Ironies of Imprisonment
James Wader
November 18, 2017
University of Southern Mississippi It would seem highly ironic to think a country whose motto is “the land of the free” could be imprisoning more of its citizens than any other place on the planet. Unfortunately, this is all too true in the United States, as it has the highest rate of imprisonment per capita in the entire world. In 2005, Michael Welch decided to write a book breaking down all the issues associated with imprisonment in today’s society. Michael Welch is a Professor of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University with a Ph. D in Sociology, M.A. in Counseling Psychology, and an M.S. in Criminal Justice. Welch spent a significant amount of time conducting research on topics …show more content…
He opens the chapter by saying: “Both figuratively and literally, the American war on drugs has emerged as an increasingly militarized social policy”. I found this opening line to be very impactful and intriguing which pulled me deeper into the book. Welch goes on to talk about how this declaration of the war on drugs was manifested in the 1990s in response to the overwhelming problem of illegal street drugs in the United States. He brings this war on drugs under examination through the perspective of the just war theory. What is meant by the just war theory is there are people who believe that certain wars can be justified. This was used to validate the governments need to spend a lot of money and manpower on fighting the drug epidemic. What I liked most about this comparison was the idea that Welch proposed about legitimate authority, in dealing with drug users, needed to be passed from the criminal justice officials to public health/education administrators. This would take the drug problem in the United States and turn it into a rehabilitation approach rather than a militaristic approach. If a rehabilitative approach was taken, the potential to eliminate the perpetuating cycle of re-offending becomes increasingly …show more content…
He skillfully exploited many problems associated with the prison system. He and his team did a great job of researching and analyzing scholarly articles revolving around how our country is currently handling incarceration of serious offenders. From that research, it was easy to understand how serious the problems are. One of the most impressive things to me was Welch’s ability to provide the readers with a vast amount of knowledge in such few pages. He was able to thoroughly explain several very controversial topics without adding in pages and pages of useless information. I think this goes to show the amount of dedication and leg work that went into this book. I would highly recommend this book to other criminal justice professionals in order for them to understand how many ironies if imprisonment exist in the so called “land of the
James Wader
November 18, 2017
University of Southern Mississippi It would seem highly ironic to think a country whose motto is “the land of the free” could be imprisoning more of its citizens than any other place on the planet. Unfortunately, this is all too true in the United States, as it has the highest rate of imprisonment per capita in the entire world. In 2005, Michael Welch decided to write a book breaking down all the issues associated with imprisonment in today’s society. Michael Welch is a Professor of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University with a Ph. D in Sociology, M.A. in Counseling Psychology, and an M.S. in Criminal Justice. Welch spent a significant amount of time conducting research on topics …show more content…
He opens the chapter by saying: “Both figuratively and literally, the American war on drugs has emerged as an increasingly militarized social policy”. I found this opening line to be very impactful and intriguing which pulled me deeper into the book. Welch goes on to talk about how this declaration of the war on drugs was manifested in the 1990s in response to the overwhelming problem of illegal street drugs in the United States. He brings this war on drugs under examination through the perspective of the just war theory. What is meant by the just war theory is there are people who believe that certain wars can be justified. This was used to validate the governments need to spend a lot of money and manpower on fighting the drug epidemic. What I liked most about this comparison was the idea that Welch proposed about legitimate authority, in dealing with drug users, needed to be passed from the criminal justice officials to public health/education administrators. This would take the drug problem in the United States and turn it into a rehabilitation approach rather than a militaristic approach. If a rehabilitative approach was taken, the potential to eliminate the perpetuating cycle of re-offending becomes increasingly …show more content…
He skillfully exploited many problems associated with the prison system. He and his team did a great job of researching and analyzing scholarly articles revolving around how our country is currently handling incarceration of serious offenders. From that research, it was easy to understand how serious the problems are. One of the most impressive things to me was Welch’s ability to provide the readers with a vast amount of knowledge in such few pages. He was able to thoroughly explain several very controversial topics without adding in pages and pages of useless information. I think this goes to show the amount of dedication and leg work that went into this book. I would highly recommend this book to other criminal justice professionals in order for them to understand how many ironies if imprisonment exist in the so called “land of the