"Our criminal justice system need an overhaul" - Common Rapper and celebrity Common expresses his discounted with our countries criminal justice system. During his "Hope and Redemption" prison tour, he talked to inmates about life in prison and the inhumanities that come along with it. Common explained why he disagrees with many sentences people receive for petty crimes and he thinks that our society's false assumptions of those incarcerated only contributes to mass incarceration.
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/spotlight/2017/08/16/common-our-criminal-justice-system-needs-overhaul/557544001/ |
According to a national public opinion survey conducted in 2012 recorded on a public opinion database, the general consensus was that Americans felt "Some of the money that we are spending on locking up low-risk, non-violent inmates should be shifted to strengthening community corrections programs like probation and parole."
Source: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/PEW_NationalSurveyResearchPaper_FINAL.pdf |
Public Opinion on Criminal Justice System in Massachusetts
Per the MassInc journal, citizens in the state of Massachusetts were asked to complete various surveys regarding the penal system. The wide range of questions asked and data collected is important to understand more than one viewpoint on an issue, and how progressively opinions continue to change. Majority of the data showed support for reforms in order to prevent arrests and encourage rehabilitation.
Source: https://massinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Public-Opinion-on-Criminal-Justice-Reform-in-Massachusetts.pdf
Source: https://massinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Public-Opinion-on-Criminal-Justice-Reform-in-Massachusetts.pdf
"Government shouldn't have this much power and shouldn't be abusing it" - Van Jones |
"Republicans typically support reduced government spending, which has de facto included cuts to (or lack of support for) spending on rehabilitation programs in prisons and has often reinforced the public perception that Republicans support prison as a mechanism of punishment and deterrence over rehabilitation, which is not necessarily the case." |
Van Jones, in a video from CNN, gives his opinion on, in his words, our "backwards" penal system. He then goes on to state that Republicans are to blame for this, because they continue to enable mass incarceration and use excess amount of American tax money for prisons.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/05/opinion/gingrich-jones-prison-system/index.html |
In contrast to the democratic words of Van Jones, this artifcact, an article from Republican Views on Issues, Republicans support for the prison system has been falsely portrayed.
Source: http://www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-the-prison-system/ |