Crime & Punishment in America
After reading and discussing the required books for this class, a multitude of issues concerning the deficiencies of our criminal justice system have been presented. Prison overcrowding, the overrepresentation of minorities, and the efficiency of our prisons have created ongoing debates. Currie, like previous authors, exemplifies these problems among the pages yet offers more coherent explanations and draws more realistic conclusions regarding these matters. In Crime & Punishment in America, the author dispels the widespread myths that linger around the U.S. justice system. He does so by placing equal blame on the opposing political parties and renounces his objectivism to facts. Thus, the alternatives Currie offers are legitimate in serving to address the social epidemic that has become incarceration. I believe that Currie does a superior task at assessing the "prison experiment" than past authors. He notes that although there has been an overall reduction in crime, examiners must be aware that this leveling-off has succeeded extremely high crime rates. Moreover, his caution to not relate decreasing crime rates with the incarceration rates is a common oversight in our society. What is a
there are too many extraneous factors such as, data collection and classification methods. Having said so, it still remains that the U.S. has one of the highest levels of crime and imprisonment, and dispenses harsher and longer sentences than any comparable industrialized country. Another widespread myth is that "prison works". However, Currie brings forth an interesting argument concerning the efficacy of incarceration. Prison can work depending on what we are trying to achieve. The answer to this produces conflict as seen in class, and in legislature. The criminal justice system, together with the Americans, has to come to a consensus concerning the role of prisons and the expectations of offenders. Other alternatives that pass the preventative stage were also noted: intermediate sanctions, rehabilitation, reintegration, question are goals and our "tough on crime" policies, reduce violence through community policing, and invest in a more humane criminal justice system.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1156
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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