Do you agree with President Obama’s policies regarding the reduction of prison populations during his presidency?

1. Please read the following
article and respond to the questions that follow.
“Obama made progress on
criminal justice reform. Will it survive the next president?” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/14/barack-obama-criminal-justice-reform-prison-sentencing-police
Do you agree with President Obama’s policies regarding the
reduction of prison populations during his presidency? Why? What
specifically about his plan do you agree or disagree with? If you don’t
believe the former President’s policies, what would you do to deal with the
very real issue of prison overcrowding in this country?

2. You are
the superintendent of a large jail in an urban area. The internal affairs
department in your jail has discovered that two of your correctional officers
have been accused of smuggling contraband (in this case a cell phone) into your
facility. Your jail has a zero-tolerance policy for this type of
behavior, but you know and hired both of these employees. One has been
with the jail for over 25 years and has a family, the other is the daughter of
a colleague you’ve known for many years and was hired just under a year
ago. How would handle these cases? Would you apply the zero-tolerance
policy and fire both? Would you be more lenient? Would you handle
each case the same, or would you consider them separately, and why?

3. Drug
courts are used increasingly today in our criminal justice system. Drug
courts are designed to force an offender to deal with their substance abuse
problems through a blend of treatment, accountability, and specialized case
management. Tools used in these courts include, counseling, drug testing,
intensive probation, home visits and personalized supervision from judges as
well as probation officers. Offenders are given just one opportunity to have
their case transferred to drug court. Repeat offenders who have already
been through drug court, typically aren’t given a second chance. While
their effectiveness is still questioned by some, many states, including
Massachusetts which has 22 drug courts, find this alternative an effective way
to deal with young, first time, low-level drug offenders. Given the
recent opioid epidemic in our nation, the future role of drug courts may
actually be expanding.
Questions:
1.
What is your opinion on the use of drug courts? Should they be used to
divert low level offenders from the criminal justice system?
2.
Should we increase funding for drug courts, or spend additional money on more
traditional approaches such as jail?
3.
Given the recent issue with drug overdoses, should drug courts be expanded to
include repeat offenders?

Last Completed Projects