Criminal Justice Reform in the United States of America

Criminal justice reform that is currently in place in the United States of America is aimed at fixing all those problems that have existed within the system for years. The aspects that need to be changed the most include the alteration of drug sentencing policy; juvenile justice reform; the decrease of the population in the US prisons; reducing prison sentences in general; policing reform and reducing overcriminalization.

Sentencing

For many years, the sentencing procedure in the United States of America has been criticized for being too harsh. A lot of criminals got to spend more years in prisons than they deserved. As a result of that, the prison population grew every year, and this problem seemed impossible to solve any time soon. If it becomes possible to introduce a successful implementation of the criminal justice reform, a lot of positive changes can be introduced. For instance, criminals will get less time which will decrease the number of prisoners in already overcrowded institutions. What is more, new ways of paying for a crime one has committed will be introduced. This issue is so topical that even students get to write a criminal justice essay as a part of their school curriculum. What is vital to highlight is that they are often true research paper experts who offer working solutions in their criminal justice essay papers.

Policing

One of the biggest problems with policing in the United States of America is police brutality. You do not have to dig a lot or to write an essay about criminal justice to know how serious this problem has become. Unfortunately, a lot of individuals become victims of discriminatory violence even though they have not broken any laws. The majority of such situations occur because of a person’s race. This is one of those ethical issues in criminal justice research paper that students focus on. Quite often police officers stop a person for questioning on the street simply because of their race. When the issue of police brutality has been analyzed by sociologists, they have found out that the interaction between the police and an individual often depends on the status of the individual. So, if you are currently looking for under-researched criminal justice research topics to dwell upon in your criminal justice essay, this is one of the interesting subjects to study.

Drug policy

Another issue that is often covered in criminal justice essay papers is drug policy and how it has changed over the years. There are advocates and opponents of this subject. Opponents believe that the war on drugs should be continued while advocates of drug policy reform are certain that the war on drugs was a failure, and it is time to accept this fact and move on. What is more, advocates of this policy are in favor of legalizing recreational marihuana. Taking into consideration the fact that the United States of America spends more than $51 million on the war on drugs annually, it is not surprising why so many people are convinced it is a complete waste of taxpayer money. Analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the drug policy reform can be a good topic for a criminal justice essay.

Juvenile Justice Reform

One of the biggest problems with the juvenile justice system in the US is that the majority of individuals enter it for committing non-violent crimes. They do not necessarily have to be incarcerated for such crimes. What is more, other forms of punishment have proven to be more effective when it comes to juvenile delinquency. Apart from that, the juvenile justice system that functions at the moment hurts mostly Latinx and Black individuals as they are criminalized prior to adulthood.

Conclusion

Taking everything into consideration, the criminal justice system in the United States of America needs to be reformed as there are tons of problems that require immediate solutions. Even though a lot of money is allocated on making sure less crimes are committed, it still feels like the government waste too much taxpayer money on prisons that are overcrowded. Perhaps, it is time to introduce new forms of punishment for non-violent crimes.