Criminal Justice - Contemporary Problems within the US - Essay Example

How do the court decisions affect the shift supervisor in the jail facility, and what would the reaction be if he expressed his opinion regarding the administration and inmate population?

What effect has the courts had on the inmate population and how it’s administered in the prisons? What type of action would be taken either short-term or long term and why? Are cynical ideas common in corrections? How does this affect the criminal justice system as a whole? Is this cynicism present in other occupations and industries? Criminal Justice: Contemporary Problems Within the United States Corrections System The contemporary problems faced in the US corrections system today have given rise to overcrowding within the current system.

As an example, New York’s prison system (Rockefeller Drug Laws, 2001) has not kept up with the enormous increase in number of inmates. There are not enough programs to keep prisoners occupied, which results in idleness and increased tension levels. Expense is another factor that faces the correction system. In New York alone it costs 2 billion to construct the prisons to house the increasing number of drug offenders. The operating expenses for maintaining the prisons come to nearly $700 million per year.

The increased number of drug-related incarcerations has created racial inequities within the corrections system. An increasing number of African-American and Latino populations have made up 70 percent of the prison population (David Swanson March 2010). Many of this population are African-American high school dropouts. It has been shown that it costs less to educate people than it does to incarcerate them. It costs less to treat these numbers for drug addiction than to incarcerate them, which has led to needed reform in our corrections system.

In 1986, at the height of the inner-city drug epidemic, congress passed legislation that required mandatory minimum prison sentences of at least five years for the possession of just five grams of crack cocaine (Benjamin Jealous February 2010). This influx of mass sentencing produced an enormous increase in the incarcerations of African-Americans and Latinos. The mandatory minimum laws and three-strike laws have spread this trend to working-class whites as well. However, it has been shown that by filling prisons with young African Americans and Latinos the criminal justice system is robbing their communities of their futures (Benjamin Jealous February 2010).

The laws have forced the current law enforcement agencies to focus their efforts on minor offenders rather than the middle and high-level criminals who are the true masterminds and profiteers. This has created a more highly stressful environment within the prison system. It’s important that counseling be provided to the officers and their families to manage stress, however, the policy subculture has prevented this from being dealt with in many cases.

Much of the responsibility is placed on the supervisors and administrators of the jails and prisons. Local jails have done an admirable job of protecting local communities for the short term; however, jails need to do more to contribute to long-term public safety. It is argued whether today’s bulging population of incarcerates is the result of a society in which people are more dangerous or if policy and practice have changed the way we view and treat crime (Gary E. Christensen August 2008).

Do convicted offenders deserve rehabilitative treatment? Many still hold the view that “nothing works” to change offender behavior; while some believe the corrections system should lean toward “what works.” A higher concern for education, selection, training, institutional performance, and current inadequacies will improve the corrections system (R.M. Regoli; E. D. Poole; J. L. Schrink 1979). The conservative “old guard” correction officials are skeptical of change; however, the new “professional” staff emphasize higher standards for promotion but rarely provide avenues for attaining them.

This has caused an increased cynicism within the corrections system as well as the overall criminal justice system. This does not limit itself to the criminal justice system. Over the past five years, research has shown that cynicism is on the rise in American business and industry. This increasingly hurts the competitiveness and ability of businesses and industries to adapt to today’s constantly changing organizational needs (Carter McNamara, Authenticity Consulting, LLC). Paul J. Rosen (Hendrick, 1993, p. E1: 2), President of the American Institute of Stress, shows that recent changes in technology and the economy have caused increases in burnout, cynicism, sickness, and absenteeism.