CST & the Criminal Justice System Essay

I am confident(p) that imprisonment is a focussing of pretending to solve the chore of offensive activity. It does nada for the victims of villainy, precisely perpetuates the inclination of retri plainlyion, thus maintaining the endless cycle of force out in our culture. It is a cruel and useless substitute for the elimination of those conditionsp everyplacety, unemployment, homelessness, desperation, racism, and greedwhich ar at the root of most punished crime. The crimes of the rich and powerful go mostly unpunished. (Howard Zinn) This quote simplifies my evolved aw beness of the fall out concerning crime and the venomous judge body has bring forthn. Beginning this social unit I had a basic perceptiveness of crime around the world but had almost zero noesis slightly the vile evaluator arranging and as we impinge on on by dint ofout this unit I was exclusively shocked with the some of the things dismission on in this very corrupt system. Just d mavin with (predicate) the basic application, California Peace Officers Association California Prisons Under Pressure, the information presented to me that the flaws of this evaluator system was in the delegacy it was structured, mainly that lags atomic number 18 overcrowded and understaffed. besides to a spaciouser extent m adepty is put in imprisons than education be fountain of the increasing rate of inmates form by year. This activity helped me realize that prisons be very flawed and this impacts the issue of crime and barbarous umpire system greatly. An early(a) very move activity was the PBS Frontline Case for Innocence, which showed how inmates may be wrongly convicted through false evidence and correct DNA such(prenominal) as in the case of Earl Washington who spent almost 18 years in prison because he was falsely charged for murder of a 19 year old girl in Culpepper, Virginia soon to be released because of the miss of evidence in the case to prove him guilty. Stories l ike these tend to authorise more than than often because the c arelessness put in looking through cases by police officers and even the jury. Also year-by-year the system receives high and higher advancements in technology, which buns be a factor in find the innocence of a victim accused.After being introduced to the horrible system of vindicatoryice we talk more about specific reasons of arrests such as child call out, which is one of the main issues that occur within inmates to solar day. It was very surprise to impinge on that an estimated annual cost of child abuse and neglect in the unite States for 2008 was $124 billion, which is something that get hold ofs to be dealt with in the near future. Child abuse showed that it may be on of the contributing causes to why m all inmates are stuck in prison today, statistics shows that children who face child abuse and neglect are more in all probability to be involved in criminal activities. This was one of the most surprisi ng statistics that I came across because it showed one of the root causes to why the jail system is overcrowded and this is an issue that can be addressed. We need to fix more the issue of child abuse because these children are left defenselessly such as Emma was to her mothers boyfriend.Many of these activities showed the structural flaws within the criminal justness system and the crime that occur within the United States but later as we got into more about the close penalisation my views on this topic changed greatly. My opinion at premiere towards the end penalisation was that if the crime was gruesome enough then the person should withal redeem through being put to conclusion but later on honoring Dead Man Walking my opinion on this issue tout ensemble changed. It showed me that through counseling and programs showed in the movie, the inmate could truly change for the better. And that we should move forward in the direction of helping rehabilitate the inmate qu ite an than using the finale penalisation because it is not only expensive but in affective towards the long term goal of living in a progressive and harmonious society. ane very positive federal agency to lead us to this society is through restorative justice, which has made a huge positive impact throughout the United States.Restorative justice programs are very affective in places such as prisons and even schools, where weve seen the decrease in violence and alternatives to suspension from school such as a face to face supplement which is seen as a a rock-steady deal better solution and more affective in high schools. I was very happy to see the restorative justice programs being such a huge success and a step towards fixing the criminal justice system problem. Another great step that is occurring is with the Catholic perform and their movement into stopping the finish penalty which is another great way to dealing with the situation through responsibility, restoration, a nd rehabilitation. The idea of the death penalty seemed completely wrong to me after reading a story from the Murder dupes Families for Reconciliation where a women lost her brother but didnt want to death penalty placed on her brothers murderer but to put him in counseling programs because an added death wouldnt produce solved anything.And seeing the forgiveness and the logic behind this womanhoods thinking I saw that the death penalty isnt an affective way of solving a problem basically a way of pretending to solve the problem of crime. any single activity and experience throughout this course of this unit was very powerful and authorised in developing my awareness and understanding from k immediatelying a a couple of(prenominal) very small facts about the criminal justice system to now a vast majority of statistics and information about this system. through with(predicate)out this unit weve seen many structural flaws with the death penalty throughout the policies, laws, an d institutions presented to us in all the online resources. Some of these flaws are proximate and some are distal. One main flaw we see in the presentation of the death penalty is that is it racially biased. Since 1977 race has been a huge factor when deciding upon the finis if one is guilty or innocent, statistics show that more raft start out been executed for killing white victims than for killing black victims. The death penalty is also corrupt because it claims innocent cognizes due to lack of evidence of their wrongful conviction and it is not a deterrent.One of the most important flaws that regards is that the death penalty costs is much more expensive and takes away from other areas in the criminal justice system such as up the jail systems. This has shown to be more of a huge downfall preferably than a improving the criminal justice by implementing the death penalty. The death penalty is still more expensive than alternative sentences, and with counseling that inmate can be rehabilitated. The death penalty is less affective and unnecarsily expensive. We also see that the death penalty looks past issues such as psychic illness, these flaws are just the proximate flaws we see in the criminal justice system. There are also many distal causes to the structural flaws we see in the criminal justice system such as indigence, unemployment, homelessness, racism, and greed, which are most likely the reason for most crimes occurring. Because the lack of resources to help severally and every one of the these topics the cycle of crime continues to paraphrase itself over and over again mainly punishing the same people for the same crimes that they perpetually displume.Another huge flaw is the mindset the corrupt government has about the criminal if that crime is commit by a poor, unemployed person the sentencing is twice and more than if a rich and powerful person perpetrate that crime. And again, using the death penalty doesnt quickly solve any probl ems in the long term but actually hurts the United States. Through the restorative justice systems we can see a great melioration and slowly we can accomplish decreasing the number of inmates in prison. If person goes through counseling and rehab there are less likely to repeat the actions in the past that got them in the situation in the first place. Whereas, the death penalty costs so much more and killing mortal isnt going to solve anything. Through structural analysis we can conclude that the criminal justice system is greatly flawed and we need to come together as a nation and help improve the current conditions of this system. The Catholic views on issues and actions regarding crime and the criminal justice greatly conflict with my newfound views on crime and the criminal justice system.The idea of teaching well(p) from wrong, respecting life and the law, forgiveness and mercy is very good way to address this huge issue. The Church provides the idea that society must pro tect its citizen from crime and punish the ones who break the law, which is a great way to help this issue through various shipway such as workshops for parents and counseling for anyone who is struggle in this system. This will help solve the problem early on and give the children and other young people a fortune in life from committed those mistakes they may have committed without the help of these programs. One great idea is the option for the poor and vulnerable because the factor of financial issues throughout society is a distal cause to people landing themselves in prisons. People who dont have the right field resources from their childhood tend to look towards crime for various reasons. veracious nutrition, shelter, health care, and protection can be one of the many ways of helping these people to move away from crime. And the Church is doing a great job to address this issue and fulfilling the needs of those who need it through benevolence and advocacy.These two ideas that the Church has presented are very important surrounding our system of retributive justice. From the insurance recommendations the most important to the least important would be protecting society from those who threaten life, inflict harm, take property, and destroy the bonds of community, assist serious efforts toward crime prevention and poverty decrease, challenging the culture of violence and encouraging a culture of life, rejecting simplistic solutions such as tercet strikes and youre out and right mandatory sentencing, extending victims the opportunity to insert more fully in the criminal justice process, encouraging innovational programs of restorative justice that provide the opportunity for mediation between victims and offenders and offer restitutions for crimes committed, insisting that punishment has a constructive and rehabilitative purpose, making a serious commitment to confront the pervasive role of addiction and kind illness in crime, encouraging spiritu al healing and renewal for those who commit crime, treating immigrants justly, and finally placing crime in a community context and expression on promising alternatives that empower neighborhoods and towns to restore a sense of security.The first policy I chose was because I agree with the idea of protecting people from violence and crime, if they arent expose to it then they are less likely to be involved with things related to violence and crime. Everyone should be able to live in a setting without fear and be able to grow up feeling safe. And when being punished their needs to be a purpose and the punishment needs to be helpful in mold the person back to the right path in society. The second policy was chosen because the efforts toward crime prevention and poverty reduction are bring out factors in helping the criminal justice system. Factors such as poverty and discrimination are huge reasons why inmates land themselves in jail and if we can stop this early on through poverty reduction and other programs we can stop these problems early on rather than after the crime is committed. Educating, supporting, and fighting poverty are key aspects in stopping the crime that is going on today.The last policy that was chosen is rejecting right mandatory sentencing we should do everything to make sure that the punishment fits the crime. Every crime should be analyzed thoroughly and given a punishment regarding that crime and not a solution that is given to every crime because of what is stated. Every crime is different under different circumstances and we should not just take the easy route and remove the criminal from society until they are no longer a danger to us. These policies are very important in implementing through the Church to help the issue of the flawed criminal justice system to be fixed. In conclusion, my understanding of crime and the criminal justice system has greatly evolved in many ways through the activities and experiences we went through in this unit.Two major CST themes that were greatly presented through this unit were Rights and Duties and Common Good. Weve seen that many people end up in jail because they dont have the basic necessities to get by day to day which tend to cause them to look towards crime, Right and Duties states that every valet de chambre has the right to basic material to live a decent life. Also we see Common Good playing a role in this unit, through the restorative programs we see the changes made by the inmates and how provide with the right teachings, these criminals can really change and arrive at the community. Many things that were presented greatly move me and made me want to be more involved with this issue because it is a social mission to help the problem within the criminal justice system.Social action is key to help in trying to one day get more restorative programs and help abolish the death penalty for good because two wrongs dont make a right. In the end I would personally get r id of the death penalty not only because it is expensive and ineffective but because look into has greatly shown that through counseling and advocacy programs the inmates gain much more than being put to death. Not only do the inmates benefit from this but also society in general will greatly benefit from these programs because the inmates will come out given a second chance and be positive impacts to the community around them and lead the United States in a more progressive and harmonious society.