A quick overview of the United States criminal justice system unravels an ongoing conflict between two dogmas in relation to the treatment of prisoners and criminal reprobates. The first dogma would be retributive punishment. This states that prison is an institution for aiding the means of justice through an analogous penalty that is enacted against criminal offenders who have committed heinous acts of wrongdoing. In simpler terms, the more severe and heinous the crime that was committed, the longer the period of imprisonment of the reprobate. In cases of minor crimes/misdemeanors, shorter periods of imprisonment are enacted upon these individuals.
