Are American prisons primarily used to keep the rich safe from the poor?

Are American prisons primarily used to keep the rich safe from the poor?

Introduction

Criminal justice system is meant to respect and implement transparent law and justice system but unfortunately it is biased against the impoverished people of the United States. The discrepancies of the system can be highlighted in the way that underprivileged people and those of higher social class are treated from arrest, to trial, and finally to sentencing. Pyrrhic Defeat Theory suggests that states that the criminal justice system uses all of its resources and capital on reducing crime, but they fail to reduce crime, which results in a success (Glasmeier, 2007). The failure of the criminal justice system to reduce street crimes is a success in that corporate America and the wealthy has the ability to keep damaging others without reprimand from the system.

Discussion

Several theories seek to answer the question whether the criminal laws apply only to the poor or are they present for the rich, as well. The criminal laws in any country apply on when a poor person commits a crime and when a rich person commits a crime he is not punished, and if is punished he gets released on bail (Rustigan, 1980). This is the major drawback of criminal laws in every country. Rich are preferred over the poor and are not punished if they commit a crime. Rich people easily get away after committing a crime and do not even make up for it afterwards.

Even the criminal law is unable to implement the law on rich as they do for the poor people (Elliott & Quinn, 2008, pp. 36). If somehow, they implement the law on the rich, then they have to face serious consequences, which is why they do not dare to implement the laws on the rich. This should not be the case. Laws should be for all and should be implemented on everyone. The legal system should be above all i.e. even if the highest authority of the state is involved in any crime; he should be accountable and should be brought to the court.

Over the past several years, the crime rate has declined, but compared to other countries that are just as industrially civilized as ourselves, we have a significantly higher rate of crime and lethal violence. Even though crime has declined slightly, it was due to other reasons than governmental policies that have recently been instigated as a way of “cracking down on crime”. For example, several states did not use the new “tough on crime” laws, and they have been experiencing the same decline in crime (Diversity Factor, 2001). The decline in crime is due to the economy, stabilization of the drug trade, and the increase of employment. U.S. has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world; we are more likely to send a person to prison than other countries and our sentences are harsher as well. In addition, the modern life argument ...