Penology

The Death Penalty is one of the most debatable topics in the criminal justice system. Three reasons the Death Penalty is a good way to handle severe crimes are that it deters people from committing the more severe crimes, it provides closure for victims, and the death penalty is necessary to protect society. First and foremost, deterrence works by letting possible murderers know that if they are found guilty of certain crimes, then they could pay the ultimate price. If as a society, people…

The importance of Faith for Ivan. Alexander Solznenitsyn's novel " One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" is a Russian novel about the brutal and undignifying conditions of the Russian gulag system. This novel follows our titular character Ivan Denisovich, referred as Shukhov, on one normal day of his 3,653 day prison sentence. Shukhov is a uneducated man who must fight to survive and keep his dignity, as conditions of the prison camp are draining on physical and emotional levels.…

Jails and prisons mainly serve the same purpose of housing people who enter the criminal justice system. Jails are for inmate’s short term and are locally operated at a local level. In 2013, The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that there were 2,872 local jails in the U.S. Jails normally house those who have committed misdemeanors. People held in jails are often awaiting a trail, sentencing and the sentence term for jails is typically a year or less. Jails are for lower level offenders or…

In my humble opinion, inmates that are serving a sentence in prison coincide, somewhat, with the current constitutional rights they are entitled to. First and foremost, it would be enlightening to know that every prisoner was serving a sentence that resulted from a solid case based on overwhelming and supportive evidence, to solidify their sentence in a fair and balanced manner. Historically, we have all learned of people that have been sentenced to prison and new evidence proved they were…

In John Steinbeck's’, The Grapes of Wrath, Tom Joad and Jim Casy are two different characters, but throughout the book, readers discover that they actually have many similarities as well. Tom and Jim meet in the beginning of the novel when Tom is out looking for his family. Jim doesn’t have a family with him, so he decides to stay with Tom and embarks on a journey with the whole Joad family. Throughout the novel, Tom and Jim form a brotherly bond. Jim is there to help the family and Tom make it…

Quiet Rage Response Quiet Rage is a documentary based on a prison experiment conducted by a Stanford University psychologist in 1971. It was a study of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment has been severely criticized for going too far and is now taught in most psychology classes. I thought it was an interesting experiment, and one that was worth doing. It shows what a prison can do to people. The experiment displayed the different ways prisoners…

Victim impact statements (VIS) are written statements submitted to the court by the victims that give them the once chance to tell their side of the story. One advantage VIS have is they allow victims to freely tell the court whatever they want in regards to how the crime as affected them mentally, socially and financially. This process is satisfying to the victims, whether their statements affected their offender’s sentencing decision or not. With the option of presenting a VIS, the opportunity…

I think it has a positive impact as it brings change in a non-threatening way. A way that shows change is not by it's nature a violent action but instead as a part of life and society. When people see change as a violent bloody affair they would be scared of it and try to drive it out. When it is seen as something that can be brought about through non-violent methods then they can see the ideas behind the protest and not just the protest itself. On a more pragmatic side of things,seeing armed…

Initially, once a prisoner rehabilitates, the person can re-enter society and live normally. In most prisons, there are rehabilitative programs in place to help the prisoners recover from criminal behavior. Some prisons make more of an effort to ensure prisoners rehabilitate before he or she can return to society. The more offenders get treatment for their criminal behaviors, the less likely the person will reoffend (Irwin et al.). To begin to understand restorative justice, one must understand…

Human Cadavers Nicholette Lizdas Introduction: Hi, my name is Nicholette Lizdas and today I’m going to talk to you about the living dead. Cadavers are defined by Webster’s dictionary as “A dead body; especially: one intended for dissection” (Gove 1993). I’m not talking about your biology class frog dissection either, I’m talking about human organs on the table testing everything from medication to cannibalism. First let’s cover a bit of history. I. Human cadaver use can be dated back to…