Punishment and Crime

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how, in less than three decades, wars on crime and drugs in the United States have resulted in a six-fold increase of the prison population, and the construction of the world's largest prison system. The paper explores how the United States, with about half a million more prisoners than China, not only imprisons many more people than any other nation, but has approximately 25 percent of all the prisoners in the world behind its bars. The writer argues that punishment is not a deterrent for criminals and that one would have expected to see a larger drop in the crime-rate if it was.

From the Paper:

"Traditionally devoted to the punishment of past crime, the U.S. criminal justice system has begun to focus as well on the prevention of future crime by incarceration and control of dangerous offenders (Robinson). Habitual offender statutes, like 'three strikes' laws, sentence repeat offenders to life imprisonment (Robinson). Moreover, jurisdictional reforms lower the age at which juveniles may be tried as adults, increasing the available terms of imprisonment beyond those of juvenile court, and gang membership and recruitment are also criminalized (Robinson)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cheatwood, Derral. "Capital punishment for the crime of homicide in Chicago: 1870-1930." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. March 22 2002. Retrieved April 03 2006 from HighBeam Research Library Web site.
• Fitzgerald, Joe. "Just punishment only deterrent to violent crime." The Boston Herald. October 30 2002. Retrieved April 03 2006 from HighBeam Research Library Web site.
• Gilligan, James. "Punishment and Violence: Is the Criminal Law Based on One Huge Mistake?" Social Research. September 22 2000. Retrieved April 03 2006 from HighBeam Research Library Web site.
• Kahan, Dan M. "Updating the study of punishment." Stanford Law Review. April 01 2004. Retrieved April 03 2006 from HighBeam Research Library Web site.
• McCormick, Patrick T. "Just Punishment and America's Prison Experiment." Theological Studies. September 01 2000. Retrieved April 03 2006 from HighBeam Research Library Web site.

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