Poverty Crime and Incaration Policies Paper Example

After the climax in the early 1990s, officials process of violent and property crimes incidences reduced to levels they were not witnessed since the 1960s. Proportional fallout in the most severe crimes has been predominantly articulated. For instance, murders per 100. 000 reduced by more than half, from 9.8 in 1991 to 4.5 in 2014, the last reported rate of murders since 1960. The intense crime general fell by about half over this duration, while the general rate of property crime fell by almost 50% (Ouimet, 2014). Compared against this reduction rate of crime has been a massive and exceptional development in US correctional populations. According to Ouimet (2014), incarceration rate between 1980 and 2013 increased almost 3.5 times, the jail rate of incarceration elevated by about 3 times, while the community rectification regulation rate elevated by 2.6 times. During this period, America shifted from a country with a slighter rate of incarceration to the country with the uttermost incarceration incidence worldwide. The overlapping tendencies present provocative contrast, showing the differing manner that change in crime and punishments over the years have influenced socioeconomic inequality in the United State.

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The current study suggests that if not for the elevation of incarceration, the number of people in poverty would have fallen by 20% (DeFina & Hannon, L. 2013). Despite the doubling of the U.SA economy in the last three decades before the Great Recession, the rate of poverty remains constant. At the same time, the rate of imprisonment increased swiftly by 342 percent, from 111 to 491 for every 10000 citizens. This increase in mass incarceration is not an outcome of rising in criminal tendencies, but the implementation of "tough on crime" also known as zero tolerance policies such as stop-and-frisk, mandatory sentencing, severer handling of parole defilements, and, tough drug policies (Mauer, 2011). These strategies among others cause a unequal impact for people of color and non- native communities such as Latinos. For the present, more than 2.2 million prisoners, about three-quarters of those prisoners are of Latino communities and African American origin. Individuals that face criminal justices are extremely poor. Two- thirds of those detained receive an annual income of less than $12,000 before being arrested. Reinhold Nieburh (2013), in his book Moral a Man and Immoral society, claims that "biased judgments of the court are all the more dangerous for having the prestige of impartiality " American criminal justice system is an expression of privilege hidden under the cloak of egalitarianism. The justice system seeks to rigorous punish while overlooking to diagnose thee several factors which lead individuals to be caught up in the system. Many individuals have their lives ruined for minor non-violent offenses. Thereafter, those individuals depart from the system stripped of rights and lacking resources to correct their lives, continuing being trapped in a societally designed cycle of poverty that proceeds across generations and steadily subjugates sections of American society. Therefore, imprisonment subsidizes poverty by generating employment hindrance; diminishing earnings and diminishing economic security through fees and fines, immoral debt; causing access to public benefit impossible and upsetting communities where previously an imprisoned people reside.

Furthermore, Niebuhr highlights for the advantaged to consider theirs a made status, the suggestion being that the unfortunate are morally substandard and occupy that condition through the mistake of their whereabouts. In passing off the fault onto the poor and minorities, the advantaged are forced to challenge the means in which they gain advantage from society's organizations and inequalities fabricated into them. They overlook the communal failures such as lack of job opportunities, underfunded education system, and, racist policing exercises which channel a massive portion of poor and minorities into jails and prisons. Moreover, the policymakers have ignored the association between the rate of arrest and drug use, or incarceration and crime levels. The American criminal justice system is uneven and below is an analysis of inequalities found in the zero-tolerance policy.

A person born in low- income household has a much higher like hood of imprisonment than of one their wealthy counterparts. Susceptibility is one of the basic symptoms of poverty. The criminal justice system's practices have the effect of provoking this volatility by marginalizing poverty. For example, if an individual gets a traffic ticket or a similar fine and fails to pay, this can rapidly introduce a cycle of ever-increasing fine and finally ending into incarceration. Despite the effort to clean up their life, they are usually unable to clear a huge amount of debt, hence ending up in prison for a while. In addition, several municipalities also have started arresting homeless individuals as criminals by the implementation of a law, which forbids loitering, begging, and, sleeping in public. Failure to offer an effective solution to homelessness, major cities instead has chosen to send homeless people to jail.

Non-natives communities such as Latino and African Americans are extremely affected by poverty. Consequently, they are frequently impacted by these policies and practices that criminalize the poor in the U.S. in addition; the criminal justice system has some element of profile policing that increase the number of Black Americans behind bars. Black Americans population makeup 12% of the America total population, but justify for roughly for 83% of America's population of prisoners. However, the same rate of using drugs is recorded among Black and white Americans; the Black group is about six times more likely to be arrested on drug-associated charges.

After a prisoner is released, the effects of incarceration follow them in their entire lives. Those in the system frequently struggle to get out of the system, but a majority of them do not succeed. A National Institute of Justice survey claims that 76.6% of those released from prison would be rearrested within 5 years. Durose et al (2014) analyzed the hindrance to success for prior prisoners, they concluded that many of the prisoners end back behind bars. Therefore, in several ways, it appears as if the system was formulated to encourage disappointment initiating at every stage of the process.

Similarly, Vallas and Dietrich (n.d) assert that a year after release, two- third of previously incarcerated people remain jobless. 1 in 4 adults has a criminal history which may show up in a routine background check report. When matched pairs are provided similar resumes and the only difference is criminal record report, those with a criminal record have less chance of being employed. Incarcerated can result in a limitation of a wage of a formerly imprisoned person, the reduced earnings make both the present and future more economically unwarrantable for previously incarcerated individual and their families.

Apart from discouraging the former prisoner, the system eradicates key earning and drains assets of a low-income household. Imprisonment of a family member often means losing income from a chief earner especially when the imprisoned person is the breadwinner of the family. The criminal justice system and private firms drain assert from family members who frequently support incarcerated loved ones and pay for a phone call, for instance, The Securus Technologies Inc that runs phone call in most cells in the U.S and charges expensively for a phone call. Moreover, prisons charge expensively for fundamental goods, sentencing, prison fees, and fine.

Individuals with certain types of criminal records experience roadblock and on some occasion are totally grilled from accessing cash assistance, SNAP (food stamps) and housing assistance. Several public benefits such as greater civic engagement and increased tax base assist individuals to realize social and economic success. For instance, the federal and state government spends more than $ 2.5 trillion on student grants annually as a way to eliminate key barriers to college student majorly for a student from low- income family background such assistance helps to reduce like the hood of unemployment among other social inequality. Moreover, other benefits such as SNAP effectively dismiss poverty and increase support to working families. However, those will criminal record stand no chance to access such benefit, hence they end up being poor since they like support to improve their social and economic life.

On the other hand, zero tolerance system is believed by the legislators to be intolerance but self-reliance. It is manifested in the first place by the self-assurance of the criminal justice system in controlling happens that comes within its allowed purview, down to the bottommost level of sub-criminal, value of life, and, wrongdoings. Zero tolerance policing is grounded on three notions. One of the ideas is 'nip things in the bud', this simple code aim at preventing a breakdown and ugly scenes of neglect developing into a breeding site for crime and disruption.

The second notion is in association with severe offenses, compassionate, low-intensity, good-natured control; in those senses take of decent social contact is an approach open to the police officer. The third policy is connected to the second one. At this low level of control zero-tolerance policing can make a distinct variance directly by decreasing minor crime, graffiti, vandalism, low-level disorder and indirectly by generating an environment less warm to criminals that are more serious. However, those principles have been used to breeds a ground for injustices that target the poor and the minority communities in the U.S. The plague of mass incarceration and the institutions, which contribute to these injustices, as essential part of America society, should clearly be beholden to the ideologies on which the American as a nation was founded on. Jefferson (2015) in his book The Declaration of Independence suggests that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." After a period of about 200 years later, John Rawls portrayed the nation's basic principles to define clearly equality. Rawls and Freeman (2018) point that "each person engaged in an institution or affected by it has an equal right to the most extensive liberty compatible with a like liberty for all." Therefore, in order to eliminate these qualities, it is necessary for all policies being made to be established on the principles of equality.

To react to the challenges of crime and mass incarceration in America, I would recommend the U.S as a nation to adapt to the Hamilton project. This project released three policy proposals concentrated primarily on keeping underprivileged young people from being involved in violence and entering the justice system, drop incarceration rate for non- ferocious criminals through, improving on sentencing, and assisting formerly- incarcerated as soon as they leave the criminal justice system and work to re-engage with the labor market and their societies (Jackson, 2019). This project proposal focuses not only on restricted economic mobility for low-income individuals and households but also on eradicating crimes in society.

Conclusion

California initiated the proposal in 2017 as a sign of a nationwide effort to change confinement strategies and possibly echoed a wide acknowledgment of the cost that imprisonment inflicts on society. California has reduced penalties for illicit drug use and...