Over the past couple decades prisons and jails all over America have been becoming overcrowded. What is the reasoning behind all of this? Is America becoming to strict on crime? Are there any crimes that should be taken out of the system to eliminate the overcrowding in prisons? Are some people really worth the money to put behind bars?
Brandon Sherfey (9:00)
5 comments:
I do beleive some of our laws are a little outrageous. I also understand they have to enforce the laws or it could get out of hand. A lot of extra money is spent when it could be used for something else.Some homeless people might commit crimes just to be thrown in jail because prison life has become so much better. The smaller crimes can be excused. If they can't be excused then maybe another alternative can take its place. In a way I do believe laws have become to strict, but I feel our law enforcement is doing a lot better job these days. Although some can take it over board.
I think the jail system does need an overhaul. The government is putting people in jail for "little" things, and it is using up space. Then when you add in people who are innocent of any crimes, and they are put in jail/prison for however many years because they were wrongly convicted. I'm not sure of any ideas to help with the system, but something needs to be done.
Extreme example: Say someone, out of desperation, robs a bank for money because they are really poor, WITHOUT using a gun. They are caught easily because there's not a whole places they can run.
Now, same situation, except the robber HAS a gun.
Does the first person deserve to go to jail? I, personally, think only for a few days. They didn't have a gun, and possibly didn't even have a weapon, or just a blunt weapon at the most.
The second person DOES deserve to go to jail, they threated to shoot someone to get what they wanted, and they do need to go to jail for that.
However, in both cases, both of the robbers would probably to go jail for the exact same time, which is wrong I think. The one who took the robbery to an extreme should be punished more.
Now, this was an extreme example and it may not make much sense, but it's a general idea of what I think. The laws today don't make much sense, and punish people who make a tiny crime for just as long as a person who committed a terrible crime.
I don't think ALL laws are too strict, but some need to be reworked.
Blake Widmer
I think the laws are not too strict. I feel as if the problem is on building new prisons. On one hand it brings jobs and income to towns they are built in. on the other hand it might raise taxes in the area and put a negitive marker on the town. I think that the inmates should have to work off a "rent" in prison. they get clothes food and TV in there and have to do nothing for it. they might not be the nicest but it is better than nothing. When we have to work to buy clother or cable TV. The inmates should be put to work to save tax money and to pay off the building costs of prisons. when they relize that even if the get in trouble they will ahve tom work for what they want they will get a job and work in a sociaty and be good citezens and the crime rate will drop and the need for more prisons will go away.
Jeremy miller
This question is well founded, the inmate population is a serious problem in this country. I am sure that there are some regulations that this country has that are outdated and overused. The problem is that there are people breaking laws with no regards for the outcomes of their actions to the rest of the population. The idiots that go around stealing, commiting armed robbery, assalt, they deserve to be punished for what they did. There are also too many kids growing up thinking that it is just the way things are. They only see the bad things that happen around them and assume that is the way to act. There is a major problem. We as a country need to give these kids a better chance at being good citizens so they don't go around doing stupid petty crimes.
I think that i the cases where there is a to harsh punishment for a crime, more porbationary punishment should be put into place. That way they will be able to go about their lives while they are checked up on to see in they are getting rehabilitated.
Another way to get people to less stupid things could be to bring back very physical labor inside prisons. This will do at least these two things. If a criminal knows that the punishment for his crimes will be hard labor, he may be less willing to commit that crime. The other thing it could do is provide a service to the community and aid in the funding to house the inmates.
There is definately a problem in the way that our system is set up to house crminals. It is important to look at all of the options before dieciding to become loose on enforcing laws. I do think that there are some punishments that could use less sentencing, but there also has to be other ways to stop the problem at the source.
Ryan Bales
I think prisons are becoming so overcrowded because people aren't rehabilitated in prison, they're just plain punished. Once a person has been in prison once, they are more likely to go back. People commit crimes and aren't taught that it's wrong to commit the crimes. I can't think of any crimes that are punished by jail time that should be eliminated or even given a smaller punishment.
Megan Qualls
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