Criminal Justice Reform in America Law Research Paper

Criminal Justice Reform in America: Incarcerations
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Institutional Affiliation
Abstract
The mass arrests are a significant concern in the American Criminal Justice system. The US has the highest incarcerations rates in the world. Due to this urgent action is necessary to mitigate the issue as a substantial portion of the budget is used to maintain the prison system. This paper takes a look at America’s prison system and state of arrest. It then looks at why prison reforms are necessary for America. The paper also briefly highlights the higher rates of arrest among the African-Americans. Lastly, the paper will describe some of the strategies to institute prison reforms and trim down the high arrest cases.
Criminal Justice Reform in America: Incarceration
Introduction
America's criminal justice system limits opportunities for millions of citizens. Besides, America's bloated prison system weighs down taxpayers at all dimensions from local to the federal levels. It denies basic rights to individuals, families, and communities, particularly minority groups such as African-Americans. Due to this, the system deserves reform to address these inherent weaknesses. Over- incarcerations destroy numerous families, which dampens their future. Despite substantial resources being devoted to the system, America continues to witness significant public safety challenges (FWD.US, 2020). That is why America’s criminal justice reforms should be concentrated on transforming correctional units to enhance public safety.Prison systemAmerica's prison system is composed of three major institutions that are local, state, and federal jails and prisons. First, the local jails have prisoners with shorter sentences of less than a year. The country or municipal systems operate them. About a third of America's prison population is in local jails. They consist of people arrested, awaiting trial, or bail payments. They mainly serve neighborhood communities in major urban counties. A key feature of local jails is the higher turnover and admission rates because of the prisoner’s shorter punishments. Second, State prisons, that are operated by state departments. They handle prisoners serving longer sentences that exceed a year like felony offenders. The largest percentage of the U.S. adult arrested population is found in State prisons. They handle prisoners guilty of serious offenses such as burglary, robbery, murder theft, rape, and illegal drug possession.
The majority of inmates in State prisons were violent offenders. Third, Federal prisons, these penal units deal with pretrial detainees and inmates convicted of federal crimes. These correctional units are operated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (Travis, Western, & Redburn, 2014). Examples of crimes committed against federal institutions include fraud, bank robberies, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, smuggling of firearms, and human trafficking.State of Arrest in the United StatesAmerica relies heavily on prisons and jails for punishing offenders. That is why globally, America leads to arrest rates and prison populations. America's correctional units have more than two million people. Taxpayers spend over 80 billion dollars in correctional supervision like probation, parole...