Concepts Raised By the Article
This article seeks to discuss the problems facing the California criminal justice department and the congestion at its prisons. The article sums up the problems that have enhanced the tribulations of the state’s criminal justice department and point out strategies that have been adapted to solve these challenges. The article also points out important recommendations that would help in alleviating the huge numbers at the Californian state prisons. The reason for choosing this article is the fact that it gives clear and precise details on the budgetary challenges California’s criminal justice system has faced since the1970s and how it has come up with viable prepositions that yielded remarkable outcomes.
California, known as the golden state, faces the biggest challenge of a broken criminal justice system. Since the 1970s, the state has faced an upsurge of criminal offenses that have crippled politicians with the “tough on crime” promises that have not yielded much. California as a state has the largest convicted felons in state prisons than any other state in America. It is estimated that around 170,000 people are behind bars in California. In form of state budgetary allocations, this translates to about 11%. Therefore, it makes it a costly affair considering that the state is ranked as having the highest rate of recidivism. It is estimated that in California, about two-thirds of those people who come out from prisons are likely to get back to prisons within three years. This impacts the state negatively in terms of economic growth and its ability to competitively compete with other states (Foundation Center, 2011). The problem of having a growing prison population does not only impact negatively on the state but also on America as a country, it is estimated that America spends a whopping $212 billion on an annual basis in its criminal justice department.
What Is the Cause of The Increased Levels of Prison Inmates?
The state of California has over the years faced massive challenges in the criminal department, one of them being funding. The criminal department is largely funded by the state. Where the state is not well placed in form of its revenue collection, then the funding becomes minimal and the need to get other stakeholders on board becomes a necessity. Although the revenues of the state are on the higher side, the ever-increasing prison population has made the state cut down budgets on other crucial necessities like education and social service. Funding for the state criminal department is important as it not only boosts the state law office to offer efficient and effective services to the citizen of the state but also assists police services in form of equipped forensic labs and acquisition of professional services like those of psychologists who help in trauma cases (Webber, ND).
Being the state with the highest rate of recidivism, it faces another problem, what might be the cause of the released prisoners to regress to the same offenses or even commit worse offenses. The underlying cause has been identified as unemployment. In California, it is quite difficult for ex-convicts to get employment due to their records, but this is not just a social issue. It is a legislative issue that needs to be attended to (Ezell, 2009). Proper legislation must be put in place to cater to this large population that comes to join the general public (Foundation Center, 2011).
The state of California has made tremendous strides in mitigating the upsurge of inmates at its penitentiary department (Hoffmann and King, 2008). The state’s justice department has also received funding from different stakeholders such as the Rosenberg Foundation, which has come up with an ambitious plan to eradicate the congestion menace by reducing the number of women behind bars. The foundation seeks to enlighten the masses on giving ex-convicts second chances. This project has also been enhanced by the Rosenberg Foundation advocating for the state government and major businesses to review their employment strategies to combat the issue of employment discrimination.
The citizens of California have not been left behind in the quest to redefine the state criminal justice department. Californians have recently elected a new governor and attorney general, who is viewed as being criminal justice reformers. The governor, Jerry Brown recently called for the total abolition of the youth penitentiary and for the first time, low-level offenders to be locked in various county jails as opposed to being locked in the state jails.
Summary of Writer’s Point Of View
The writer of the article thinks that the new legislation and policies put in place by the governor and the attorney general are geared towards transforming the populated prisons and ensuring that the state criminal justice is well equipped with enough manpower and facilities to ensure professionalism in conducting its mandate. The funding and sensitization by the various foundations have enabled the Californian criminal justice department to function almost to its full potential. The writer is of the view that these initiatives are geared toward the right direction.
Personal Opinion
Measures put in place by the state and other stakeholders are viable in that they will greatly reduce the number of people in the state prisons and offer efficient services to those already serving their terms. However, the root problem is not that the jails are insufficient; the root problem is that most young people of California engage in criminal activities due to joblessness and other structural failures. To counter these, the state needs to invest in job creation for its growing population.
The idea of locking small-level offenders in county jails is a good one, although, not a long-term solution. The state, through its judiciary, should focus more on community service for the low-level offenders than locking them in county jails. On top of this, the question should be how to reduce the rate of crime which will drastically reduce the number of incarcerated persons in prison facilities. The major focus should be on crime prevention and this is where the police come in. If the state police are well funded and equipped, both in manpower and equipment, then they can reduce crime. A good example is in an area where police patrols are intensified, people fear committing crimes. The fear of being arrested makes people be law-abiding.
References
Ezell, M., E. (2009). Examining the Role of Lifestyle and Criminal History Variables on the Risk of Homicide Victimization. Upper Saddle River: Cengage.
Foundation Center. (2011). Achieving Real Justice: Funding Criminal Justice Reform. Web.
Hoffmann, J., L. and King, N., J. (2008). Rethinking the Federal Role in State Criminal Justice. New York: Sage.
Webber, D. (ND). Good Budgeting, Better Justice: Modern Budget Practices for the Judicial Sector. Law and Development Working Paper series. Issue 3. Pp. 1-66. Web.