The Ideal Justice System Gumerove 1 The United States justice system plays a tremendous role in how American society functions The decisions of the justice system impact our lives daily whether it is the sentencing of an infamous serial killer or personally showing up to court to argue a speeding ticket that was unnecessarily received Not surprisingly though the justice system has its pros and its cons like many other things in American society Some of these strong points include youth sentencing insanity sentencing and the application of parole or probation All of these aspects add positive value to the justice system and punish offenders that fall into these three categories with respective fairness depending on the offense However the justice system has flaws as well Included in the list of flawed aspects is the death penalty overspending because of high recidivism rates and an overly heavy policing presence in educational facilities The justice system has positive traits yet also has negative aspects that can be improved and made better if improvements are handled correctly First one should first understand the flaws of the justice system before wishing to improve them Without understand the root of the issue or the underlying factors of why this issue exists these problems will not be able to be correctly adjusted The first issue of the criminal justice system in America is the death penalty The death penalty was originally intended that the death penalty was used to prevent criminals from repeating their behavior and to deter others from participating in criminal activity by example of what may happen to them if they do However according to the Death Penalty Information Center online it has failed to deter many crimes deserving of the death penalty The fact sheet on the death penalty s information website indicated that the south had the highest murder rate The south accounts for over 80 of executions Death Penalty 2012 Since the death penalty fails to deter future murders it Gumerove 2 can be said that the death penalty does not carry out one of its main objectives and therefore should be abolished The only way to fix the issue of the death penalty is to eliminate it altogether A survey done by the Information Center also shows that according to a survey of the former and present presidents of the country s top academic criminological societies 88 of these experts rejected the notion that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder Death Penalty 2012 Since the death penalty is both perceptively and in reality failing to deter murder it should be abolished The use of the death penalty is cruel and has no greater effect than life in prison without parole Therefore overall improvements of the death penalty would be eliminating it and replacing the sentencing with life in prison without parole and the possibility of restitution Restitution means that while the prisoner is in jail he or she may work but all money earned goes to the family of the victim This is how the negative death penalty can be improved and shaped into a positive aspect of the justice system Another issue in the current criminal justice system is overspending on corrections yet not seeing now decline in the recidivism rate Recidivism means the rate of return seen in previous offenders this is also referred to sometimes as the return rate or reinstatement rate The nature of this issue isn t exactly one aspect rather than location dependent Since not all prisons and programs are equal throughout the entire United States they should not be accountable for showing equal statistics however there are some measures that can be taken to drop these rates Some states including Kansas Oregon and Utah had the steepest drop of recidivism rates between the years of 1999 and 2004 Bosh 2011 These significantly declining rates go to show that there are some possible measures that can be taken to prevent recidivism Gumerove 3 Among these declining states Oregon shows the largest drop recording a 31 9 drop in recidivism Bosh 2011 Since each state has different programs prisons and populations the rates for each state will vary however currently these rates are far too high The solution to overspending money on corrections and seeing high recidivism rates is looking towards those who have already conquered this issue Bosh states A state s recidivism rate is the product of numerous variables and valid interstate assessments require careful analysis of the underlying conditions affecting each state therefore readers are advised to use caution when comparing recidivism rates across states and should focus on differences within states over time 2011 With that being stated it is important to note that some states who have overcome the problem of recidivism should inform the more troubled states such as Alaska California and New Jersey of the methods they have used to defeat this issue If the recidivism rates of 10 high risk states including Alaska and California were to drop by only 10 percent they could save more than 470 million in a single year Bosh 2011 Astonishing numbers such as these prove if the negative of overspending because of recidivism is improved there could a tremendous financial boost seen by the respective states The final issue of the justice system that needs improvement is the amount of police presence in schools There has been an increase in the police presence in the schools even though theft levels and school violence rates are at their lowest levels since data started being collected in 1992 Petteruti 2011 According to the U S department of Justice the number of school resource officers increased 38 percent between 1997 and 2007 Petteruti 2011 This increased presence of law enforcement may seem like a good thing on the surface to some but deep down there is a problem that demeans the intended goal of school in the first place education Amanda Petteruti observes the effects of heightened school resource officers Gumerove 4 The increase in the presence of law enforcement in schools especially in the form of school resource officers SROs has coincided with increases in referrals to the justice system especially for minor offenses like disorderly conduct This is causing lasting harm to youth as arrests and referrals to the juvenile justice system disrupt the educational process and can lead to suspension expulsion or other alienation from school All of these negative effects set youth on a track to drop
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