Reforming Our Criminal Justice System
It is no secret that our Criminal Justice System is in desparate need of reform. Massive amounts of taxpayer dollars in our society are being wasted on strategies that make our communities not more, but less safe. The current system does not boost human potential, but instead enforces punishment over rehabilitation for low-level, non-violent crimes.
A statistical analysis of the Criminal Justice system shows just how broken it is right now. The number of people incarcerated in America quadrupled from 1980 to 2008. In addition, individuals serving time for nonviolent drug crimes make up 50 percent of the federal prisoners, and at any given point, states have agreed to fill 90 percent of beds in private prisons. The billions of taxpayer dollars used to sustain these high levels of prisoners is outrageous. States spent $51.9 billion on corrections alone in 2013.
Not only are we using billions of taxpayer dollars, but we are wasting this money on prisons that are not serving their purpose. Jails have become merely warehouses for criminals to be forgotten instead of facilities to punish, deter and rehabilitate prisoners. Prosecutors and police are rewarded for convictions making the situation worse. More convictions leads to higher spending in prisons and an increase in Welfare and Medicaid dependence, which is not the responsiblity of law enforcement, but they should be made aware of their contribution to the problem.
America’s jails are becoming overcrowded with people who commited non-violent petty crimes, including minor drug users, people who stole food and could not make bail, people who don’t pay bills, miss their court dates and violate their parole, which often turns into a vicious cycle of reimprisonment. Reimprisonment leads to familial relationships being destroyed and children suffering from no income, trauma and the social stigma that comes along with having one or both parents in prison. Although the purpose of law enforcement is to punish those who break the rules, there must be a more productive way for society to punish and rehabilitate non-violent petty criminals in order to deter future occurrences of the same problem.
Our Government is attempting to improve the situation with our criminal justice system by ending an era of mass incarceration, abolishing mandatory minimum sentences for low-level nonviolet offenses, and increasing support for mental health and drug treatment. However, resolving problems with the system will go beyond decriminalizing marijuana or a handful of petty crimes.
Our Govenment needs to develop a program for criminals, much like boot camp, that teaches them how to be “good” citizens. It should be mandatory for criminals to complete strenuous physical exercise regimens that teach self-control and self-respect. In addition, criminals in the program need to receive psychological guidance and learn the value of family and how to raise one. Also, contributing to the community by volunteering should be required of program participants.
The criminal rehabilitation program should be developed in such a way that it does not force trainees to be “good”, but trains them to want to be “good” on their own in society. Tracking progress and rewarding trainees that go above and beyond their required duties will encourage improvements. Hence, criminals will become conditioned at being “good”.
After completing criminal boot camp, criminal records do not need to be deleted or expunged. Instead, proof of training should be provided to criminals, showing that they have completed a rigorious program designed to teach them how to be a good citizen and that they are ready to contribute to society.
Although a rehabilitation program is only one way in which we can reform the criminal justice system, I believe that it will have a high impact on the occurrence rate of reimprisonment, thus reducing the amount of prisoners at any given point. As the number of people incarcerated decreases, the number of taxpayer dollars needed to support prisons will decrease as well, allowing our Government to use those funds to support the criminal rehabilitation program and other productive programs designed to improve our society.
Resources:
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/12/young-black-and-male-in-america/a-failing-criminal-justice-system
http://politics.uchicago.edu/pages/tom-dart-seminar-series
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/reject-apathy/12-stats-show-how-broken-americas-criminal-justice-system#qO44OfTiuRsPfaUW.99
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/criminal-justice-reform/
