Discussion Board creminal justice - Essay Example

(Burright) Nonetheless, in recent past the privatization of prisons and jails found the way back into the criminal justice, once again arousing a wave of controversy and debate. Over-crowded correctional facilities, decreasing revenues, increasing crime rates, public call for more prison sentences and longer criminals' incarceration are among the factors that forced the nation's prison system to once again consider the option of private contracting to provide privatization of prisons and jails. . Considering all these benefits, by 1987, three States had approved legislation authorizing private businesses to operate the State correctional facilities.

At present, there are a lot of states and counties that have prisons being operated by private companies. So while the legal aspects of government delegating its responsibility for the custody of an individual to private organizations was much discussed in the 1980s, today it is clear that "objections to prison privatization on constitutional delegation grounds have little force". (McDonald, p.6)It is interesting that with so many privately operated correctional institutions in the country, there is no any case law to define exactly how general process standards are applied to private jails and prisons.

There is no special legislation defining the authority of private contractors regarding use of force, especially deadly force. Privately run facilities usually lack legal authority to respond to various critical situations, e.g. escape and other emergencies. There is a great need for legislation that would govern these practices. Without proper legal solution to this absence of the relevant law of jurisdiction, it is quite possible that private companies will have to face civil or criminal liability.

Special legal questions arise when sending prisoners from a certain jurisdiction to another, privately operated one. Some jurisdictions rely on contracts, others - on intermediary governments when placing prisoners in private jails. There is no common ground and these inter-jurisdictional issues also put a question mark on the sufficiency of legal regulation and authority. To address other reasons proponents of prisons privatization offer, one should mention that there is no strong evidence to support the