and it has not reduced crime rates. One example offered is the case of the drug dealer, who once imprisoned is easily replaced by another. The imprisonment of several generations of drug dealers costs society billions of dollars and yet the drugs remain. Thus the system has limited outcomes and is not working. Since the system fails to reduce fear, the fear is easily inflamed which results in harsher sentences and more prisons. These harsher sentences are felt more by the minority citizens who are twice victimized (by high crime incidence and harsher incarceration rates). This tendency not only exemplifies the failure of the system but it results in a social risk since underlying race issues are ignored. The increase in prison population has resulted in increased numbers of children being introduced to this way of life since children of those in prison face regular visits to this establishment. The system is failing to help children avoid the crime scene.
Donziger noted that policies are failing since they must begin to focus on how to stop violence in the home as opposed to funds being spent building new prisons. In addition, the author stated that the new shift toward empowering the prosecutor is threatening the checks and balances that are needed to keep the justice system working. Thus public propensity toward fear-related solutions (increased imprisonment) and the false expectation that the criminal justice system can provide for societal changes needed to reduce crime, cause the system to be less useful.
Donziger makes several recommendations toward improving the criminal justice system, however, overall they may appear to be good in theory but may lack practical application, indicating the need to consider associated problems. For example, his recommendation that a moratorium on new prison construction be made until less expensive and more effective programs can be introduced, lacks application. Since the cr...