Blog: Criminal Justice System

Bryce Johnson
April 10, 2019

Criminal Justice System

In the United States the criminal Justice System has many ongoing flaws, which have created controversial topics. Two of these leading factors on prejudice in the courts of the United States is race and sex. One of the major controversies of race, is that African Americans are often incarcerated five to one over the rate of white people. This awful statistic shows how the Criminal Justice System in America has flaws and needs to be fixed. The last major flaw in the Criminal Justice System, is the amount of people incarcerated. This number has increased since the 1980s from 40,900 people incarcerated to 450,345 people incarcerated, in just the United States alone. This increase in the number of people incarcerated has led America to increase its spending to over eighty-billion dollars on jails and prisons in just the United States alone. "America hold 21% of the world's criminals in our jails and prisons." (Correctional Officer) Another major problem in the United States Criminal Justice System is the exoneration, which is when prisoners are falsely accused of crimes, that they did not commit. This leads to many prisons spending time in jail and prison for crimes that they did not commit, and even harder times to find a job after they are released.

The largest flaw in the Criminal Justice System is the racial equality for many African-American and Hispanic Americans. This has led to many bigotries and racial conflicts in the prison systems in America. "Thirty-three percent of the prison population are African-American."(victims of crime) A study done in 2001 done by the World Justice Project, showed that: 1:3 Black Men will be incarcerated, 1:17 White Men will be incarcerated, and that 1:6 Latin American Men will be incarcerated over their lifetime. This shows the unfair racial equality in the Criminal Justice System. This issues is also one of the hardest issues to fix in the Criminal Justice System. I think this is the largest issue that needs to be fixed.

Another major flaw in the Criminal Justice System in America, is the number of mass incarcerated people and prison overcrowding. This increase of both incarcerated Americans and prison overcrowding has led America to increase its spending to over eighty-billion dollars on jails and prisons in just the United States alone. Another reason for the increase in incarceration is the War on Drugs in America. This has led many judges to become more "tough on crime" to reduce drugs and crime continuing in America.

The Criminal Justice System in America has led to many controversies and is currently trying to fix many of its problems. One of the first movements to fix the Criminal Justice System was for Congress to pass the First Step Act, which is a bill for inmates to earn early release and job opportunities after they are release from prison. Many prisoners often have had times finding jobs when they are released. This bill has helped reduce crime sentencing years and reduce costs spent on prisons each year. Another new idea that is used is the idea of inmates are allowed to tell officers about information on crimes in exchange for leniency. America has a very serious issue with the Criminal Justice System and is working to fix it, by reducing sentencing and reducing minimum prison sentencing.

*** I need to finish adding pictures and proof-read