This assignment will assess Competency 4: Appraise plan implementation, by manag

Question

This assignment will assess Competency 4: Appraise plan implementation, by management, for planning and innovation.

Directions: Write a brief essay using the following format: Answer the directions below in no more than 1,500 words.

Imagine that we are in 2011. It is May 24th. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) today decided the Brown v. Plata case, a historical ruling where SCOTUS found a state in violation of the 8th Amendment. You read the holding and watch the commentary on the news. Further, you are excited because you are a Criminal Justice professor and you are currently teaching Corrections. You decide to put together a Power Point Presentation for your students…yet realize that there are numerous variables that have led to the Brown v. Plata holding. You determine that the key elements to teach are the following: The holding of the Brown v. Plata case and how California was found in violation of the 8th Amendment (at least 2 examples of 8thAmendment violations). The corrective actions that Governor Jerry Brown (or Arnold Schwarzenegger) implemented to comply with the SCOTUS holding along with the outcomes (have the corrective actions achieved what they were intended to achieve?) How have California’s prison costs (budget) been affected by the corrective actions?

* Include at least three academic or professional sources to support your work.

Explanation / Answer

NY Times and Scotus blog at www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/.../09-1233_jurisdictional-statement.pdf:

Brown v. Plata is a ruling on a three judge federal case determining that the overcrowding in California prisons violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The decision was a 5-4 split with two separate dissents, both described as pungent and combative. The Supreme Court ruled on Monday, ordering the state to reduce its prison population by more than 30,000 inmates.The majority opinion included photographs of inmates crowded into open gymnasium-style rooms and what Justice Kennedy described as “telephone-booth-sized cages without toilets” used to house suicidal inmates. Suicide rates in the state’s prisons, Justice Kennedy wrote, have been 80 percent higher than the average for inmates nationwide. A lower court in the case said it was “an uncontested fact” that “an inmate in one of California’s prisons needlessly dies every six or seven days due to constitutional deficiencies.”

As a result, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has been working to redistribute inmates and parolees safely and decrease the overall population to the mandated levels. These large-scale adjustments to California's penal system create potential opportunities to study the long-term effects on affected inmates.

Federally mandated release programs have historically raised some concerns regarding public safety and fiscal efficiency. Given the large number of mentally ill inmates in the United States, alternatives such as assisted outpatient treatment, mental health courts, and increased funding for substance use treatment can be used proactively to reduce the CDCR population and provide long-term solutions to the overcrowding problem. These alternatives have already shown long-term cost savings in addition to reducing the recidivism of individuals involved and would help provide appropriate diversion for mentally ill individuals.

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