Criminal Justice System in the USA Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Criminal Justice System in the USA - Assignment Example As the paper outlines, this is obviously the wrong direction that the prison system is taking and represents an unethical way in which the offenders are being treated. Although the conditions in these prisons meet federal and local standards, the overall issue of human rights and equality is fundamentally flawed due to the fact that the people who are being locked away are not viewed with respect to how they should be punished or reformed; rather, they are only viewed with respect to the overall level of profitability that can be extracted from the state, regional, or federal government for their tenure in the penal system. The following analysis will discuss this to some length and highlight the unethical nature as well as some prescriptions for change that could be instituted in order to have a positive impact on the current criminal justice system. The ethical issue that exists is the fact that the prisons and penal institutions within the United States are supposed to be interest ed only in punishing and rehabilitating the criminal. Instead, what is taking place throughout the country is a situation in which the prison complex itself is making a massive amount of money based upon the individuals that it incarcerates. As one might expect, this means that there will be little if any focus upon seeking to rehabilitate the criminal; instead, the focus is upon only trying to expand the size of the prisons so that a further and further level of profitability is made.  As such, the primary ethical/moral issue that one must consider relates to the issue that has evolved from what this author will deem â€Å"incarceration for profit†. Although few individuals in the United States are aware of this practice, the fact of the matter is that it has grown from an isolated incidence to a multi-million dollar a year industry. The central issue can be explained as a system whereby overburdened municipalities cannot immediately afford the massive expense that is call ed for in order to build a new penitentiary system. As a way to bridge this gap while making a substantial profit, private firms enter into the equation and offer the municipality a joint venture which is oftentimes hard to resist. These firms offer to front the necessary capital to build the facility as well as staff it with private contracting security firms. The catch then comes as the municipality agrees to an extended lease of the facility. Although at face value this may seem an ingenious way for a private firm to work to alleviate the strains that a municipality may have with relation to prison overcrowding, it is however slightly more sinister than one would at first presume. Due to the fact that a private firm now has the stake in the criminal justice system, a system that arguably the state and the state alone should have prevued over, the interests of rehabilitation and reform are placed as secondary to overall profit (Brickner et al. 11). Such a situation is counter to t he very foundations of what the criminal justice system is supposed to provide to society.  In this way, incarceration has become the primary focus of policymakers and local leaders whereas the needs of those incarcerated as well as the secondary objectives of rehabilitation and reform are all but forgotten in a drive to provide more â€Å"bed space† for existing and incoming offenders.   This issue has been compounded by a host of policy decisions; some of these are beyond the scope of this individual analysis.   However, two of the complicating factors will be discussed at greater length within this analysis.