Criminal Justice: Sentencing Policies and Reform Report

This report examines the phenomenon of mass incarceration in the United States, exploring its historical context and the impact on American society. It delves into the role of sentencing policies, including mandatory minimums and 'three strikes' laws, in driving mass incarceration. The report analyzes the 'War on Drugs' and its contribution to the current penal landscape, discussing the economic, social, and familial consequences of high incarceration rates. Furthermore, it addresses potential sentencing reforms and their implications for the future of the criminal justice system, referencing the First Step Act and other initiatives aimed at reducing prison populations and addressing disparities. The report utilizes academic sources to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic, including the effects of incarceration on individuals, families, and communities, and the importance of considering various sentencing philosophies.

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Answer 1
Whether referred to as mass incarceration, criminal justice reform, detention boom, penal
state or hyper incarceration, this phenomenon relates to the present American incarceration
experiment, which is characterized by relatively and historically severe levels of death and the
incidence of crime among youthful American males residing in disadvantaged neighborhoods
(Miller, 2018).
Impacts of incarceration on American Society
To remove an individual who has harmed others or does not honor others assets is to remove
a thorn from a tender foot. The main impacts of incarceration on American society are as
follows:
1. Hurdles in restoration:
The transfer back to the society is usually loaded with trouble once jail sentence is
finished. With the stigma of detention connected to former perpetrators, which in many
instances is a condition of restricted links with the globe of job becomes even more
difficult which creates hurdles in restoration.
2. Impact on Society and Family:
As with perpetrators, imprisonment has always placed a series of burdens on the
prisoner’s family members. Financial strains, psychological burdens, and social stigma
include these.
3. Fiscal Impacts:
A main means of exerting an impact on public policy by mass incarceration is the
economic distortions generated by the extension of large-scale prisons.
Answer 2
Role of sentencing policies in America
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The constant trend in criminal sentencing law has been increasingly punitive sentencing
laws especially for drug offences. Various policies and initiatives have metastasized into
sentencing policies that have created the phenomenon of mass incarceration in America; it
includes mandatory minimum prison sentences and three strikes laws. Various scholars have
outlined how the war on drugs has played a key part in US penal reform. Sentencing theorists
identify the ‘war on drugs’ as vital to considerate the current US penal landscape. US drug law
involve complicated issues such as ethnicity, national budget, overcrowding prisons, civil
liberties and the spread of disease like AIDS. In fact, attempts to decrease drug use may trigger
more damage than drugs themselves (Tonry, 2016).
A Mandatory Minimum Prison sentence means that an offender if punished with this
sentence has to serve a definite amount of time in prison. However, few judges have expressed
their opinion that this type of sentencing policy is ineffective especially relating to drug offence.
It was found in a recent study that this policy in regards to drug crime or cocaine offenses is not
cost effective and burdened the government.
Whereas the three striking policy also has burdened the government because these laws
flood jail with non-violent perpetrators and unfairly improve prison terms for minorities and the
needy.
Answer 3
It seems that times are evolving. During the beginning the second term of Obama and up
to Trump’s administration, significant modification in sentencing strategy are taking place at the
national stage, and the countries seem to be taking notice. President Trump threw his support by
opening up a potential path by paving the way for the most important modifications to the
criminal justice system in a century. An actual bipartisan legislation to ease mass incarceration
was passed which is known as The First Step Act. This act would adopt small measure to amend
the criminal justice scheme and ease punitive jail sentences at the federal level (U.S, 2018).
Among the long awaited modifications integrated in the legislation are; language shortening
mandatory minimum sentences for certain non-violent drug offences, including altering the
punishment for three strikes to 25 years from life in prison. In some instances, judges would also
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be more free to use so-called security valves to sidestep compulsory minimums (Spohn &
Brennan, 2019).
Bibliography
Miller, R. (2018). Impacts of incarceration on the African American Family. Abingdon-on-
Thames: Routledge.
Spohn, C., & Brennan, P. (2019). Handbook on Sentencing Policies and Practises in 21st
Century. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
Tonry, M. H. (2016). Sentencing Fragments: Penal Reform in America. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
U.S, S. (2018). The First Step Act: S. 2795. New York: Amazon Digital Services LLC-Kdp Print.
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