this activity, the offender, the victim, family of both victim and offender, and any other support systems of either party come together to discuss the aftermath of the crime (Restorative Justice, 2).

               Conferencing goals are to give the victim a chance to be involved in the crime response, gives the offender awareness towards the gravity of their actions, allows the offender to somewhat make amends, and gives the victim and the offender community support. Restorative justice also deals with peacemaking. Peacemaking, also known as sentencing circles, brings in all the affected parties of the crime, judges, prosecutors, police and court workers, defense counsel, and judge to come up with a sentencing plan that addresses the concerns of all the people involved and affected. The idea behind peacemaking is to build a sense of community, offender may make amends, the cause of criminal behavior, and promote healing of everybody who was affected by the crime (Restorative Justice,3). Restorative Justice has many type of programs set up to in a way “punish” criminals. Many do not like it because they feel it is too lenient. 

Sources:

http://www.d.umn.edu/~jmaahs/Correctional%20Assessment/rj%20brief.pdf

rhetorical analysis

In Jon’a F. Meyer’s article, Retributive Justice, he gives a lot of insight the retributive purpose of punishment. He makes a great attempt at informing his reader about his topic, he uses a lot of solid evidence to explain what retribution is about in the justice system. He takes the reader through a step by step look at its evolution and effects on punishment. Meyer’s main claim is that retribution style punishment focuses on how people should be punished based on what crimes they commit, and how that is the best form of punishment. Meyer supports his claim by using a lot of logos and ethos throughout the article.

The second paragraph starts with retribution being used in ancient time. Such as, “Retribution appears alongside restorative principles in law codes from the ancient Near East, including the Code of Ur-Nammu, the Laws of Eshnunna, and the better-known Babylonian Code of Hammurabi.” Here, he articulates specific moments in history in which retribution was practiced. His main purpose for it being good in this part of the article is that it has been around since the beginning of punishment itself. Meyer’s even quotes the bible, stating that retribution punishment practices ‘an eye for an eye” rationality.

Right in the third paragraph Meyer’s show his first sign of ethos. He uses the terms actus reus and mens rea, which mean guilty act and guilty mind, to show his knowledge of the criminal justice system. He says, “No other punishment philosophy gives so much importance to actus reus and mens rea.” In using these terms, he shows his credibility not only for the topic at hand but for the criminal justice system as a whole. He proves that he is familiar with both and can speak on it. He goes into how in order to fall under retributive punishment both mens rea and actus reus need to be present. Meyer’s main form of supporting his claim is through logos.

His usage of facts and examples from the beginning up until the end of the article are key factors to him attempting to convey his stance towards retribution. Meyer’s gives a great example when explaining the need for both mens rea and actus reus. He explains, “Those who plan a murder but succeed only in wounding a victim, for example, should not be punished as harshly as those who actually carry out the murder.” This is a perfect example of logos, he is appealing to the logical mind of the reader, why would they receive a serious punishment if the crime ended up not being so serious?

Another instance of him using logos is when he refers to religion using forms of retribution punishment. He mentions how Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden because they violated God’s rules (para. 12) In this same paragraph, he points out how the Qur’an they believed in retribution as well, all that were “disobedient and wicked” would be punished (para.12). This appeals more to logos because they are direct examples from the Bible and the Qur’an, which may not entirely be true but it is a source. With that being said you can tell the author sides with retribution style punishment over the other types of punishments.

In several parts of the article, it is apparent that Meyer is in favor of retribution style of punishment. His verbalism throughout a lot of it illustrates his personal emotions towards the topic. Back in paragraph five, “The value of retribution cannot be cheapened by using it to compensate for inadequacies of the justice system.” This statement really shows how he feels towards the misuse of retribution and how it cannot be blamed on the type of punishment, but rather on how the punishment is be executed. Another great example of this is in the 7^th paragraph, Meyer’s talks about how deterrence form of punishment allows for “pardoning” of guilty acts if it “somehow” is better for the community. The word somehow really shows that he cannot fathom how it would be okay to let any crime slide, even if it is for the greater good. Meyer’s did a great job conveying his ideas towards retribution and had great evidence to support his claim.

In summation, Meyer’s was able to successfully write an article on how retribution is the best form of punishment. He did have a small section that argued his claim. “Others note that punishing criminals just because they have acted inappropriately does not address any underlying issues that may have lead them to crime.” (Para. 9) Using valid statements to argue his claim make him sound like he is educated in all aspects related to the topic. Due to this the reader, should still side with him because he truly studied and knows what he is talking about. 

What Are Prisons?

Prisons are a little different from jails. There are a lot of people who do not necessarily know the difference between jails and prisons, which is not odd being that they do not have any personal ties to them. However, they are quite different, and even have different purposes. I will be discussing prisons development over time, purpose, and dynamics. First it is important to know the history of them.

            In ancient times, incarceration was one of the least common forms of punishment. Force labor, corporal punishment, and social ostracism were the more common punishments (Prison History,1). After the enlightenment period in France and England, incarceration as a punishment was introduced. After the Enlightenment Era, the were new perspectives on liberty and human nature. People felt as though taking away people’s liberty and autonomy would serve as better punishment.  During this time, the criminal justice system’s focus of punishment was retribution, rather than reform. Due to America being so Christian, their prisons were full of “sinner”. Anyone who would commit a sin, no matter the severity of it, was put in a penitentiary to serve pennants. This did cause an extreme overcrowding issue, which lead to the American punishment system to change (Prison History,1).

            The American prisons finally started to change by the end of the 19^th century. Now their goal was to turn inmates into model citizens. Since then, there have been 5 different purposes of punishment established, which are deterrence, retribution, rehabilitation, incapacitation, and restitution. All serving different purposes and all being extremely necessary. The prison system has gotten somewhat better, but there are still a lot of problems concerning their most recent overcrowding issues and recidivism. It has been hard getting those two issues to go down especially because they go hand in hand, getting one down will get the other to go down significantly. So then, what is the main purpose of prisons?

            As mentioned earlier, the main purpose of prisons, for a while, was to reform the inmates. It was important to figure out how to get these inmates to become contributing members of society. The main purpose of prisons is to stop crime and they do this by using the 5 purposes of punishment I mentioned earlier. The problem is that these purposes are only affecting a handful of people. The only thing that is actually preventing these people of reoffending is the fact that they are incarcerated. Therefore, the purpose that has worked the most is incapacitation. However, this only prevents crime until they get out of prison. As soon as these ex-convicts are let back out into the free world they tend to reoffend, because crime is all they know and are familiar with.

            Upon release, most inmates are optimistic about getting their lives together and bettering themselves. A lot of them do not realize that adjusting to day to day life is not as easy as it sounds. After prison, especially, they have been incarcerated for a long period of time, they are not used to working every day, having bills, and responsibilities to attend to. They either consciously or subconsciously commit a crime to get themselves back in prison or jail. It is human nature to resort back to what someone is comfortable with, a lot of times these former inmates are alpha males and have a form of authority in prison and rather be somewhere where they are considered important. Which is why it can be hard to keep them all in line, because the inmates have a different set of rules than the prison rules.

            According to Morris G. Caldwell’s Group Dynamics in the Prison Community, there are two separate groups within them. There is a formal group and an informal group. The formal group is the prison personnel, their purpose is to maintain order, organize work, and help with the rehabilitative programs. They get the inmates in to groups and assign tasks, the inmates are in charge of the maintenance of the prisons. The staff is in charge of making sure the tasks are completed and done properly. The informal group is made up of the inmates, and their roles with each other. These roles include, gambling, sexual perversion, moonshine makers, and so forth. These roles are secretive, but their hierarchy roles are often not. For instance, most guards can tell which inmates are the alphas and which are betas. However, the details of these roles are frequently looked passed. All jail and prisons have their own set of norms and rules; however it is important to understand why society needs institutions like this.

Sources:

www.adpsr.org/home/prison_history

http://quarterlyconversation.com/what-are-prisons-for