Angela Davis’ analysis of the naturalization of the prison system within American society puts it open that for the most of the time, the multiple ways the prison system permeates our daily lives (morally, economically, ideologically, etc) is not considered (Davis 78). However, we consider it and we do think about it because we are so removed from it. We only understand the prison system in terms of what we see in popular media. In my essay, building from Davis’ notion of the naturalization of prison and her attempts to “denaturalize the prison system” (Cecil 1), I explore the different approaches the articles use to denaturalize the prison system. There are various approaches to denaturalize the prison system. First, there deems an immediate attention to the contrast that exists between the ‘Reality of Life’ and “Image of Prison”. Many perceive the prison as putatively held for bad people accommodating criminals and murderers.
The reality of life is that these places hold human beings: fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. The Television shows and movies should stop painting bad images of the prisons held as they are just doing so to draw huge audiences and profits but not to catalog the loses of the prisoner. I will advise an individual not to resort to movies if he/she wants to know the truth about prisons (Cecil 8). The most bogus portrayal of the prisons image is when the message is that the prisons protect the society from the most dangerous and violent criminals. There are so rare cases when weeping mothers will be shown missing their sons and daughters back home. There are so rare documentaries that air the desires of the prisoners regarding rehabilitation and the means of assisting them to deal with issues like stress, anger, drugs, abuse and other traumatic events that affect their life. Indeed there should be alternatives to help the prisoners deal with the above issues and the TV stations and shows should stop painting the image of prison as a bad place but instead depict the reality of the life as it is there (Cecil 13).
I think that it will be a laudable job to recognize the act of pushing the prison system to fully embrace rehabilitation as a goal for many criminals. It is evident that many crimes and offenses don’t allow rehabilitation to take course like the cases of incarceration (Davis 107). They are not, according to my thought the most humane and effective form of punishment. Rehabilitation brings a total overhaul and reforms in the prisons in line with the cries of the many criminal justice reform groups. There should be a combined effort to put to the end the harsh and counterproductive policies and practices by the top law-enforcement officials, prosecutors and big-city police chiefs (Sklansky 58). This is because the current practices that don’t pave way for rehabilitation have boomed in the prisons, destroyed communities and written off the entire generation of young men of color. The existing approaches are aggressive and will always increase the number of prisoners entering the prisons. Rehabilitation measures are useful the substance users as well as the mentally ill. The mandatory-minimum sentences should be reformed and the judges be given a more flexible basis of tailoring their punishments to individual circumstances. Local communities should work with the police especially in areas where the trust between the residents and the police is utterly shuttered (Davis 112).
The law enforcement officers should limit their powers in setting policies that are used in prosecution. Many police departments for instance use the broken windows policing that advocates for criminalization of the criminals with minor offenses in hopes that it will curb other more serious ones. During arrests, many police officers hassle people of color and don’t even give impressions that it is not just okay to commit the crime. They use profanity-laced language, they engage citizens in a surprise stop-and-frisk and this behavior should actually stop (Sklansky 81). The police officers who can’t create and sustain a good relationship between them and the community that they are serving. Using social control mechanisms like, jump-outs, stop-and-frisk and broken windows only create a climate of fear and terror.
There are many alternatives that can be deployed to put an end to the mass incarceration of criminals. These include more emphasis on the community policing models as opposed to other solutions which are narrowly focused on the enforcement of the law. The existing court system should put changes on the department of justice on bringing charges against officers. Changes need to be swept at all levels of the justice system (Sklansky 108).
Mitchell in his article, “Crimes of Misery and Theories of Punishment,” explores the relevance of the major philosophies of punishment to crime, in specific crimes of misery. He suggests that law might not be so much about morality as it is about the bureaucratic management of the state (Mitchell 466). There may seem to be no distinct difference between law and morality at first. Passages in the ancient Greece suggest that a good person morally is the one who does what is lawful. The lawgivers in those early societies are the ones who determined the righteousness and wrongness of an act. This however did not last long as thoughtful people recognized the difference between what was legal or rather legally right in accordance with the political authorities and what should be legal. There is a close connection between the legal action and what is really right or just, and what we would actually call morally right. Morally right action is the one that is naturally right and there exists a difference relative to what is legally or conveniently right (Mitchell 471). There is an antagonism pertaining the laws and commands of God (what is morally right) and what the commands or laws of political authorities.
Greek philosophers frequently discussed the distinction in terms of appearance and reality or rather between the appearance and reality. Plato for instance held the knowledge of what is moral or just as well as the ability to differentiate true justice or morality from what is merely apparently. This depends on the complete development and the use of human reason.
There exists hence a close connection between true justice or morality and the human well-being according to Plato. These philosophies have relevance while punishing criminals in the judicial system. In my view, legal and political arrangements that deviate too far from true justice should be replaced if possible by the ones that promote justice in a better manner and hence well-being. Ethics should be incorporated in the justice system and the legal arrangements should be criticized to promote justice and changes be done to the recommended areas (Mitchell 496).
Some laws in existence are unjust such as the cases incarceration and the ones which enforce slavery, which prove that morality and law are not identical and do not coincide. However, the laws that serve to defend the basic values in the society such as the laws against, rape, murder, fraud, bribery and defamation of character prove that the two can work - morality and law. Laws in almost all countries can state what overt offenses count as wrong and punishable (Chimmah). The law however cannot govern what is in the heart or mind of the criminal and hence morality in this case takes a different scope since often morality passes judgment on an individual’s character and intentions. Many criminals deter from committing crimes in fear of being punished. Laws govern conduct at least partly through the same fear of punishment (Mitchell 501). However, when morality is internalized and when it becomes habit-like, it governs the conduct of an individual without impulse. An individual should do the right thing because it is the noble thing to do but not because he fears punishment. Law is the expression of morality to the public and codifies in it in a way that is acceptable to the society. In this manner, it should be used by the Justice System of the next generation to source a clear outline of the values that the society wants and that they will feel is the utmost ideal and humane way to discharge justice (Mitchell 510).
Works Cited
John B. Mitchell, (2012). Crimes of Misery and Theories of Punishment. New Criminal Law Review: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal. Vol. 15, No. 4 (Fall 2012), pp. 465-510
Dawn K. Cecil, (2015). Prison Life in Popular Culture: From The Big House to Orange Is the New Black: Lynne Rienner Publishers (Pgs. 1-17)
Chammah, Maurice. "Stepping Down From Solitary Confinement". The Atlantic. N.p., 2016. Web. 6 Apr. 2016.
"Why The Police Want Prison Reform - Nytimes.Com". Mobile.nytimes.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
Monique Marks, David Sklansky, (2014). Police Reform from the Bottom Up: Officers and Their Unions as Agents of Change: Routledge, Social Science - 192 pages.
Angela Y. Davis, (2011). Are Prison’s Obsolete?: Seven Stories Press - Political Science - 129 pages
