But an open system of prevention could be the alternative. It would subject the court or legislature to closer and public scrutiny (Robinson). President Lyndon Johnson's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice was viewed as the single and most influential postwar American criminal justice policy (Coles and Kelling 1999). Its wisdom, contained the policy's main report, "The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society, published in 1967, swiftly

A major concern regarding crime today that exists within prisons as well as on the streets is the formation of gangs. "Prison gangs are flourishing across the country. Organized, stealthy and deadly, they are reaching out from their cells to organize and control crime in America's streets.... prison disturbances soared by about 400% in the early nineties, which authorities say indicated that gangs were becoming more active... As much as

Philosophy Crime Punishment Shifted Social Context and the Justification of Punishment Punishment is an authoritative exercise aimed to impose a negative or unwanted response to a behavior considered wrong or unjust by an individual or group. Philosophies surrounding crime and their punishment have changed between centuries, and even decades, to reflect the societies in which they occur. The legal mandate of punishment enforces a source of pain or deprivation to place

The period of time that happens right after an offender is released is such a crucial time in the determination of whether a person is going to re offend or not. If the New Jersey state sentencing laws continue to go down the path that they are on, there is never going to be any reductions seen in the recidivism rates and the goal of public safety is never going

356). To date, there has been a great deal of reluctance to adopt a harm reduction approach in the United States for two fundamental reasons: The first reason stems from the argument that if harm were reduced for users the result would be an increase in the prevalence of drug use and, therefore, increased harm to society in terms of health care costs and violent crime. Those taking this position present

3. How well can community sanctions serve the purposes of criminal punishment? The degree to which community sanctions serve the purposes of criminal punishment depend largely on the underlying philosophy of criminal punishment in society. Specifically, to the extent criminal punishment is intended as retributive punishment, community sanctions do not serve the purpose of criminal punishment. Conversely, to the extent criminal punishment is intended to rehabilitate prisoners to facilitate a successful return