Question 3
Some individuals and organizations argue that prisons should be abolished because most people who are locked are poor ethnic minorities. Furthermore, they suggest that the prison system does not help in rehabilitating criminals (Edge 43). Many people who are accused of committing various crimes and end up being incarcerated are often unable to hire good lawyers to represent them in court. Imprisonment results in the restrictions of a person’s liberty. Inmates also suffer physical, sexual, and psychological abuse while serving time in prisons. However, unless better alternatives to the prison system are established, prisons should not be abolished because they help in keeping the society safe and deterring criminal activities.
Prison reformers would face legal and moral obstacles in their quest to abolish all prisons. Ideally, the reformers should be willing to propose and support the expansion of death the penalty on a massive scale. For example, a society without prisons would have to embrace the quick execution of all murderers and automatic castration of rapists, and such measures would result in an inhumane society. Such proposals would also be unconstitutional, and they lack appropriate legal support because the U.S. Constitution protects human rights and liberties (Edge 71).
Is the average citizen safer because of this “lock ‘em up” attitude? If not, who benefits?
No. The average is citizen is not safer. Historically, prisons have also been used by those in power to control entire communities or categories of people. In this case, the instruments of punishments and laws of the society are used as a means of sustaining the ruling class through suppression of opposition to entrenched interests and used to deter groups and individuals from challenging the status quo. The marginalised groups, the minorities, the poor are seen as undeserving and dangerous by the majority of the population who support imprisonment and long sentences for lesser crimes.
Question 5
The dramatic increase in the rates of incarceration is attributable to the changes in sentencing practices and political developments over the years (Pager 56). The 1960s were characterized by a rise in crime due to the politicization of crime-related issues at the national level and the increasing social divisions in the American society. The debate about how to deal with different criminal activities led to changes in the indeterminate model of sentencing that prevailed for a better part of 20th century (Pager 88). Today’s sentencing practice severely constraints judges as well as parole officials in many jurisdictions. Aspects such as race, politics, and the war on drugs also playa crucial role in the rise of incarceration rates.
Works Cited
Edge, Laura. Locked Up: A history of the U.S. prison system. New York: Prentice Hall,2009. Print.
Pager, Devah. Marked: Race, crime, and finding work in an era of mass incarceration. Oxford: Oxford University, 2007. Print.
