Brief Description of Virginia’s Program In 1994, due to the limited budgets and overcrowded prisons of the state, Virginia’s Legislature required the state sentencing commission to construct a new method to keep nonviolent criminals out of prison without the risk of endangering the society. By analyzing a large volume of historical data about crime and recidivism, Richard Kern, the commission’s director and his team concluded that people with certain features or preferences could possibly commit new offenses after being released from a prison. For example, a single, unemployed, young man is more likely to be arrested again than a married, employed, woman. Based on this new finding, Kern constructed a 71-point scale of risk assessment for evaluating
…show more content…
First of all, Kern’s study was based on science such as statistics. Through several tests, he has proved that his project can effectively predict the recidivism risk caused by released offenders and thus ensure public safety. In addition, when a government is facing a financial issue or having a limited budget, Kern’s idea could be an efficient option since it can directly reduce the number of prisoners that the government needs to supervise on.
Nevertheless, the disadvantages of this project is also obvious. This method focuses on immutable factors of offenders, such as age and sex, which have nothing to do with the crime. Therefore, it possibly involves age and sex discrimination, which is conflicted with the fundamental principle of antidiscrimination law. Moreover, Kern’s project could cause moral-hazard problem. If some criminals are aware of this program in advance, they are more likely to change their strategy before committing crimes. For example, to avoid prison, drug dealers may instigate children to be their couriers. Thus, one is supposed to balance the pros and cons of this project before implementing …show more content…
The positive result could be reducing governor’s pressure from prison budget and other relevant financial issues. However, this project might cause a protest from citizens about age and sex discrimination. The other option could be rejecting kern’s program and not making any changes to the sentencing of New Jersey. This option can prevent the discrimination protest. Nonetheless, if crime rises, it would be a disaster if the governor does not prepare for it or have a backup plan. Without Kern’s solution, we can also solve the problems of limited prison space. For instance, if the prisons in New Jersey are getting more and more crowded, the government can outsource prisons to other companies, which means hiring some trustworthy professional companies to supervise
First of all, Kern’s study was based on science such as statistics. Through several tests, he has proved that his project can effectively predict the recidivism risk caused by released offenders and thus ensure public safety. In addition, when a government is facing a financial issue or having a limited budget, Kern’s idea could be an efficient option since it can directly reduce the number of prisoners that the government needs to supervise on.
Nevertheless, the disadvantages of this project is also obvious. This method focuses on immutable factors of offenders, such as age and sex, which have nothing to do with the crime. Therefore, it possibly involves age and sex discrimination, which is conflicted with the fundamental principle of antidiscrimination law. Moreover, Kern’s project could cause moral-hazard problem. If some criminals are aware of this program in advance, they are more likely to change their strategy before committing crimes. For example, to avoid prison, drug dealers may instigate children to be their couriers. Thus, one is supposed to balance the pros and cons of this project before implementing …show more content…
The positive result could be reducing governor’s pressure from prison budget and other relevant financial issues. However, this project might cause a protest from citizens about age and sex discrimination. The other option could be rejecting kern’s program and not making any changes to the sentencing of New Jersey. This option can prevent the discrimination protest. Nonetheless, if crime rises, it would be a disaster if the governor does not prepare for it or have a backup plan. Without Kern’s solution, we can also solve the problems of limited prison space. For instance, if the prisons in New Jersey are getting more and more crowded, the government can outsource prisons to other companies, which means hiring some trustworthy professional companies to supervise