Elihu Rosenbalt's "Criminal Justice: Confronting the Prison Crisis"

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews the book, "Criminal Justice: Confronting the Prison Crisis", by Elihu Rosenbalt; which is a collection of research done on the American prison system and the issue of abuse within it. The paper begins with a synopsis of the book's structure. The paper focuses on two articles in particular, "The Labor of Doing Time" by Julie Browne and "Gardens of the Law: The Role of Prisons in the Capitalist Society" by Joel Olsen. It summarizes and assesses the opinions of these two writers on the American prison system.

From the Paper:

"Two articles that caught my attention are written by Julie Browne and Joel Olson, entitled, "The Labor of Doing Time" and "Gardens of the Law: The Role of Prisons in the Capitalist Society," respectively. The piece by Julie Browne discussed the history of forced labor among convicts in prisons, and Browne provides historical and critical analysis of the said issue, citing different instances in history where human rights of the prisoners were violated, and where they are constantly exposed to abuse and poverty. Browne's article focused on the issues of inequality, economic profit to capitalist companies/businesses, and injustice to prisoners in US prison systems. Browne introduced us readers to the terms "convict leasing" and "chain gangs," terms that resulted from the Convict Lease System that was founded and implemented during the 19th century. Under this kind of system, companies team-up with prison administration on a business venture, with the arrangement that the former would provide greater funding for that particular prison, while the latter will provide the workers that will be needed for the production and manufacturing of the company's products or goods."

More papers on Elihu Rosenbalt's "Criminal Justice: Confronting the Prison Crisis":

• Essay # 48736 : "Criminal Justice in the United States"
• Persuasive Essay # 50539 : "Criminal Justice and the Death Penalty"
• Analytical Essay # 72061 : "American Criminal Justice System"

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