Flaws In The Criminal Justice System
Flaws within the Criminal Justice System: Economic Considerations
Introduction
Everyday 2,220,300 inmates live their lives in prisons throughout the United States. That’s 0.91% of the adult population, or 1 in 110 (Glaze 2013). What if you were next? The thought would scare anyone and the flaws in the system pose a threat to low income individuals and minorities. The sole purpose of the Justice System is to deliver justice for all, by only convicting and sentencing the guilty, while preventing offenders from reoffending. The system was designed to protect the innocent. What if that was not the case? In fact, Out of the 733,000 people held in local jails at this time, 2/3 of them have not been convicted and many are there simply …show more content…
This is mainly due to the fact that, according to NLCHP, despite the lack of affordable housing, many U.S. cities have criminalized life-sustaining activities, such as 34 percent of cities prohibit public camping, 18 percent prohibit public sleeping citywide and a third prohibit it in defined public spaces, and 24 percent ban begging citywide. Therefore, to enforce these rules, police conduct sweeps of areas where homeless people live, confiscating shelter, clothing, and even medication (No Safe Place: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities 2014). Unfortunately, due to these police sweeps to book the homeless, individuals are often sent to jail solely based on the fact that they beg for money or sleep in a public setting (No Safe Place: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities 2014). With these small infractions, individuals receive a criminal history, which makes it much harder to find jobs. In fact, more than 50 percent of employers say that they would feel very hesitant to hire an employee with a criminal history. Analysis has reflected that men with arrest records, even without conviction, earn lower salaries upon employment. Of the nearly 70 percent of employers who conduct background checks, barely half give applicants a chance to explain their prior arrests (Bannon, et al 2010). This is an endless cycle of re-arrests that make finding a job …show more content…
Criminal Justice system as a whole. Inherently, those who are least able to afford the fees are faced with the greatest financial burden (Albin-Lackey 2014). This is mainly the case because court costs, fines, and fees are often pre-set through state statute (Ruback, 2004), and unattainable for individuals in the lower class. In fact, the Georgia private probation giant, Sentinel, is estimated to have relied on predatory fine collecting of individuals who could not pay for at least 40 percent of its revenue (Cherdoo 2015). This is unfair for the lower class, and shockingly they actually accrue additional debt while in jail (Anderson, E., et al 2014). The historic Supreme Court case Bearden v. Georgia was a step in the right direction. Bearden v. Georgia’s ruling established the constitutional right to a judicial inquiry into ability to pay. Unfortunately, this is up to interpretation, but a smoker buying cigarettes or someone having cable television service has been enough for a judge to conclude the willful nonpayment of these fees and thusly put them in jail without any further inquiry (Bannon, et al 2010). Unsuccessfully, the resolution to the court isn’t held in a manner that would benefit the lower class individuals and thusly, the U.S. Correctional system is widely flawed against the
Introduction
Everyday 2,220,300 inmates live their lives in prisons throughout the United States. That’s 0.91% of the adult population, or 1 in 110 (Glaze 2013). What if you were next? The thought would scare anyone and the flaws in the system pose a threat to low income individuals and minorities. The sole purpose of the Justice System is to deliver justice for all, by only convicting and sentencing the guilty, while preventing offenders from reoffending. The system was designed to protect the innocent. What if that was not the case? In fact, Out of the 733,000 people held in local jails at this time, 2/3 of them have not been convicted and many are there simply …show more content…
This is mainly due to the fact that, according to NLCHP, despite the lack of affordable housing, many U.S. cities have criminalized life-sustaining activities, such as 34 percent of cities prohibit public camping, 18 percent prohibit public sleeping citywide and a third prohibit it in defined public spaces, and 24 percent ban begging citywide. Therefore, to enforce these rules, police conduct sweeps of areas where homeless people live, confiscating shelter, clothing, and even medication (No Safe Place: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities 2014). Unfortunately, due to these police sweeps to book the homeless, individuals are often sent to jail solely based on the fact that they beg for money or sleep in a public setting (No Safe Place: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities 2014). With these small infractions, individuals receive a criminal history, which makes it much harder to find jobs. In fact, more than 50 percent of employers say that they would feel very hesitant to hire an employee with a criminal history. Analysis has reflected that men with arrest records, even without conviction, earn lower salaries upon employment. Of the nearly 70 percent of employers who conduct background checks, barely half give applicants a chance to explain their prior arrests (Bannon, et al 2010). This is an endless cycle of re-arrests that make finding a job …show more content…
Criminal Justice system as a whole. Inherently, those who are least able to afford the fees are faced with the greatest financial burden (Albin-Lackey 2014). This is mainly the case because court costs, fines, and fees are often pre-set through state statute (Ruback, 2004), and unattainable for individuals in the lower class. In fact, the Georgia private probation giant, Sentinel, is estimated to have relied on predatory fine collecting of individuals who could not pay for at least 40 percent of its revenue (Cherdoo 2015). This is unfair for the lower class, and shockingly they actually accrue additional debt while in jail (Anderson, E., et al 2014). The historic Supreme Court case Bearden v. Georgia was a step in the right direction. Bearden v. Georgia’s ruling established the constitutional right to a judicial inquiry into ability to pay. Unfortunately, this is up to interpretation, but a smoker buying cigarettes or someone having cable television service has been enough for a judge to conclude the willful nonpayment of these fees and thusly put them in jail without any further inquiry (Bannon, et al 2010). Unsuccessfully, the resolution to the court isn’t held in a manner that would benefit the lower class individuals and thusly, the U.S. Correctional system is widely flawed against the