Raymond Writes

Can our prison system be reformed? To change this system requires it to give up its usual way of thinking about how it punish and incarcerates. Today's 'Justice Reform' is a joke, reform is another word used to hustle tax dollars. Million of dollars are given to the public defender's fund for reforming how defendants are represented, however, nothing changed other than the money that changed hands. Public and private prisons are equally tied to the corporate-economy and constitute an ever-growing source of capitalist profit. Many companies make millions by selling their products to correctional facilities, prison staff and state and federal legislators also collects millions off of contracts and kick-backs. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is paid per prisoner. If the supply dries up or too many prisoners are released too early, their profits are affected. Longer prison terms means greater profits, the profit motive promotes the expansion of imprisonment. A syst...

The highest Court of the land ruled that it is unconstitutional to sentences a juvenile to 'Life Without Parole' and ordered that courts across the U.S. to reduce 'Life' sentences for young offenders, except in rare cases where it is proven that rehabilitation had not taken place. In the vetting of which young offenders were too dangerous to be released, many of Michigan's prosecutor painted majority of the 363 men and women as unredeemable. In Saginaw County the prosecutor recommended life sentences for 21 of the 21 sentences In Kalamazoo, the recommendation was 9 of 9. In Muskegon it was 7 of 7. In the following counties they released their grip just a bit, in Oakland it was 44 of 49 and in Genesee it was 23 of 27. Wayne County eased its hold just a little more than other counties and recommended 61 of 153 young offenders remain in prison for life. Scientific research shows that young offenders can and do change, however, many prosecutors focus on the crime commit...

Many feel violent offenders should be put away regardless of their age. Michigan enacted some of the toughest laws to deal with kids who commit violent crimes. Those laws allowed kids to be charged as adults at any age. Despite tougher laws, the number of violent crimes committed by kids continued to grow, Why? A lot of kids who commit violent crimes have no sense of direction and in many cases are cries for help. The zero tolerance policies on kids, should have been on their behavior, instead of interventions, kids were thrown into adult prisons that only confine and punish. A system that has declared war against its children, didn't stop to ask why were these children behaving violently, but pumped more money into prisons than into schools and prevention programs. Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center of Media and Children Health at Harvard University's Medical School said, "Violent cartoons can increase children's anxiety, desensitize them or lead them to believe...

In the aftermath of breaking news or when a tragic event happens people are not short on their opinion and everyone is a critic inclined to find fault. Public Opinion, can shape an public official's decision and being politically correct, to not offend has become the rule. This November the election for the presidency held an arsenal of personal attacks which sparked many forms of protest and 'public opinion'. The Black Lives Matter movement is a present reminder of 'police brutality' and many speculate as to why. The threat of terrorism has become part of our culture with a conclusion of guesswork by 'public opinion'. The process of passing judgement, some become judgmental and have the tendency to judge harshly. On September 21, 2016 a evil act was reported in the news, people were outraged to hear that a estranged husband and father murdered 4 children and tortured their mother. There was an overwhelming expression of love, support, and generosity towards...

The U.S. incarcerates 25% of the worlds prisoners despite having only 5% of the world's population. There were approximately 500,000 inmates in America in 1980, today there are 2.2 million. The Federal prison pop. swelled from 24,000 in 1980 to 218,000 in 2013. In Michigan the prison pop. ballooned from 14,658 in 1984 to 35,000 in 1990. Michigan spends a higher proportion of its general fund budget on prisons than any other state and devotes more money to prisons, than higher education. The Michigan Department of Corrections budget was 193 million in 1981, due to Mass Incarceration it grew to 1.8 billion in 2006, the prison pop. was 51,515 that year. From 2006 to 2013 the MDOC reduced its prison pop. to 43,704. Even though, the MDOC shrunk its pop. by 7,811 the budget for the MDOC grew to 2 billion plus. With Mass Incarceration, came the tough-on-crime position, where prosecutors mandate is to hit every defendant with the heaviest penalty they can, and convictions over justice beca...