Section A:: 19071754 CRIM781-Final Exam Prisons and Punishment
Section A:: 19071754 CRIM781-Final Exam Prisons and Punishment
Section A:: 19071754 CRIM781-Final Exam Prisons and Punishment
The United States (US) is renowned for their high incarceration rates. In May 2021
for there were 369 prisoners to every 100,000 individuals from the general
population. There were many changes to the justice system in the 1990’s which lead
to overcrowding in the prisons. These including the introduction of laws which were
tough on crime and the political shift to neo liberalism. Overcrowding means the
purpose of punishment is unable to be upheld effectively. This essay will then
continue to look at how overcrowding has led to an increase in physical and sexual
violence as well as a medical crisis within the US correctional facilities.
Over crowding can be defined in two ways in relation to prisons. Design capacity
refers to the number of beds in relation to prisoner. If this capacity is breached then
the prisoners are unable to be accommodated too. On the other hand, operational
capacity refers to the guard to prisoner’s ratio. If this capacity is breached it means
that there would be ineffective supervision.
The war on drugs began with President Nixon in 1971. His aim to diminish the usage
and distribution of drugs through the introduction of different policies. Punishment
was longer and harsher than before in an attempt to deter the usage of drugs. In
1970 the Controlled Substance Act (CSA) was introduced in order to stop the
production, possession, transportation, distribution and usage of illicit drugs. Drugs
were categorised into schedules in relation to the potential dependency and abuse
as well as their acceptability or usage in the medical field. For example, drugs that
were classed in schedule 1 were had high potential of dependency and abuse and
was not accepted in the medical field. This include heroin and marijuana. However,
schedule 5 consisted of drugs which had low rates of dependency such as cough
medicine. In 1973 the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was introduced. This
aimed to stop the trafficking and distribution of illicit drugs. The war of drugs
continued through in the 1980’s under the guidance of President Regan. He
introduced the Just-Say-No campaign along with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act in 1986.
This act meant that crimes related to drugs had a minimum penalty. However, this
was inequitable in many cases. Crack cocaine was primarily used by African
Americans compared to powder cocaine was typically used by the richer business
men. 250 grams of crack cocaine was an automatic 10-year imprisonment compared
19071754
CRIM781- Final exam
Prisons and Punishment
to 500 grams of powdered cocaine which was 5 years imprisonment. His saw a
major influx in African American being incarcerated which added to the prison’s
population.
Mandatory sentencing was also introduced. This is when certain crimes have a
minimum sentence which must be given. This meant that mitigating factor were not
able to be taken into consideration a judicial discretion had been taken away. This
saw a rise in the prison population of non-violent drug offenders. This can be
displayed through the increase in prison population between 1980 and 1997 in which
it grew from 50,000 to 100,000. 74% of those individuals were African American. The
Three Strike Law was a type of mandatory sentencing. Individuals were required to
serve an extended period of time, usually from 25% to life, in prison if they were to
commit a third crime. However, the seriousness of the third time was not taken into
consideration. As a result, many people were serving longer sentences.
Neoliberalism saw a shift in the way which the government decided to spend their
money. Government spending and funding decreased which meant that many
mental health facilities and drug rehabilitation and prevention programmes stopped
or were now underfund. This saw an increase in homelessness. The mentally ill were
forced to adapt to living within society without guidance or support and as result
there was an increase in criminal behaviour. This saw many of the mentally ill
becoming incarcerated. There was also a shift to prison privatisation. This meant that
prison was then ran and operated by a third party. These third parties would profit of
the incarceration of individual and would choose to house individuals who were low
risk as they required less supervision than individuals who were of high risk and
required more supervision as an added cost. It was in the interest of these third
parties that individuals remained imprisons for their own companies’ economic
benefit.
Overcrowding primarily makes it difficult for both the prisoners and the staff members
as imprisonment is already a stressful time for the individual. Over crowding has
seen an increase in physical violence due to the close proximity of the individuals.
This is not only out of frustration of limited personal space but also as a mean s of
protection from other inmates. Over crowding also leads to an increase in sexual
violence. This is there are often small and shared cells between inmates. Sexual
19071754
CRIM781- Final exam
Prisons and Punishment
violence by guards upon prisoners can also occur because of the power imbalance.
Prisoners are unlikely to report these instances out of fear of repercussion such as
having their property taken away or solitary confinement. As a result of this we can
see that guards are able to continue behaving in this man as a goes unreported.
Overcrowding can also lead to diseases being easily spread through out a correction
facility. This is because is living in close proximity, in poor condition in which
surfaces are continually touched by the vast number of individuals inside. For
example, due to the infectious nature of COVID-19 you can understand how easily it
can spread throughout a facility. Sexually transmitted disease also spread
throughout correctional facilities as there is limited protection given to the prisoners.
The combination of disease and poor condition leads a burn out in the staff members
as they are constantly trying to organise and supervision prisoners. This makes it
difficult for the prisoners to attend medical visitors are there are limited staffed which
can attend and supervise them during this time. This means that the prisons health
will deteriorate. A lot of prisoners continue to die as a result of medical issues which
were preventable but not able to be attended too. In 2018, the US recorded their
highest death toll with 4135 deaths. This shows how the medical crisis is a serious
issue which needs to be addressed.
In conclusion we can see how changes in the justice system in the 1990’s has led to
the overcrowding problem which is being felt by individuals today. This included the
introduction on laws which were tough on crime as the CSA, DEA, the Anti Drug
Abuse Act and the Mandatory sentencing. As well as the shift to neo liberalism.
Overcrowding has led to an increase in physical and sexual violence as well as a
medical crisis within the US correctional facilities. Many prisoner and guards have
their health deteriorating as the system is stretched thin to try to accommodate to the
large prison populations. Future research should look into where we have gone
wrong in the past to ensure that we are removing these mistakes today, not only for
our prisoner and guards but to ensure the system is not over loaded and able to
uphold the purpose of punishment adequately.
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CRIM781- Final exam
Prisons and Punishment
Section B:
The justice system should be place in which individuals are trailed irrespective of
their gender or race. However, it has been noted that there are considerably more
men in prisons compared to women and there are considerably more Maori wahine
compared to Pakeha women. This essay will the gender difference in offending and
detecting while also looking at how structural inequality, historical and
intergenerational trauma and racism are leading reasons as to why we see more
Maori wahine than Pakeha women.
In 2020 a total of 5614 men were incarcerated compared to 363 women. In addition,
1967 men were serving sentencing longer than 5 years compared to only 72 women.
These statistics show major disparities between gender when it comes to
incarceration and we can often look as the rates of offending and detecting between
genders to help understand why.
Women are less likely to offend as a result of gender norms and roles. If women are
going to uphold and embody these gender norms as they are unlikely to display risky
behaviours. As a result of marginalisation which occurs from these gender norms
women have access to opportunities and influence to crime or the criminal
underworld of crime organisation. If a woman is a parent is also unlikely to commit a
crime as society deems a mother as a provider. With this mindset it is understood
that any punishment on to her is also a punishment on her whanau, particularly her
tamariki. Men are more likely to fall victim to their hedonistic urges as they have
more freedom and less societal control then women. Women are subjected to
household, whanau and societal expectation which are also enforced by their males’
counterparts. Another explanation which can be noted is the maturity levels between
genders. The peak age for crime for women in aged 14 and which after that that
point they generally grow out of crime. However, men peak at 19. Given that the age
of accountability within the justice system in 16, we can see how their maybe more
men in prison than women.
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Prisons and Punishment
The detections and treatment of men and women also differs. Men are more
expected to engage in criminal activity compared to women, as a result of this they
are more likely to be target and watched compared to women by authorities.
Authorities can only watch so many things as often used preconceived ideas to
make a judgement on who they may think is going to commit a crime. In this case
men. Within the court rooms as well judges tend to treat women one of two ways.
The chivalry theory suggests that judges give greater lenience towards women and
take it upon themselves to protect them. This shows how they take into consideration
mitigating factors such a parental obligation, criminal history, gender, age etc..
however, on the other hand the double deviance theory suggests that judges
understand women have crossed not just one boundary but two; the law and
gender/societal norms. These gender biases and structural sexism play a major role
in the offending and detection differences between genders.
Intergenerational trauma also plays a major role in the lives of us and our tamariki.
For example, if a parent is incarcerated, the child then is classed as at risk or future
engagement in criminal activity and incarceration. In the 1980’s there was an influx
of young Maori men. The daughters of these men are now of age of culpability and
when we look as the statistics from the 1980’s to Maori wahine of today we see
similar trends. Having a parent figure in prisons put strain upon the whanua as the
tamariki lose a parental figure which leads to a cycle of dysfunction. Additionally, if a
father is to go to prison it increases the risk of sexual assault by 35% upon their
children. Individuals who experience sexual assault are at a greater risk of having
negative interaction with the law often leading to incarceration. It is of great
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Prisons and Punishment
importance to understand that when you grow up round certain activity, behaviour,
individuals, value and morals that becomes all that you know so as a result you tend
to engage in what you know as it is what you deem to safe and comfortable.
Racism is also prevalent in the justice system. Maori communities tend to be over-
policed due to the ingrained idea that they are more criminally driven than Pakeha.
Once again, this kind of mindset dates back to colonisation. Because of over policing
Maori are four times more likely to be arrested than Pakeha. Racism is present
through out the entire process from being arrested to who you face the judge and/or
jury. These prejudices disadvantage Maori wahine in their ability to being treated
equally to their Pakeha women counterparts. Racism is the justice system does not
have to overt, it can be considered unconscious which puts Maori wahine at a
greater disadvantage. As there is a rather larger Maori wahine prison population it
likely that Maori wahine know someone who is inside. It creates a sense of normality
for these individuals as it what they grew up around, therefore the prison deterrence
affect is ineffective.
To conclude we can see that we can accredit gender norms, structural sexism and
gender bias to why we see more men incarcerated than women. Women are less
likely to offend and less likely to detected. It is important to note that all of this
information is based off what is reported as we are ware not all crime is reported or
recorded. We have also been able to understand how structural inequality;
intergeneration trauma and racism has led to a large Maori wahine prison population
compared to Pakeha women. A lot of this tends to date back to the collinisation
which show Maori still continue to suffer it’s affects even in this modern era. Future
research should be looking into what the justice system to can do now to ensure the
biases are eliminated from the entirety of the process so that individuals, irrespective
of their gender or race, have a fair and equal trail to their peers.