A Flawed System
For quite some time, when it comes to public safety, we have accredited success to the number of individuals put behind bars. Such a procedure has not by definition made our communities safer. It has, undoubtedly, ignited a detonation in both the prison population and its corresponding costs. Research demonstrates that for a large part of low-risk, non-violent offenders, incarceration, believe it or not, increases the prospect of re-offending once released. The system in place has led to the decimation of millions of American families, state and federal budgets being stretched thin, and a generation of robust and potentially fruitful constituents being lost in the system.
The United States has 5% of the world's population but nearly 25% of its incarcerated population. Locking up millions of people for as long as possible is neither the most productive means of guaranteeing public safety nor a fiscally accountable methodology. In the last 25 years, the federal government has added 2,000 plus federal offenses which is reflective of the 518% augmentation of the federal imprisonment rate between 1980 and 2013. Furthermore, the spending on jails and prisons reached $87 billion in 2015, an increase of 1000% from the $7.4 billion spent in 1975. Seemingly, it is wealth, not culpability, that forges outcomes in the American system.
Thankfully, the need for reform has been generally realized across the nation with plenty of states instituting comprehensive, evidence-based rectifications that simultaneously safeguards public safety and holds offenders liable which lowers prison costs. There is a push for utilizing formulas that prioritize prison space for violent and repeat offenders while bolstering substitute sanctions for offenders facing lower-level crimes. In states that have already adopted the aforesaid reforms, there are reports of a decrease in both incarceration and crime rates. The federal government must implement change on a national scale in order to engender transformational advancement in America.
Vengeance
So, why is our country fixated on putting people behind bars? The United States of America seems to be enthralled with vengeance. We surmise that by demanding greater punishment of offenders, we will bring relief to the afflicted individuals. Hence, the uptick in incarcerations testifies to the underlying truth that there never seems to be a harsh enough punishment to assuage our yearning. The incessantly spiraling “get-tough” diction exacerbates the fear of the general public which furthers the escalating importunity for punitiveness.
Piper Kerman, an American author and social justice agent, unleashes a dire reality that “the public expects sentences to be punitive but also rehabilitative; however, what we expect and what we get from our prisons are very different things. The lesson that our prison system teaches its residents is how to survive as a prisoner, not as a citizen – not a very constructive body of knowledge for us or the communities to which we return.” It is the duty of the American people to renounce the governmental bodies that further the redemptive violence narrative which has metamorphosed into an endemic component of our culture. Retribution does not always equate to justice.
The criminal legal system continues to chastise individuals once they are released from jail by imposing fines, fees, and restrictions on housing and employment that make it difficult for those who have been incarcerated to make a legal living as they grapple with integrating into society. Thus, the term “criminal justice system” is, to an extent, a monomer. False diction has, arguably, assisted the systemic, immoral way that certain groups are treated due to the elementary truth that words facilitate human being's cognitive processes. Our speech should be cognizant and acknowledge that our system of racially biased policing and authoritative punishment is not impartial. It depletes resources and ruins lives, while falling short of ensuring public safety.
Restorative Justice
In the past decade or so, restorative justice has managed to inundate the criminal justice world. Restorative justice is an approach to justice that endeavors to ameliorate agony through bequeathing an opportunity for those harmed and those who bear the responsibility for the individuals wronged by the system in place. In simple terms, the restorative justice process seeks to heal the injuries of all parties concerned with the matter being the victim, the perpetrator, and the community. The Center for Justice and Reconciliation, the research and educational branch of Prison Fellowship International, deconstructs restorative justice into four parts: inclusion, encountering, making amends, and reintegration.
Inclusion, in a punitive system of justice, refers to the contention between the accused and the state with little to no involvement from the victim. Whereas in a restorative system, each party is a part of the justice process. Encountering is an unorthodox step in which the victim and perpetrator explicate upon the crime and its ramifications with the hopes of reaching an agreement on what happens next. The making amends is a highly individualized part of the restorative justice undertaking that is done through the process of apology and restitution – ordered by the court or settled between the perpetrator and the victim. Reintegration, the final phase, is an indispensable element that requires assistance from society. Both the victim and convict are given the relief necessary to reassimilate into their respective communities.
The aforementioned assistance manifests into the collaboration of mental health professionals, faith leaders, social workers, and peer groups that are contracted to alleviate the recusant eventualities of being a victim of a crime or helping a criminal change his or her ways. Like most things in life, the restorative justice movement has its drawbacks, but it is certainly something researchers and legal experts have begun exploring within the United States' framework.
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