Running head: Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 1
Articles Critique
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Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 2
Articles Critique.
Article 1-Background
This first article by Khey (2015) is a peer-review journal published under the
encyclopedia of crime and punishment. The article looks at the history of the privatization of
prisons in the United States and some contributing factors. The author presents an analysis of the
various changes that have been brought about by privatization and why it has been beneficial in
the United States. While presenting the history of the American prison system, the author is keen
to mention how the prison population increased suddenly between 1980 and 2000. An additional
review is also presented regarding other countries such as Scotland, England, and France, which
also have privatized their prisons. We see from the article that in the past four decades, the
capacity of private prisons globally has grown significantly from 3000 bed capacity in 1987 to
over 140,000 by 2001. The article portrays privatization as a positive attribute that was urgently
needed in the American prison system to help in solving some of the underlying challenges.
Article 1 - Critique of Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Strengths
The article's main strength is that it examines the American prison system’s challenges
before presenting the benefits of privatization. This assists the author in making a compelling
case for why privatization was not only necessary but also mandatory. One of the challenges that
the author argues the American system faced before privatization was huge expenses in terms of
maintaining correctional facilities. The US government incurred huge expenses through their
prison system, especially because they had a large inmate population. Once privatization was
introduced, it has enabled the government to save money since private prisons charge the
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 3
government less money than they would use to run the prisons themselves. Another major
challenge the author presents is that inmates had no source of employment before privatization.
Privatization has allowed outside businesses to build within prison walls hence providing
inmates with a source of employment. Other advantages that the author presents include
improved healthcare through less expensive privatization, improved food management and
provision of education services to inmates, and enhanced mail delivery.
Weaknesses
While providing counterarguments, it is easy to note that the author’s arguments
contradict one another. For instance, one of the counterarguments states that privatization has led
to the provision of lower-quality food to inmates, such as privatized prisons in Colorado.
However, as earlier mentioned, the author stated that privatization led to improved food
management. Therefore, it is difficult to determine the credibility of the author’s information.
Similarly, few sources are used within the text to back the author’s claims. Although there is a
reference page at the end of the article, there are just a few in-text citations. Perhaps backing the
arguments with in-text citations can facilitate the credibility and reliability of the arguments.
Article Critique
Article 2-Background
This second article by Schultz (2015) is written explicitly against prison privatization,
and the author seeks to present arguments why prison privatization should be abolished. The
author claims that prison privatization is a business backed by US conservatism and
neoliberalists to make money from incarcerated bodies. This "business," in the author's opinion,
is against the justice system. To back his arguments, Schultz provides a brief history of the
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 4
American prison system, which details that prison privatization actually existed in the early 19th
century. In the 1800s, the author states that prison privatization was in the form of leasing
inmates to work on plantations and railroads. According to the author's opinions, it has currently
evolved to being completely privatized because inmates are no longer leased but are given for
good. The author also presents why prison privatization grew to prominence since the 1980s,
stating that public prisons were becoming overcrowded and expensive to maintain the inmates.
On one account, the author mentions that by the early 2000s, the US government spent up to $43
billion in maintaining prisons alone annually. However, the move to privatization has turned
correctional facilities into million-dollar institutions at the expense of the inmates’ wellbeing, as
per the author’s assertions.
Article 2 - Critique of Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Strengths
A major strength of this article is that it uses evidence backed with history to prove that
prison privatization is more harmful than beneficial. The author refers to a statement that was
issued by the Bureau of Justice Assistance claiming that private prisons would enhance the
quality of confinement, operate under small budgets and build cheaper facilities at a faster rate.
The author additionally uses data from the US Bureau of Prisons to reveal that 10% of female
inmates and 12% of male inmates are housed in private prisons today. However, these assertions
by the government bodies have contributed to several ethical concerns that the author mentions.
By sending prisoners to private facilities, the author argues that they relinquish their
responsibility of processing offenders since individuals committed crimes against the state and
not the private bodies. In addition, the author quotes the law stating that only public officials
mandated by the constitution should perform state executions and not private bodies. In addition,
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 5
the author mentions that private prisons have been found to wrongly classify or even ignore
classifying inmates since they put their profit-making interests ahead. These arguments by the
author are well-backed and thus contribute to a major strength of the article.
Weaknesses
However, a major weakness of this article is that it lacks counterarguments. Even though
private prisons have disadvantages, they have had a positive impact worth mentioning. One that
ought to have been mentioned is that private prisons have helped the government save money
and this has, in turn, had a positive impact on the federal revenue. Therefore, to consider the
author's claims as strong enough, there needs to be a section that acknowledges other points of
view and determines why the author's claims are right.
Summary of Articles.
Both authors make their stance on prison privatization known. Khey (2015) supports
prison privatization in the US because it positively impacts the government and partially on the
inmates. Since the government can save money by privatizing prison, Khey (2015) believes that
this move can be beneficial to the whole nation since it helps minimize national expenses. Also,
Khey (2015) believes that prison privation helps inmates by providing employment sources due
to the buildings near the prison walls.
Schultz (2015), on the other hand, argues that prison privatization is nothing but a
business to US conservatives and neoliberalists at the expense of the inmates’ well-being.
Schultz (2015) presents evidence regarding the law that when people commit crimes against the
state, then there is no jurisdiction whatsoever for private bodies to perform executions. Among
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 6
other issues, Schultz (2015) believes that prison privatization should be abolished since it is a
crime against the law and against humanity.
Conclusion: Personal Reflection, Position, and Christian Worldview
Reading through both articles has been enlightening to me. In reality, inmates are
members of society just like us, and issues that affect them should be taken into great
consideration. I have gained quite a lot of information with regards to the structure of prison
privatization and how the whole concept works based on both articles. Therefore, I have to take
the side of Schultz (2015) and agree that prison privatization should be abolished. Looking at
both authors’ arguments, one thing that stands out from both is that prison privatization leads to
the reduction of expenses and maximization of savings. However, is it always about money? The
Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10 that the love of money is the root of all evil (Bible). Instead of
saving money at the expense of the well-being of our sisters and brothers, let us spend it on
making their stay in those correctional facilities comfortable. Saving money to invest in other
areas such as war demonstrates how inhumane we have become. There is no good from prison
privatization and it should be abolished.
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 7
References.
Bible, K. J. AN EVALUATION OF THE NEW KING JAMES BIBLE.
Khey, D. N. (2015). Privatization of prison. The Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, 1-8.
Schultz, C. (2015). Prison privatization: Driving influences and performance evaluation. Themis:
Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science, 3(1), 5.
