“In the Belly of the Beast”
Imagine being 37 years old and spending 25 years of your life locked up, behind bars. “In the Belly of the Beast” is a collection of letters, told by Jack Henry Abbott, which expose the harsh realities of the Americas penal system. In translating Abbott’s experiences, he unveils that the current system has failed to keep dangerous criminals off the streets and that it has proved to be unsuccessful in creating a deterrent for committing crimes. According to the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics, “State courts in 32 counties across 17 States sentenced 79,000 felons to probation in 1986. Within 3 years of sentencing, while still on probation, 43% of these felons were rearrested for a felony. Half of the arrests were for a violent crime (murder, rape, robbery, or aggravated assault) or a drug offense (drug trafficking or drug possession).” This proves that the current system puts dangerous criminals back on the streets without being......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 1870
Approximate Pages: 8 (260 words per double-spaced page) |