Ways To Improve Our Criminal Justice System

¨We can no longer accept the things we cannot change, we must change the things we cannot accept¨ -Angela Davis. The American criminal justice system is failing morally, ethically, and socially. This is not a political issue, this is a moral issue. When we look at the surface of the criminal justice structure we think it pursues fairness. By definition, justice means the maintenance or administration of what is just ,especially by the impartial adjustments of claims. Our system needs to be recreated .So many factors play a role in our ineffective justice system. We must do everything we can to save America´s dignity. A few ways we can recreate our justice system is by making sure judges are being fair to the defendants during court cases,and by reconstructing our communities,

The United States criminal justice has been shown to have the highest incarceration rate in the world. Statistics show that our criminal justice system is not being very effective in working to create more public safety. We need revolutionary courage to change the face of America’s prison systems. We must be a daring enough society who has the ability to call out its nation´s wrongdoings. We must redefine what justice means and what it represents. Our way forward as a nation is clear.

The first and most necessary step in recreating our broken justice system is that we must rebuild inner-city communities all over the US.So many young people´s lives are being turned in the wrong direction because of their social environment. Our governments need to give these communities more resources so that they can redefine themselves. Investing in lower-income communities is a huge benefit to our public society because it shows to the public that we are truly a government that is invested in what is best for its constituents. Making sure that inner-city communities have equal resources just like affluent communities gives the young people in those places the ability to create a better life for themselves. When those people are given a good public, affordable health care facilities, and good job opportunities that allow their communities to receive economic prosperity studies show a decrease in criminal activities. The young people in America are an incredible investment, they will forever revolutionize the course of our nation. We owe it to them to make sure that all of them can receive a fair chance at succeeding in life.

The next step in fixing our justice organization is that we must publicly address and inspect laws and policies that thrive on racial inequality at every level of our justice system. Our system is racially biased because at every level of government racism plays a key role in who gets jailed. People of color make up thirty-seven percent of the US population but they make up sixty-seven percent of the prison population. African Americans are more likely to receive longer jail sentences than their white counterparts. They are more likely to be convicted than any other race. Lastly but most importantly, African Americans are more likely to be arrested than any other race. One in three black men are more likely to serve life imprisonment. It is widely known that lengthy prison sentences, tactical laws, and socioeconomic unfairness trap so many people of color in our prisons.

The third step in recreating our justice system is to give individuals who struggle with drug addictions treatments for their substance abuses. A goal in the criminal justice system should be to rehabilitate criminals if possible. High jailing rates in drug crimes are not effective at all because there will be other individuals who will replace this criminal. Of the 2.3 million individuals incarcerated one-fourth of them are drug sellers/users. The US jail and prison system jail more people for drug crimes than any other country in the world. Studies show that for every dollar spent on drug treatment facilities more than eighteen dollars are saved in our crime system.US prisons and jails only give thirty-seven cents to public safety for every dollar given to them. If forty percent of drug offender went to treatment centers in their communities, the criminal justice system would save almost thirteen billion dollars. Sending people to drug treatment centers lowers drug use, drug use crimes, and overpopulation in prisons and jails. ¨You do not get over addiction by stopping using. You recover by creating a new life where it is easier to not use. If you do not create a new life, then all the factors that brought you to your addiction will catch you again¨.

The fourth step to rebuilding our criminal justice system is to lower our excessive use of extremely long prison sentences. The highest crime peak is in teenagers. Once these troubled teenagers mature, most of them stop crimes. These long prison sentences do not allow these individuals a chance to turn their lives over. Statistics show us high incarceration rates to individuals who have already done their time does not enhance public safety. So long imprisonment sentences are merely ineffective because not only is the crime rate slowing down as these people get older but the price for incarceration facilities keeps rising, so no one is benefiting from this kind of justice system.

The final step in remolding our criminal justice system is the importance of criminal justice reform advocacy. We must continuously convince our state and federal governments to make and sign effective criminal justice reform laws. Advocacy for issues is one of the best tools we as people have to make a change. The more people willing to support these movements advocated for real justice the closer we are to living in a more just world. Activism is the way we reach morally right laws. Our nation needs to fix these issues in our system before things get bad. The right legislation can call out and punish the specific organizations that thrive at the hands of injustice. Legislation can give these individuals a second chance at living a better life.

In any society, it is crucial to have some sort of punishment facility for individuals who do wrong. Believing in criminal justice reform does not mean you are against prisons and jails.It means you are for just punishment when necessary. There are so many factors that can be taken to recreate our criminal justice system. Everyone would benefit from a better justice system. The people who are wrongly jailed would benefit, public safety would benefit and the criminal justice system who benefit. The way we approach our criminal justice system is by wisely using our resources, ending racism and economic inequity in our system and helping to decrease the number of people in our prisons by aiding those people with treatment facilities.