Prison Overcrowding

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that violence is one of the main results of jail overcrowding because the guards, who are suppose to keep control of the inmates, are grossly outnumbered by the criminals; therefore, control can slip out of their hands, which leads even more violence. The author believes that criminals who commit serious crimes, like rape or murder, need to be punished for the significance of their crime, even with longer sentences; but less serious crimes, like minor drug offenses, do not need jail time to be punished. The paper states that imprisoning nonviolent offenders often causes more damage than punishment or rehabilitation because short-term inmates often do not receive the rehabilitation they need and become corrupted by the experience of being in jail.

From the Paper:

"Stealing a few children's videos gave one man in California fifty years to life in prison, while another man received twenty-five years to life for trying to steal a few golf clubs. Does this seem logical? Maybe not to many Americans but in California this occurs quite often. In fact, "more than 7,000 state inmates are serving three strikes sentences of 25 years or more." California has a "Three Strikes Law" that became official on March 7, 1994. This law comes into play when a criminal has one or more prior felony convictions. The second time a criminal commits a felony, their mandatory sentence can be doubled; the third time, the criminal can receive a sentence of twenty-five years to life in prison."

More papers on Prison Overcrowding:

• Analytical Essay # 140901 : "Prison Overcrowding"
• Term Paper # 149473 : "Prison Overcrowding and the Criminal Justice System"
• Persuasive Essay # 148278 : "Impact of Prison Overcrowding"
• Essay # 108345 : "Prison Overcrowding"

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