Respond with 150 words and 2 references with 1 being the textbook, biblical reference
*MARK*
Cullen, F. T., & Jonson, C. L. (2017). Correctional theory: Context and consequences (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 9781506306520.
The issue of incarceration has become a very complicated and political hot topic across America. The over 2 million people in America’s prisons are spread out among 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 901 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,163 local jails, and 76 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers and prisons in the U.S. territories (Cullen & Johnson). These numbers do not include those offenders who are awaiting trial and those waiting to be sentenced (Minton, 2015). America uses its criminal justice system as a political football. The get tough on crime era in the United States was introduced by the three strikes laws in 1994. Habitual offender laws were part of the United States Justice Department’s Anti-Violence Strategy. The purpose of the statutes is to drastically increase the punishment of those convicted of more than two serious crimes (Tree Strikes Law 2017). The three-strikes law significantly increases the prison sentences of persons convicted of a felony who have been previously convicted of two or more violent crimes or serious felonies and limits the ability of these offenders to receive a punishment other than a life sentence. The get tough on crime laws were directed towards deterrence, discipline, and incarceration.
The effects of high incarceration rates have high budgetary costs that include both the cost of incarceration in its self and then the aftercare of the released offender into the community. Released prisoners will have trouble finding decent-paying jobs with their criminal history while the offender is incarcerated the work world advances and continues to evolve into today’s labor markets. Many incarcerated people enter and leave the prison system with little or no education. This action puts them even further behind the proverbial eight ball. Many of the victims of incarceration are the families left behind during the imprisonment. Wages earned by the incarcerated family member are gone, not to mention the high court cost, fines, and other legal bills that build up (The Causes and Cost of High Incarceration Rates, 2014). The benefits of collective incapacitation of criminals have shown to decrease crime slightly. The main factor is that fewer criminals are on the streets (Cullen & Johnson). Prison is a business, and many are profiting off of our incarceration problem. In Illinois, for example, local and county jails are acting as an overflow for the prison system. The state pays the jails to house their inmates. Local sheriffs rely heavily on state money to pad their law enforcement budgets and, as a result, have no incentive to support reforms to reduce the incarcerated population (Wagner, 2016). In Proverbs, Solomon was given knowledge, wisdom, and instructions in dealing with justice and equality issues, in particular when dealing with youth. Let the wise hear and increase in learning and the one who understands obtain guidance (Proverbs1:1-33).
References
Holy Bible: New International Version
Minton, T. (2015, December ). Census of Jails: Population Changes, 1999-2013. Pp. 1-22.
“Three Strikes Law A General Summary.” www.sandiegocounty.gov. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
“1032. Sentencing Enhancement “Three Strikes” Law USAM Department of Justice.” www.justice.gov. 2015-02-20. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
(n.d.). Retrieved from www.sandiegocounty.gov.
Minton, T. (2015, December ). Census of Jails: Population Changes, 1999-2013. Pp. 1-22.
(2014, October 29). The Causes and Cost of High Incarceration Rates.
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cjpc9913.pdf
Wagner, P. (2016). Some private prisons are, um, public.
Cullen, F. T., & Jonson, C. L. (2017). Correctional Theory: Context and Consequences
(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications Inc.
