From the colonial times to present times, the crimes as well as the punishment has changed drastically over the centuries. In the early years of America, crime seemed to be harsh, yet it still served it's purpose. Although, crime rates seemed to be lower in the past then it has now, due to severe punishments it has raised increasingly these past few years. Since the 1960's crime rates have steadily increased, although in the 80's their was a slight decline. There has also been more uncommon ways of committing crime such as stranger-to-stranger crimes. Also, in the few years that we have lived through, teens have been the ones committing more crimes than adults. This is because the violent crime rate seems to increase and decrease according to the teen populations in an area. In fact, in 1982 390 teens from ages fifteen to nineteen have committed murder. Just ten years later, the number jumped from 390 to 740. Also, unlike in the past criminals seem to be working the criminal system by being released and re-offending. In fact, studies have shown that nearly two thirds of all violent crimes have been committed by habitual criminals.
In the present day, our punishments have been very different from the colonial times. In fact, we haven't hanged anybody or gave them a number of lashes in numerous centuries. Our criminal justice system goes from the time the criminal is pronounced guilty in court to either incarceration, probation, or parole. In some cases, depending on the states the criminals are from, may even face the death penalty by lethal injection or the electric chair. Although the electric chair is unprobable. In today's criminal justice system, we do not have branding, lashings, gallows, or mutilation just to prove a point and prevent crimes from happening in the future. Although, to some our criminal justice system may seem that it is not doing it's proper job by preventing crime. In the past centuries, people thought twice about committing a crime when their head was on the line, but in today's world criminals don't think at all about the consequences because they are not scary enough. If we were to still have the same punishments as back in colonial time, our prisoner population and crime rates would be down.
In the present day, our punishments have been very different from the colonial times. In fact, we haven't hanged anybody or gave them a number of lashes in numerous centuries. Our criminal justice system goes from the time the criminal is pronounced guilty in court to either incarceration, probation, or parole. In some cases, depending on the states the criminals are from, may even face the death penalty by lethal injection or the electric chair. Although the electric chair is unprobable. In today's criminal justice system, we do not have branding, lashings, gallows, or mutilation just to prove a point and prevent crimes from happening in the future. Although, to some our criminal justice system may seem that it is not doing it's proper job by preventing crime. In the past centuries, people thought twice about committing a crime when their head was on the line, but in today's world criminals don't think at all about the consequences because they are not scary enough. If we were to still have the same punishments as back in colonial time, our prisoner population and crime rates would be down.