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Pros And Cons Of Incarceration

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According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the average prison sentence for weapon offense increased from 52.3 months in 1988 to 88.4 months in 2008 (Pretrial, prosecution, and adjudication). The issue with America's incarceration system is that prison is not working to lower the chance of criminals returning to prison after they get released. A study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that over two-thirds of prisoners released in 2005 returned to prison within 3 years. Americans are affected by this because the justice system is releasing criminals back into the public that still pursue a life of crime, which puts parts of the population at risk. There are alternatives in use today such as correctional and rehabilitation …show more content…

Research from Newbold seems credible because it comes from a professor with research in a relevant field of work. Research from Polinsky proves that probation and parole may be a viable economic alternative, but further research from Newbold proves that it is not an all around beneficial alternative. Being that probation and parole are not beneficial, what other possibly effective alternatives are there to …show more content…

This study claims that treatment-oriented programs and general education in prison have shown up to a 17% reduce in recidivism. That may not seem like a lot, but if treatment programs are used all across Florida, that is over 340,000 offenders stopped from returning to prison. Additionally, it is economically feasible.Evidence shows that it can save state budgets up to $12,000 per participant (Evidence-Based Public Policy Options to Reduce Crime Rates). Having treatment programs as an alternative to prison sentences that save state budgets will increase the likelihood of being able to continue funding truly beneficial programs. Moreover, the Justice Policy Institute, a nonprofit research group focused on Justice in the US, conducted mass research on prisoners across the United States on whether or not prison is effective and are their alternatives that are realistic. They concluded that increased use of drug courts and reduction of probation and parole, along with increased funding for proven programs that reduce recidivism is the best alternative to imprisonment (Treatment or

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It is believed that letting a criminal free from incarceration puts society at risk. Before the reform recidivism rates were high, scaring the public with the idea that criminals can reenter society. When comparing individuals who were sentenced to prison to those in diversion programs, those in diversion programs were more likely to stay out of jail while those who went to jail were more likely to have re-arrests. It was reported that 64% of the treatment sample were arrest-free over a two-year follow up period. Those in the diversion program had recidivism rates as low as 36%; this compares to the group who were given jail time with a recidivism rate of 54% (Parsons, Wei, Henrichson, Drucker, & Trone, 2015).

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Over the past 40 years U.S. incarceration has grown at an extraordinary rate, with the United States’ prison population increasing from 320,000 inmates in 1980 to nearly 2.3 million inmates in 2013. The growth in prison population is in part due to society’s shift toward tough on crime policies including determinate sentencing, truth-in-sentencing laws, and mandatory minimums. These tough on crime policies resulted in more individuals committing less serious crimes being sentenced to serve time and longer prison sentences. The 1970s-1980s: The War on Drugs and Changes in Sentencing Policy Incarceration rates did rise above 140 persons imprisoned per 100,000 of the population until the mid 1970s.

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With drug treatment, more probation, and community service, inmates will get the true chance to change for the better without having to face imprisonment. Cullen’s research says “... Sometimes, longer stays can even increase recidivism” (Cullen). Sometimes, serving a long sentence for a small crime makes the inmates worse off instead of better. This is why alternatives to incarceration are so important not only for the inmates, but it helps with overcrowding. Although the alternatives solve mass incarceration, it does not solve the agendas being pushed out that cause a lot of people to be arrested.

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INTRODUCTION The United States incarcerates a greater percentage of the population than any country in the world (CBS, 2012). According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, over 2.3 million adults were incarcerated in federal and state prisons, and county jails in 2013. There are an additional 820,000 people on parole and 3.8 million people on probation (Wagner & Rabuy, 2016) Jail and prison differ primarily in regards to the length of stay for inmates.

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One possible alternative route to the prison system could be a boarding school type system where convicts are required to participate in an educational program that gives them the knowledge and ability to be released and given the needs to go make something better of the life they have been given. This system where they are required to participate in educational training would come along side a strict rule system that would encourage them to make the decision to choose something better. The debate is whether or not prison is beneficial or not for those who will be convicted, sentenced, and released. Whether we change the system or not there will always be crime and

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The text indicates that increased reliance on prisons can only account for one third of the decrease in crime in the 1990’s. This indicates that although it is a help, it is not the cure. To say if this is viable, one would have to weigh the actual cost of imprisonment per person per year which the text indicates is $25,000, to a numerical number that would equal what crime takes from society. This is almost impossible to accomplish because not all crimes are equal. The authors feel that there is a greater reason that the crime rates decreased in the 1990’s, they feel that the legalization of abortion had a large impact on decreasing crime rates.

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III. Literature Review Prison overcrowding has been a global issue for many years. We can all attest to the fact that incarceration is said to be the main deterrent for individuals who have committed a criminal offense. The sole purpose of this literature review is to identify prospective policies that may assist Ohio with the reduction of their overcrowded prison population. My aimed is to identify four best practices that other states like New York, New Jersey, California and Massachusetts have been using as alternatives to prison hence reducing prison overcrowding.

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The Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program is another attempt to provide better treatment for people who are convicted. The study showed that drug offenders who underwent a treatment program outside of prison had a 26 percent less rate of re-arrest after two years than a control group that was sent to prison (Justice Policy Institute, 2010). Rehabilitative programs like the Second Chance Act and the Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program has shown to growth and positive

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This model focuses on the individual needs of the offender and in doing so increases their chance of living sober once they reenter society. For example, indeterminate sentencing allows offenders who exhibit good behavior and participate in prison substance abuse programs to be paroled closer to the minimum sentencing term. This means the offender can be released from prison based on conditions set forth by the court. If the offender violates parole by committing another crime or failing to continue substance abuse treatment, they can be returned to prison. Furthermore, offering indeterminate sentencing for offenders who meet the criteria creates prison space thus helping with the ongoing problem of prison overcrowding (Seiter,

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Funding is required up front to establish good programs that are well supervised and carefully targeted. But using intermediate punishments for selected offenders who would otherwise is prison bound can avoid significant future costs. If they are used in a meaningful way, a prison wing can be closed or a new prison or jail

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Reduce sentence lengths and ensure consistent sentencing practice. 10. Develop opportunities for parole or other forms of early release and assist prisoners on release to prevent their return to prison. These are some measures to prevent the overcrowding of prison which is major root cause of many problems in the prisons.

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Thesis: It is very important for the sake of Americans tax dollars that we change the way that prisons are run and increase the productivity of inmates so when they are released from jail they are ready to be a productive member in society and have the confidence to achieve new goals. Introduction: Day after day, millions of inmates sit in jail doing nothing productive with their lives. We are paying to house inmates that may not even have a good reason to be there. For example, drug offenders are being kept with murderers and other violent offenders.

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Criminal Justice Reform Sources: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/criminal-justice-reform The U.S continues to face a crisis of mass incarceration that seems to be growing bigger and bigger each day in this country. There are nearly two million people in prison in America today, according to the Obama White House Archives, over twice the number there were 30 years ago, when there were just 500,000 in jail. There are fewer than five percent of the world's population in the United States, but there are more than 25 percent of the world's prisoners there. Approximately $80 billion of the national budget is spent on keeping people in prison in the United States every year.

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662 Words | 3 Pages

The rising population in prisons became a major concern. In 2010, a prison reform expert explained that putting drug addicts to incarceration cost too much estimating eighty billion of dollars a year (Childress, 2014). Thus, congress's proposal is to shorten the sentencing of nonviolent offender. Some report explained that "there are many people serving time for violent offenses who haven’t actually committed violent acts and might be good candidates for reduced sentences." (Neyfakh, 2015).

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204 Words | 1 Pages

American criminal justice, in an era of mass corrections, faces many challenges as a result of the turn to a more punitive system. Social polices now approach corrections from a retributive perspective, investing more in social control and punishment rather than valuing rehabilitation and treatment. Consequently, such a shift has affected recidivism patters and has lead to overcrowding in prisons. The punitive measures were designed to enhance public safety but, unfortunately, have had adverse consequences. Not only has these measures increased the cost of corrections with little known benefit, but many offenders today are simply not prepared to reenter society.

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