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.