There have always been controversies concerning the issues of drug control policies, gun policies, and sex offenders. These complex issues are essential to the community and should be resolved in a diplomatic way to improve the status of the country. Nevertheless, it is important to understand that there is no universal decision that would solve all the problems and eliminate the limitations that are present in the current system.
Drug control policy
Drug control policies have been the topic of discussion for a long time. To be more specific, one of the main points is the legalization of mild drugs such as marijuana. The reason for this controversy is the fact that when it comes to legal substances, the government can control the commerce by the means of putting restrictions on businesses. The positive aspect of this policy includes a lowered drug-related crime rate (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). On the other hand, there are also such options as prohibition and regulation of drugs. The public has enthusiastically met the change for the reason that the ban on drugs is not discriminating and is designed to prevent most of the arrests connected to drugs. Consequently, the variations in the accessibility of a drug can stimulate lawbreaking indirectly by shifting the consumption of other substances that are most probably illegal (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). The most unpredictable variable in the legalization of various drugs is cocaine as no one exactly knows what is going to happen if consumption of it becomes legal. The government should seek the ways that would solve the problem in a complex manner and anticipate the feasible complications.
Gun policy
Another policy that constantly brings up numerous heated discussions is the gun policy. The reason for the bilateralism is the community that split into two opposing camps where one-half is for gun availability, and the other is against it. The latter claim that guns are the evident utensils of unlawful commitment (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). On the contrary, the followers of the movement believe that a governmental program that would make the guns easier to obtain would justify its high priority as it would help save lives and lessen the crime rate typical for the nowadays society. Possession and use of a gun have a deep impact on how we live and how we see our surroundings. The controversy concerning gun policy brings up the question of whether it is a gun or an individual that kills people and the question has not been answered yet (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). The government should also pay attention to the relation of availability of the guns to the public health perspective. Nonetheless, it is the community that should approach the rights and responsibilities viewpoint and come to a compromise that would have a positive influence on the society.
Sex offender policy
The debates on sex crimes have an extensive history, and the sexual offenders’ group has been singled out by the government for special considerations. Sex offenders are treated as exemptions in the criminal justice structures of practically every single state in the United States. This strategy of exceptionalism is stereotypically protected by the effect of sexual abuse as it has an impact on its victims, social order, and the high percentage of re-offense by this particular type of criminals (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). In the last years, there is a decline in the number of violent sexual crimes that is explained by the sex offender policy, but the problem still exists and should be carefully approached by the policy-makers.
Racial disparities
The issue of racial bias has always been one of the key problems that the United States encountered throughout its history. Despite the efforts, the problem of favoritism still exists and receives lots of criticism from the US community. Nowadays, this kind of prejudice is called “racial profiling” and is widespread among the minorities (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). The minorities are believed to be more exposed to the racial discrimination by the police. There are two opposing opinions concerning the issue of racial bias. The explanation of racial disparities in arrest and incarceration rates in the United States is represented by those two viewpoints. The first is common among the individuals who think that racial profiling is a major presence in law enforcement for the reason that people of color are more often stopped and searched than whites. The second opinion states that racially inconsistent stops, examinations, and detentions come from and indicate racially disparate extents of connection to the crime. Regardless of all the struggle, the legal standing of the phenomenon of racial profiling is still unsettled. Another explanation of the racial bias is the suspicion toward the minorities.
In particular, the tragedy of the 11th of September is widely considered to be the reason that caused the distrust for specific minorities (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). The goal of the government, in this case, was to provide the necessary safety for the population of the United States. This controversy is inconsistent, though, for the reason that the Government’s motivation to eliminate the terrorism explicitly (but not on purpose) discriminates a particular layer in the US society on the base of its nationality and religious beliefs. In spite of the long struggle, another major layer of the US society that is endangered because of racial prejudice is the black community. Over the years, the issue of discrimination turned out to be so serious that the community started the Civil Rights movement. Currently, the issues of prejudice in the court and police brutality are central for the black community. The explanations of the police officers mostly describe the encounters as conditions that present danger to the police officer or people who are near (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). In the majority of cases, such a statement made the essential impression on the judge in the court, and the charges against a police officer were dropped.
The protectors of the constitutionality of the legal act point toward a judicial record that does not show any definite trace of ethnic preconception. The implications that all these explanations have for policy represent the misconception about the race which is ubiquitously based on the biases and stereotypes that ultimately categorize people (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). Of course, this statement sounds quite categorically, but it is based on continuous research. The debate on the regulations of the capital punishment also deserves a special mention in this case. The clash of the two opinions arguing whether the minorities in the United States are truly discriminated is the stumbling block of nowadays community. The task for the state legal authorities is to revise existing legislation and pass an accurate policy that would ensure that police officers do not exceed their powers (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). In the case of violation of the policy, the court should strictly and honestly punish the offenders.
Crime prevention program
Our life encompasses various jeopardies. There are no safety hardware or guaranteed methods or that can assure the safety of property or individual protection. Personal security is at no time complete since we live in a constantly moving world (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). Crime prevention inconsistencies in approaches may appear in unsafe circumstances and fierce happenstances where choices may be divided only into bad and even worse. The greatest crime anticipation development outlines the concepts and possibilities of security, but still cannot promise to get rid of the crimes completely. The following crime prevention program consists of three parts that dwell on the possible approaches that may be incorporated into the law enforcement practice with the intention of minimizing the crime rate.
Gun crimes prevention
The first approach is to let the law enforcement agency work cooperatively with the people within the targeted areas to guarantee community sustenance and anonymity. The officers on patrol should be competent, treat residents with esteem, and explicate the motives for the stopover. The absence of citizen complaints should be the distinguishing trait of this prevention program (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). Though, the policy should not relocate lawbreaking to the nearby areas. The approach that incorporates focused patrols is designed to decrease the number of gun criminalities, murders, grave assault cases that involve a firearm, and armed thefts.
The second approach is to apply the issue-resolving policing that habitually uses delinquency investigation to detect focuses of crime termed “hotspots.” A thorough analysis of these areas would help the law enforcement agency recognize the areas with high crime rate, categories of crime that are being committed, and supplementary evidence that would help project the most operative response strategy. For example, connecting local misconduct hotspots to the emergency room statistics would be useful. The third approach is represented by a widespread tactic titled “neighborhood watch”. Neighborhood watch is a motivation for the local individuals to be in charge of the area they live in and what occurs in their community. This approach aims to make people feel safer by refining the security standards and cautiously cutting the gun crimes percentage (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). It is fundamentally a structure where individuals join their forces to make their societies nonviolent. It is critical to remember, though, that the neighborhood watch arrangement is reinforced by the law enforcement agency, and run by the local citizens. Consequently, the triumph of this approach relies on what both the public and the local police department do in order to comply with the guidelines of the neighborhood watch policy.
Drug-related crimes prevention
Numerous scientific studies prove the connection between dependence on illicit substances and unlawful behavior (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). The majority of these research designs have demonstrated that the frequency of use of illicit narcotic substances is considerably greater among the individuals who have interacted with the criminal judiciary system at least once than among the overall populace. In this case, the first approach would be the drug use prevention. One of the most powerful instruments that might be of assistance is the mass media campaign as it creates a possibility to reach large numbers of people. It is crucial that precautionary messages be custom-made to cause a sense of awareness in the viewers to prevent drug use (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). The campaign must be original, intricate, expressive, vivid, eccentric, and thrilling. In order to capture the viewers’ attention, the campaign should also use evidence-based policies. This is usually done to support the people’s declaration and intent not to interact with narcotic substances. Before implementing the approach, one must be sure that several factors are taken into account. First of all, the target public must be properly prepared for the program.
Another crucial point is that the reliability of the program should be sustained, and suitable resources, procedural assistance, and consideration of the assessment results are obligatory. The second approach is the harm decrease, which is not targeted straight at dropping the drug use rate, but rather at eliminating its adverse impact on society (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). This means that the supply of such drugs as heroin or cocaine should be directed under the administrational remedial supervision mainly with the aim of minimizing the number of supply-associated drug crimes. Another possibility is that of distinguishing among diverse forms of disciplinary use. For instance, an openly drug consumption in public areas. The third approach is the prevention of recidivism. It is a tactic used when an individual has past crimes committed either intoxicated or to obtain drugs (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). When a crime is committed under the influence of narcotic substances, there are two probable methods: suppression, when the person is imprisoned, or the focus on individual’s mental and physical health. This kind of tactic is based on the controversy that drug addiction is a disorder consequential to the acquaintance with narcotic substance in the individuals with previous psychosomatic liabilities, which would propose that a prison sentence is not a suitable option.
Racism prevention
In order to successfully prevent and gradually eliminate racism, the reorganization of grand juries is essential. Despite the fact that grand juries are not inherently connected to law enforcement agencies, the current structure has become so ingrained in its connection to police that the whole apparatus might be an extension of the law enforcement agency, too. As prosecuting attorneys and district prosecutors work with the police force to close their court cases, it can be tough for them to work with the forces accurately (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). The current program proposes to involve a dynamic, physical jurisdictional attendance in grand jury hearings examining possible murder or a grave attack ascending out of an officer-individual encounter. A substitute option for this approach might be the meeting with special prosecuting attorneys for such cases. Another way around the problem of preventing the racism is the sensitivity training. It has previously been presented at many law enforcement agencies all over the country, but not all police department programs are designed identically.
Currently, the police may get into an arduous encounter when it comes to the transformation on the subject. The most important part of the racism prevention policy lies on the department responsibility (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). The majority of the data about police firings is now inaccessible, and it is central that law enforcement agencies are honest when it comes to their inner statistics. Defining these precise numbers is indispensable to bringing the police brutality to an end merely for the reason that it is problematic to find a solution to the problem except the program clearly recognizes its target. This deficit of transparency is probably a result of a prearranged “act of silence” among police forces, but it is for sure that the US law enforcement has the capability of keeping their secrets. Nevertheless, there is evidence that a core reorganization of how the law enforcement agencies work is conceivable.
References
Wilson, J. Q., & Petersilia, J. (2011). Crime and Public Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.