What Does Justice Look Like?
Part 1
Earlier in this course, we discussed how to make a moral assessment of an action, particularly an individual’s behavior. For this assignment, we will analyze objective truths embedded in current criminal justice practices, specifically practices involving probation and parole. (A policy that unfairly harms individuals is not moral.) The United States criminal justice system has confined 2.3 million people (see Mass Incarceration: The
Whole Pie 2019), precipitating the exploration of alternatives methods to incarceration. Probation and parole, thought to effective solutions to this problem, had their own punitive and, as we will explore, unconstitutional ramifications. Roughly half of the people who exit probation and parole exit successfully, however, many of those who are unsuccessful end up in prison or jail. In many states, probation and parole revocations are increasing incarceration rates (rather than helping to decrease mass incarceration). Contributing to these revocations are unrealistic conditions to probation, which could include fees for court, supervision, attorneys, drug testing, additional fines, and more. Long probation sentences can result in onerous debts. Some police departments and courts are turning to emerging technologies to assist them in their decision-making.
As you learned from the presentations in the Reading & Study folder, nearly 2% of the U.S. population is on parole or probation, and 30% of this group are African American (Horowitz, 2018). Since probation and parole are harming rather than helping individuals, in particular, new remedies are required. Emergent criminal justice research identifies some of the problems emanating from probation and parole practices and offers several solutions. We will be looking at two of these study topics.
Topic 1 – Mass Supervision – More than 4.6 million people in the United States are on probation and parole.
Topic 2 – Predictive Algorithms – Police departments and court systems are turning to science and technology to predict criminal behavior when making sentencing recommendations, predicting crime, recidivism, among other things.
For this assignment, discuss the issues unfolding from Topic 1 or Topic 2 (choose the topic that interests you most). The course materials in the Reading & Study folder for this week will help you understand the issues surrounding mass supervision and predictive algorithms. Refer to these materials for the source (4 in-text citations) requirement. After viewing these materials in the Reading & Study folder and choosing a topic, answer the following questions.
Topic 1 – Mass Supervision (Probation and Parole)
1. From your understanding, what was the original purpose for probation and parole?
2. Evaluate the consequences (potential or existing) of these practices. (What moral or constitutional issues are present?)
3. Discuss whether you believe probation and parole are still viable alternatives to incarceration in light of the consequences of these practices.
Topic 2 – Predictive Algorithms
1. From your understanding, what was the original purpose of the use of predictive algorithms?
2. Evaluate the consequences (potential or existing) of this practice. (What moral or constitutional issues are present?)
3. Discuss whether you believe predictive algorithms are still viable tools for criminal justice practitioners in light of the consequences of this practice.
Horowitz, J. (n.d.). 1 in 55 U.S. Adults Is on Probation or Parole. Retrieved from https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-andanalysis/articles/2018/10/31/1-in-55-us-adults-is-on-probation-or-parole
Sawyer, W., & Wagner, P. (n.d.). Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019. Retrieved from https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2019.html
Discussion Board Forum Requirements. Discussion Board assignments have a split structure. In the first week that the forum is assigned, you are to respond to the discussion prompt. (This is called a thread.) In the following week, you must post two (2) replies to your classmates’
threads in the forum.
First-week thread – In your response, support your views with the required readings and study materials for this week, or other scholarly
sources to support your statements. Include four (4) in-text citations for this assignment. Your response must be formatted using 12 pt. Times New Roman font, with a 400-word minimum/425-word maximum. (No Title page or Reference page). Some examples of the formatting for intext citations are: (Bohm & Haley, 2018), (Fischer, 2016), and (Venturo, 2018). When you complete this response, first, upload the file to the
SafeAssign dropbox and, second, copy and paste this same response into the discussion forum. This thread is due by the following Monday.
Part 2
In May of this year, a man walked into a pharmacy told the young lady behind the counter that he had a gun and robbed the store. He
demanded prescription drugs from the sales clerk. Fright and shock caused the sales clerk to fall and hit her head as she complied with the
robber’s orders. A concussion resulted from the head injury leading to long term side effects: memory loss, trouble concentrating, sleep
disturbances, sensitivity to light and noise, and her family has noticed personality changes. (Her medical bills are increasing, and she is unable to work.) Thus, the sales clerk’s recollection of seeing a gun, clouded by the totality of the circumstances, is uncertain.
This man (we’ll refer to him as Adam) has a wife and three children (two boys and a girl). Before Adam’s detainment, his wife held two jobs to help with rent, additional bills, plus food; now, she has to consider a third job or try to find a higher-paying position. The public school system offers a free and reduced lunch program, which is helpful, but school is problematic in other respects. The children are having difficulty connecting with the whole idea of school, i.e., teachers as authority figures and the underlying importance of learning, knowledge, and homework. Local authorities already know the eldest son by name.
Adam was arrested and held in the county jail. He has a prior criminal record consisting of drug and property offenses, all of which were
nonthreatening to the community. Court fees associated with these prior offenses, along with accrued interest charges (due to lack of ability to pay the fees), have increased his debt. Moreover, the suspension of his driver’s license was also a result of the nonpayment of his court-related debts. Not being able to drive together with having a criminal record has decreased employment opportunities as well as his ability to pay his debts. “Unsustainable debt coupled with the threat of incarceration may even encourage some formerly incarcerated individuals to return to criminal activity to pay off their debts, perversely increasing recidivism” (Council of Economic Advisers, 2015).
Now before a judge, Adam, the defendant, claims that he does not own a gun (even though he made threats of having one to the sales clerk). Knowing the defendant from prior arrests, the fact that he has a family, and being informed of the overcrowded conditions of the jail, the judge decides to grant Adam bail set to the amount of $25,000. Not able to pay this bail or a bail bonds agency fee, Adam remains in pretrial detention. (Pretrial detention may adversely affect this defendant; it may lead to a conviction, additional crime, and unemployment (Dobbie, Goldin, & Yang, 2016)). Two of Adam’s cellmates, charged with similar robbery offenses, were able to afford bail and were released.
In this scenario, Adam is symbolic of a broken world. Humans were created to be the image-bearers of God walking the earth, mere humans who were given dominion over the things of the earth (Psalm 8) but rejected their vocation. Life is now complicated. Jesus, the son of man, the new Adam, shows humanity what it is to be fully human. Humanity was meant to be like Jesus. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, this is taking place now, but it not yet fully here. There is a chain of groaning taking place: all of creation is groaning, humanity is groaning due to the brokenness of this world (disease, violence, death), and God’s Spirit is groaning in intercession for this new creation (Romans 8:21-23). This groaning is evident in the suffering going on in this scenario.
For this assignment, you are to consider this situation from the viewpoints of two of the parties involved. Respond to the following questions from each party’s view.
1. First, choose ONE group of individuals (no modifications of sets are permitted). Your choices are:
A. Prosecutor / Adam’s eldest son
B. Defense Attorney (Court-Appointed Lawyer) / Sales Clerk (Victim)
C. Judge / Defendant (Adam)
Spend some time thinking about each party first. Watch the presentations associated with this assignment (in Reading & Study folder). Consider what is happening in their particular lives (their responsibilities, hardships, expectations, aspirations, and more). Be attentive to the many underlying issues presented in this scenario that may have an unintended effect on the people involved. After reflecting on your two individuals, discuss how you think each would understand this situation. For each party to believe that justice was accomplished in this situation, what would 0 Order 317890437
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need to happen (what would justice look like to this person)? How would each party want this situation resolved?
2. Second, let’s say that it is possible for your two parties to get together to discuss a plan for justice in this situation in which they would both agree. What would they determine?
Council of Economic Advisers Issue Brief. (2015, December). FINES, FEES, AND BAIL. Retrieved from
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/page/files/1215_cea_fine_fee_bail_issue_brief.pdf.
Dobbie, W., Goldin, J., & Yang, C. (2016). The Effects of Pre-Trial Detention on Conviction, Future Crime, and Employment: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges. doi:10.3386/w22511
