We're Addicted to Jail

The article narrates a story of Deandre Somerville, a 21-year-old who has no prior criminal history and had never been in a courtroom until he was called to serve on a civil jury. Somerville overslept by several hours and missed court. Such occurrence delayed the court proceedings for 45 minutes. As a result, the judge sentenced Somerville for ten days in state jail, followed by 150 hours of community service and a year of probation. After criticism of such high sentence, the judge reduced the community service and probation to 3 months and 30 hours. The article alludes that Somerville's case was unjust and shocking when it states that "We issue jail sentences like candy" (Markus, 2019). 

The narration conflates two problems suggesting that they have a connection. For instance, it submits that having more defense counsel and civil rights lawyers reduces the chances of having an unfair trial (Markus, 2019). However, the anecdotes of failure in the criminal justice system are still present. The author's concerns do not express sufficient correlation. First, no study can prove such an assertion. In the article, Markus fails to elaborate on his point. It is difficult to identify his position, whether it is sentences that are too long or jail versus no jail. 

Even with the assumption that people are addicted to jail, the idea that more defense lawyers should be appointed is not appropriate. There is no "easy fix," as mentioned in the article. Maybe local culture dictates who gets what jail term regardless of whether the judge was a defense lawyer or a prosecutor. I also question the assumption that defense lawyers are likely to impose shorter sentences than prosecutors. Some of the submissions of the author are inaccurate. However, it is right when he denotes that there are high incarceration rates in the US. 

Reference 

Markus, O. D. (October 8, 2019). We're Addicted to Jail. The Hill. Retrieved from https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/464628-were-addicted-to-jail