Transcript Issues Facing the Criminal Justice System Model Lesson Plan Kelly Nieto The criminal justice system defined  What is the criminal justice system?  A.

Issues Facing the Criminal Justice
System
Model Lesson Plan
Kelly Nieto
The criminal justice system defined
 What is the criminal justice system?
 A set of legal and social institutions (e.g., courts) for enforcing the
criminal law in accordance with a set of defined rules and limitations
 Why do we use it?
 Theories of punishment
 Retribution: punishment, if proportionate, is a morally acceptable response
to a crime (eye for an eye)
 Deterrence: use of punishment as a threat to prevent people from committing
crimes
 Rehabilitation: assumption that people are not permanently criminal and can
be restored to contributing members of society
 Incapacitation: society will be better off with offenders behind bars and off
the streets
 Is it effective?
Statistics
 The United States imprisons more people than any other
nation in the world
 2,266,800 adults were incarcerated in U.S. federal and state
prisons and county jails by the end of the year 2010
 This accounts to .7% of the U.S. population
 Washington state has 17,772 prisoners
costing $1,162,467.00 per day
Image from a California state prison…
Driving forces behind overcrowding
 Three strike laws- statutes enacted by state governments that
require state courts to impose a life sentence on persons who
have been convicted of two or more serious crimes
 Litigation delays- defendants that are unable to post bail stay
in jail until trial date
 New sentencing guidelines- harsher sentences, war on drugs
Driving forces, con’t
 Movement from indeterminate to determinate sentencing
 Determinate sentencing: a sentence for a fixed or minimum
period that is specified by statute
 Indeterminate sentencing: a sentence with no definite period of
time; length determined based on inmate’s conduct
 Demographics- at-risk populations
 Economic recession
 Rising crime rates and a growing population (arguably)
The Eighth Amendment
 The Eighth Amendment protects against excessive bail and
cruel and unusual punishment
 Discussion:
 Arguments that prison overcrowding is a violation of the Eighth
Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment
 Arguments that prison overcrowding is not a violation of the
Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment