Brennan Dwyer
Introduction
This paper is written in the hopes of opening people’s minds towards the idea of transitioning to a more humane criminal justice system, specifically for the United States. The United States clearly stands out globally as a very strong and successful nation. However, like with any other nation, there are different aspects of the United States that may need improvement. Perhaps one aspect that stands out in terms of needing improvement is the United States criminal justice system. Whether it is about trying to reduce crime in the United States, or simply trying to help give individuals a second chance, finding ways to improve the criminal justice system can impact everyone in a positive manner. This paper is in no way trying to discuss this as a partisan subject. This paper is meant to be read by all audiences, in the hopes of getting both parties to work together and make change.
The Problems with the Current System
The eighth amendment of the United States constitution goes as follows as stated by hrlibrary.umn.edu, “excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”[1] In other words, no cruel or unusual punishment should be inflicted on anyone by the U.S Constitution. Despite that being stated in the U.S Constitution, there U.S criminal justice system goes against it in many ways.
There are a handful of factors that play into the U.S prisons being inhumane. For one, within the U.S prisons, they can sometimes be overcrowded and very inhumane. Relative to other countries, the U.S lacks important freedoms and rights for their prisoners. Also, within the U.S, private prisons are a major problem that can be seen as taking advantage of inmates and can be seen as a big ‘money maker’.
To go more specifically into an example of a punishment that is very ineffective, inhumane, and in some ways unconstitutional is solitary confinement. There have been multiple studies mentioned in the paper “Solitary Confinement and International Human Rights: Why the U.S. Prison System Fails Global Standards” regarding the harmful effects of solitary confinement on the inmates. As stated by that paper, “It is evident, therefore, that the psychological effects of prison isolation have been recognized for at least the last century and certainly in American medical journals for the past twenty years”(Vasiliades, 2005).[10]
Another example of a punishment that is very ineffective and inhumane is the death penalty. As stated by the American Civil liberties union, “The American Civil Liberties Union believes the death penalty inherently violates the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment and the guarantees of due process of law and of equal protection under the law.”[9] The death penalty is clearly inhumane and very rarely used across the developed countries, and is can even be seen as expensive. It also isn’t proven to reduce crime, or even bring relief to the victim’s family. According to Psychology today, “Research by University of Minnesotta sociology-anthropology professor Scott Vollum and colleagues found ambivalence in co-victims’ reactions to capital punishment. Their study showed that only 2.5 percent achieved true closure, and 20.1 percent said that the execution did not help them heal”(Muller 2016).[7] That source also stated that “Co-victims in the study also expressed feelings of emptiness when the death penalty did not “bring back the victim”(Muller 2016).[6]
On top of being inhumane and in many ways unconstitutional, there are problems with the outcomes of the U.S criminal justice system as well. The U.S has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and yet it has an inhumane way of treating those that are incarcerated as well. From looking at the statistics, it is true that the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, “at 716 per 100,000 people”(Lee, 2015).[6] Even politicians see how inefficient the U.S Criminal justice system is. As shown in the Washington Post, here is an important quote from Hillary Clinton regarding incarceration in the U.S. “It’s a stark fact that the United States has less than 5% of the world’s population, yet we have almost 25% percent of the world’s total prison population”(Lee, 2015).[6]
It is also interesting to take note on if sending someone to prison actually reduces their odds of committing a crime then if they never went. Scientificamerican.com discussed a study that attempted to find the results of that and found that “sentencing someone to prison had no effect on their chances of being convicted of a violent crime within five years of being released from prison. This means that prison has no preventative effect on violence in the long term among people who might have been sentenced to probation”(Harding, 2019).[4]
Even after inmates are released, they end up without any good employment opportunities or even ways to get out of the cycle of poverty. The problem with the criminal justice system isn’t just about the time spent during prison. Another aspect of the inefficiency of the criminal justice system is the way inmates are treated outside of prison, especially those that are in the cycle of poverty. According to an article on the HuffPost, life after prison can be tough for inmates. To look more specifically from the article, the three hardest challenges for people’s life after prison as listed in the article are: “a place to live/housing; drug treatment/medical care; and employment”(Heroux, 2011).[5] If someone has a criminal record and no one is willing to employ that individual, it would be logical that they might go back to making poor decisions, sometimes just for their own survival.
It is disheartening to see that such a prosperous and successful country like the United States could be in last place in terms of the severity of its incarceration rate, and even to see how bad its crime rate is. The U.S needs to consider rehabilitating their inmates not only for ethical purposes, but also for the effects of less crime and incarceration rates. The U.S clearly doesn’t have a very humane system, which is likely and statistically proven to be the root of the problem, especially with the overwhelming amount of evidence that rehabilitating inmates helps better their lives and society which will be shown in the next section of this paper.
Places to Learn from and Suggested Changes
An example of a system that clearly seems to be working is Norway’s criminal justice system. In Norway, prisoners are given many rights and live much more pampered lives. It may sound a bit unusual to some individuals that in Norway prisoners are given many rights and live a good quality of life. However, according to an article on the HuffPost that’s comparing prisons around the world, Norway has the lowest recidivism rate in the world, as well as an incarceration rate that is only 75 per 100,000 people (Zoukis, 2017).[11] Prison should be about preparing one to be a better person and be ready for society, like in Norway’s philosophy, rather than to punish and set someone up as a criminal.
It is interesting to note that there are prisons in the United States that are already implementing a more Norwegian prison philosophy to their prisons. As stated by The Detroit News, “North Dakota and Oregon have been front-runners in implementing Norwegian-style reforms, said Brie Williams, director of Amend: Changing Correctional Culture, a nonprofit based at the University of California San Francisco”(Bouffard 2019).[2] Regarding North Dakota, Brie Williams said that they have “experienced success so far”(Bouffard 2019).[2] Regarding Oregon, it was then stated by The Detroit News that: “In Oregon, prison officials noticed immediate improvement in prisoners housed in a behavioral housing unit after implementing approaches they observed in Norway, said Cyrus Ahalt, associate director of Amend”(Bouffard 2019).[2]
One proven form of rehabilitation that could help to better the lives of inmates for once they leave prison, would be some form of an educational program for the prisoners. According to RAND, inmates who are part of a correctional education program have 43% less of a chance of going back into prison, in comparison with those who aren’t part of an education program.[3] Also according to RAND, the inmates that were part of some vocational or academic program were employed after prison 13% more than those that were not in a vocational or academic program.[3] Even from a financial outlook these education programs can save money. According to RAND, based off of a report, “for every one dollar being invested towards prison education, there are four to five dollars that are being saved in incarceration costs during the first three years post release.”[3]
Rehabilitation seems to work even in the most extreme prisons with the most extreme inmates, such as in “United States Penitentiary Administrative-Maximum Facility” which as stated on correctionsone.com, “is a federal Supermax prison, the highest security facility in the country”(Stelter 2018).[8] A prison warden that ran that prison from 2002-2005 decided to make the staff of the prison interact more with the inmates, and explained how it resulted in positive results, and the results he explained included results that helped improve the safety of the staff.(Stelter 2018).[8]
Why Individuals May Commit Crime in the First Place
One final thought is that it’s true that a large percentage of minorities and people in unfortunate circumstances such as those in poverty are disproportionately going through all of this. If someone that is in the cycle of poverty just got out of prison and is unemployed and has no support or safety net, it almost makes sense why these people would end up going back into crime and eventually prison again. The reasons for committing a crime in the first place are likely almost always due to circumstances and certain hardships such as being in poverty. Theoretically, if any random individual went through the same circumstances that people in prison have faced throughout their lives, then they would probably have been much more likely to have committed a crime. Rather than being impractical and treating inmates inhumanly, there should be an effort to instead rehabilitate them, and create a better society for everyone.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is suggested that people think from a logical and ethical manner and come together as a nation and rehabilitate those incarcerated, so it can give the inmates a second chance at life and make a safer and better society for everyone. Looking at what other countries are doing that have an effective criminal justice system like Norway’s could be a good baseline for what we should at least partially be doing. As stated before, a couple of places have even implemented the Norwegian prison style, and reportedly have had positive results. It has been proven that prison education programs can lower recidivism rates, give a better chance of employment towards the inmates after being released from prison, and even save money. Hopefully everyone can come together and make change in the U.S criminal justice system, for the greater good of humanity. One idea that should be noted is that perhaps on top of changing the criminal justice system, perhaps more can be done to help treat the victims of crimes as well. Despite this paper being somewhat critical on the criminal justice system and how it should improve, it should be noted that those who work in law enforcement or work in the criminal justice system have made many important commitments and sacrifices, and should be thanked for their work towards bettering society.
Works Cited
[1] All Amendments to the United States Constitution. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/education/all_amendments_usconst.htm
[2] Bouffard, Karen. “States Put Norway-Style Prison Reforms to Work in U.S.” Detroit News, The Detroit News, 11 Oct. 2019, http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/special-reports/2019/10/11/states-put-norway-style-prison-reforms-to-work/1682876001/.
[3] “Education and Vocational Training in Prisons Reduces Recidivism, Improves Job Outlook.” RAND Corporation, http://www.rand.org/news/press/2013/08/22.html.
[4] Harding, D. J. (2019, June 21). Do Prisons Make Us Safer? Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-prisons-make-us-safer/?fbclid=IwAR0BhgV3uuvUmU3ae_VCT7f0fe9olWy_WH6GtRX3wOPNEKsXkP-gXQVm3Eg.
[5] Heroux, P. (2011, October 17). Reducing Recidivism: The Challenge of Successful Prisoner Re-Entry. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/reducing-recidivism-the-c_b_929510
[6] Lee, Michelle Ye Hee. “Yes, U.S. Locks People up at a Higher Rate than Any Other Country.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 7 July 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/07/yes-u-s-locks-people-up-at-a-higher-rate-than-any-other-country/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fc8035179a87.
[7] Muller , R. T. (n.d.). Death Penalty May Not Bring Peace to Victims’ Families. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-about-trauma/201610/death-penalty-may-not-bring-peace-victims-families.
[8] Stelter, Leischen. “How a Warden Brought Humanity to the Supermax Prison Facility.” CorrectionsOne, 26 Apr. 2018, http://www.correctionsone.com/jail-management/articles/how-a-warden-brought-humanity-to-the-supermax-prison-facility-hhSkeKZao5Z8rKEW/.
[9] The Case Against the Death Penalty. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/other/case-against-death-penalty
[10] Vasiliades, E. (n.d.). Solitary Confinement and International Human Rights: Why … Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1045&context=auilr
[11] Zoukis, C. (2017, September 06). Not the worst, but not Norway: US prisons vs. other models. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/not-the-worst-but-not-norway-us-prisons-vs-other_b_59b0772ae4b0c50640cd646d
A special thanks to my teacher and other classmates who may have helped me with the original essay in debate and persuasion at the Oyster River High School a long time ago.
EconTeen 