Prisons, Social Power, and the Criminal Justice System

The criminal justice system is composed of three different areas, which include the police, the courts, and the prisons. The purpose of these areas in the criminal justice system is to protect the people, deter people from committing crimes, and to rehabilitate those who have been convicted. The prison system in the US is faulty in many ways, and there is continuous debate over the overall success and effectiveness of the criminal justice system as a whole. However, the purpose of the prisons is not functioning as well as it should. Fist of all, prisons are way over crowded and many more people are being send to prison and for longer periods of time. Currently, the prison population in the US is at 2.2 million people, which is one-fourth of the world’s total. In fact, since 1970 the number of people in prisons has risen eight-fold. The number in 1970 of prisoners was 196,429 compared to today’s number of 2.2 million Americans. In addition to this increasing number of people being incarcerated, the United States has the world’s highest rate of incarceration followed by Russia. This increasing number of people being convicted and put in prison, one would think that the crime rate would decrease. However, that is not the case at all. In addition to no change in the crime rate, prisons are also a huge cost for taxpayers and society in general. It has been estimated that it will cost $27.5 billion to house prisoners, run prisons, and build/maintain the actual buildings. That is an extremely high number.
To improve this faulty prison system, experts have recommended several things that would better the prison system. Experts recommend shorter sentences and parole terms, alternative punishments, and more help for released inmates. These proposed suggestions could cut the prison population in half and save nearly $20 billion a year while also easing social inequality. The over populated prisons is caused by many factors. One such factor is the issue of how harsh a sentence should be. There are many expamles of harsh punishments for crimes that seem not so terrible. For example, the former Vice President aide, Lewis Libby, was indicted on federal obstruction and perjury chargers resulting from a grand jury investigation into the CIA identity leak. Libby was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, two years of supervised release, and 400 hours of community service. However, just short of a month after his sentencing and once appeal failed, President Bush commuted Libby’s 30 months prison sentence. What is so interesting is that then you hear in the news about a Florida woman who was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison for throwing a cup of coffee at another car in traffic. These two examples show just how faulty the criminal justice system is, and how the courts have a huge role in the problem with the overcrowding of the prisons. The examples also show how the court system is very socially stratified. This is exactly what conflict perspective theorists argue. They state that the socially dominant group can control the criminal justice system either by influence, money, and/or power. This is very apparent in the case of Lewis Libby receiving such a lenient sentencing. Yet another example of such social stratification in the criminal justice system would be when there are cases of CEO’s or powerful people embezzling a huge sum of money and receiving a sentence of less then seven years in prison. Yet a person that is arrested for say possession of an ounce of crack cocaine is convicted and sentence to at lease ten years. Once again, that is an example of how social power and the dominant group has a huge amount of influence on the criminal justice system.
Another problem with the prison system and the stratification is who is convicted and sent to prison. Research shows that one-third of all black males go to prison, one-sixth of all Latino males go to prison, and yet one in seventeen white males are sent to prison. This is very socially significant for many reasons. Not only does this show yet again how the dominate group, in this case the white males, have more social power than other people, which in this case would be the minorities. In addition to this, the people that are making up the prison populations are mostly from the low socioeconomic status and are from the working poor. This goes to show how social stratification and social power play a huge role in the criminal justice system. This massive incarceration of Americans really makes it hard for people to develop healthy families, achieve financial gain, and also allowing them to be able to break free from the cycle of poverty and crime.

Inequality in Education

***I did my Class, Power and Privilege paper on the inequality in education in the United States. This topic is something that I am very passionate about because not only do I find it shocking that so many people are oblivious to the cold, hard facts about this huge social injustice, but also because I plan on becoming a teacher so I can relate to the topic. This blog entry is just a general overview of some of the stuff that I found out while doing my research.***

Education is one of the major and most important social institutions in society. This social institution has been around for many, many years, and has changed as time has passed. Within this social institution, along with other social institutions, there is a high level of inequality. Education is important to both society and individual human beings because it enables children to grow into adults that become contributing members of society. Education not only creates jobs for many people, but it is also greatly responsible for the socialization of children. On another level, education is key in a person’s opportunity to break free of poverty. It allows them to achieve and be able to receive a good education, which in turn will aid them in getting a job. However, the inequality in education prohibits some people from being able to break free of poverty. Educational inequality deprives certain resources from certain people in an unfair way. The unequal distribution of educational resources is a complex issue that affects particular groups of people.

The type of quality of education a person receives is dependent upon the educational resources available to them. However, the resources are not distributed equally throughout schools in the United States. Educational resources include many different items, things such as money, textbooks, computers, teaching aides, and facilities. All of the resources and their availability to a child affect the achievement of the student. Inequality among the distribution of educational resources, be it money, quality of teachers, material goods, etc. has a disastrous impact on children. The distribution of educational resources throughout the United States is wildly unequal, and it is very obvious that besides the inequality of education itself, there is inequality in achievement of students. The inequality however awful it might seem, is dependent on race and class. Studies have shown that United States schools still give much more resources and opportunities to white students than African Americans. In addition to that, studies have found that schools that are composed of students from poor, lower class backgrounds have less per-students funding than schools made up of upper and middle class children. However, the inequality of the distribution of educational resources is a major problem in the structure of schools today. The distribution is determined by such factors like the race and socioeconomic status of the school. The decisions about the distribution are made on a federal, state, and local level, thus showing that there is some form of prejudice somewhere among those governmental levels. The inequality in the resources has grave consequences for both the individual student and society as an entirety.

As former Vice President Al Gore said, “There is no greater test of our national responsibility than the quality of the education we provide.” Equality in education is the most important aspect of our society. Everyone having a fair and equal education benefits everyone and everything, and making sure that every child has the opportunity to receive an equal education should be the main concern and goal of our society.