Criminal Justice: Incarceration, Reform, and System Analysis Report

This report provides an overview of the criminal justice system in the United States, with a particular focus on incarceration rates and reform efforts. It begins by defining incarceration as a significant form of punishment and rehabilitation, highlighting the US's high per-capita incarceration rate. The report examines the structure of the US criminal justice system, including the roles of federal and state governments, and the factors considered when sentencing offenders, such as retribution, rehabilitation, safety, and deterrence. The report also discusses the impact of prison sentences and the importance of education in deterring crime. Furthermore, it analyzes the criminal justice reforms implemented in Louisiana, aimed at reducing incarceration rates and improving public safety. The report concludes by summarizing the key points discussed, emphasizing the ongoing challenges and the need for continued reform within the criminal justice system. It references several academic sources to support its arguments.

Running head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Incarceration is considered to be one of the significant forms of punishment and along
with such rehabilitation for the commission of that offence. The largest prison populace is
considered to be in the United States as they have the highest per-capita rate for incarceration. In
the US criminal law, system is considered to be a concurrent power. The individuals who are
considered to violate the law or any other territorial laws are considered to be placed in certain
territorial prisons and those who violate the federal law relating to United States are considered
to be taken to the federal prisons, which are operated by the Department of Justice in the United
States (Hylton, 2017).
This paper would discuss the fact that once individuals commit a crime they are paying
for such the rest of their lives even if they are considered to have served their time. This
particular paper would discuss such with the help of an article. In conclusion, it would
summarize the points that have been mentioned in the paper.
Discussion
The prison systems in the United States are considered to be under strict authority of the
State and along with such the federal government. The offenders or the perpetrators who are
considered to commit certain crimes, which are less serious, would be sentenced to a shorter jail
term (Kelly, 2018). Therefore, the correctional systems are considered to be federal as well as
state criminal justice system which would be popularly used for referring to certain network of
agencies as they would supervise the individuals in the state of incarceration or rehabilitation
along with certain parole as well as probation (Herman, 2018).

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When a judge is considered to hand a sentence to some offender or perpetrator for
someone’s perception as to the reason for going to prison or jail there are certain factors that are
taken into consideration. These are retribution, which signifies that punishing the individual or
the offender for doing something, which would be wrong. Along with such, there would also be
rehabilitation that would signify correcting the problematic behavior of the individual or the
offender who has been involved in crimes and offences. It would also focus on safety and
safekeeping which would signify keeping the threats out of any community and lastly, the
deterrence that would try to make sure that the others would not be scared off breaking any kind
of law in the future by committing any offence that would be against the law (Wennerstrom,
Reilly, Sugarman, Henderson, & Niyogi, 2020).
The prison sentences, which are longer, do not really, work on various fronts as such
would be considered as something arbitrary. There has been various instances, which shows that
the threat relating to the prison time would actually try deterring ex-prisoners from commitment
of certain crimes as the criminals are considered to value the future, which would be less than the
non-criminals. Education on the other hand, also plays a pivotal role as the lesser educated
criminals are considered to be put off by all the harsher sentences (Pfaff, 2018). Therefore, as a
result it is found that most of the individuals who are rational think that they would be
accountable for all the crimes committed by them and such are considered to differ spectacularly
in the perspectives of the individuals. It has been found that none of the sentences are considered
to be too long when it comes to several violent offences. The United States have some of longest
prison sentences and these are considered to have certain cultural values where the extreme
emphasis would be on certain personal responsibility or some other religious beliefs which can
be good as well as evil. The idea for such is considered to have a community, which would have

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a moral imperative in order to stamp out all the bad deeds. The United States is also considered
to be more focused and dedicated towards the idea of the individualism as the people or the
individuals who have committed the offence would be accountable for their actions. Therefore, it
can be understood that the hardest or the most difficult part of the criminal justice system would
be that such is considered to involve various criminals who does not behave in a manner they
should behave (Takei, 2017). This was considered to be the challenge or the conundrum faced by
the government of Louisiana where a group of the Republican as well as the Democratic
legislators pass several reforms that have been intended to push the state or the territory off for
the top spot which were on several less-than-desirable charts. These had started with the
incarceration rates and Louisiana had long tried to jail its path to the public safety. The states are
also considered to imprison their citizens at twice the American average and this was considered
to be an achievement (In Louisiana, criminal-justice reform is badly needed, 2020).
The Department of the Corrections are considered to provide that the inmates have been
considered to be released and Louisiana took several historic steps for the reform of its criminal
justice system and it would also remove the label regarding the highest incarceration state in the
territory or the nation. There have been various bills passed by the legislature and such had been
supported by the several associations. Thus, due to these reasons several states as well as
territories had made various modifications which helped them see reduction and decrease in the
crime drop as well as imprisonment. Thus, such a step was considered to be beneficial
(Surprenant, & Brennan, 2019).
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be understood from the present scenario, that there had been a decrease
or reduction in the occurrences of the criminal offences as the states started taking initiatives for

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various modifications. Thus, there lies a thorny reality which is being confronted by the
lawmakers in Louisiana as they consider certain measures which would be designed in a manner
that would affect or influence the nation’s highest incarceration rate. The inmates that have the
biggest impact regarding the prison populace are considered to be dangerous and due to such
they need to given severe punishment. It has also been understood that for certain non-violent
crimes the criminal justice reforms would focus or concentrate on reducing such as it has an
outsized impact and the extension affects the state budget.

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References
Herman, S. N. (2018). Getting There: On Strategies for Implementing Criminal Justice
Reform. Berkeley J. Crim. L., 23, 32.
Hylton, K. N. (2017). Whom Should We Punish, and How: Rational Incentives and Criminal
Justice Reform. Wm. & Mary L. Rev., 59, 2513.
In Louisiana, criminal-justice reform is badly needed. (2020). Retrieved 11 March 2020, from
https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/04/05/in-louisiana-criminal-justice-
reform-is-badly-needed
Kelly, W. R. (2018). Confronting Underground Justice: Reinventing Plea Bargaining for
Effective Criminal Justice Reform. Rowman & Littlefield.
Pfaff, J. F. (2018). A smarter approach to federal assistance with state-level criminal justice
reform. AEI Paper & Studies, 1C.
Surprenant, C. W., & Brennan, J. (2019). Injustice for All: How Financial Incentives Corrupted
and Can Fix the US Criminal Justice System. Routledge.
Takei, C. (2017). From mass incarceration to mass control, and back again: how bipartisan
criminal justice reform may lead to a for-profit nightmare. U. Pa. JL & Soc. Change, 20,
125.
Wennerstrom, A., Reilly, B., Sugarman, M., Henderson, N., & Niyogi, A. (2020). Promoting
Health Equity and Criminal Justice Reform: The Louisiana Experience.