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Pros And Cons Of Incarceration

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After reading both articles about incarceration, I am in more support of the article The Greatest Correctional Myth: Winning the War on Crime Through Incarceration. There are many reasons as to why I chose to support the claims made in this article. Firstly, almost everyone who has been previously incarcerated or is currently incarcerated will eventually be released back into society. With that being said, the way our correctional system is set up is not beneficial for those released convicts. Having individuals locked up and hidden from society is not the right way to go about punishment. Instead the correctional system should guide and mentor those convicted and should help alter their behavior so that they are more suitable to live in society. Sentencing someone to prison without giving them the tools to correct the behavior that was problematic in the first place actually defeats the purpose of the punishment because the individual will likely repeat the same offense over …show more content…

If incarceration truly worked then there wouldn’t be more inmates coming into the prisons then there are leaving out of the prisons. As stated in the article “a crime-prevention policy based primarily on increased imprisonment is at best inadequate, at worst, a clogged pipe of human beings”(Rogers) What this high turnover rate leads to is overcrowding in these institutions. No matter how much these institutions expand, it will never suffice because as soon as there is more room, they get filled with new inmates instead of making more room for current inmates. Coupled with this is the fact that the increase of inmates means more inmate per single correctional officer to look after. An examination conducted by Gerald Gaes and William McGuire showed that this overcrowding is the most influential factor in predicting not only inmate to inmate assaults but inmate to correctional assaults as

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In discusiion of chapter 19, I learned that there is a high rate of incarcerated offenders in the justice system. Some offenders are released early and placed on parole. The caseloads of officers are overloaded. The average parolee have fines that they can not pay due to poor resources in the community. Many are released early because the prisons are overcrowded and punishments are used to deter crime.

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461 Words | 2 Pages

However, the penalty stands to be only temporary. Studies have shown that only seventy-one percent of those released from prison are convicted of a serious crime within only three years after their releasement ( ). Is prison housing the criminals or teaching them? A correctional facility is built to correct and rehabilitate, however prison systems in America appear to be only a short stop before the production of the criminals grand plan. The majority of those who are sentenced to prison have a high rate of returning due to their difficulty in gaining a position with a self-sustaining wage and a lack knowledge on a life without crime.

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507 Words | 3 Pages

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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2947 Words | 12 Pages

Some of the different strategies that Public Services use to prevent crime are Incapacitation, rehabilitation, deterrence, transcarceration and retribution. Incapacitation is the response used when a person has committed a crime. By incapacitating the convict and putting them in prison, it prevents the individual from committing future crimes because they are removed from society and locked up or restrained. I think prisons are effective because it protects society from dangerous and violent criminals and also it isolates those who deserve such a punishment from their family and friends (retribution). Prison stops offenders re-offending as they are locked away and acts as a deterrent to people on the outside.

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1320 Words | 6 Pages

Pros and Cons There are two common viewpoints when discussing mass incarceration. The first of the two revolves around the idea that the system of criminal justice is working, while the second provides that the word “justice” means “just us” – referring to the profiling of people of color (Brown, 2008, p. 53). Looking at the statistics at face value may seem staggering, but there are important aspects to consider before determining whether mass incarceration is justified. For those who believe that mass incarceration is justified, there are facts that may provide some truth.

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1728 Words | 7 Pages

The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for several reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. This literature review will discuss the ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system and how mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism has become a problem.

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915 Words | 4 Pages

The literature answers the issues of incarceration rates increasing by giving us the product such as legislative decisions that were the primary reason that led to the increase of charging and imprisoning more offenders as well as increasing sentences, limiting prison release, and expanding the prison capacity. Higher incarceration rates were not the sole reason for the increase in crime. Prisons were continuing to be built even though crime had been declining. Later resulting in the sharpest decrease in crime in American history. Essentially every states incarceration rate was increased by 150 percent from 1970 to 2000, and the median state increasewas 390 percent, which was taken from the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2012.

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873 Words | 4 Pages

However, the death penalty reduces overcrowding, provides closure for victim’s family, and is true justice. Capital punishment can deal with overpopulated prisons in the United States. Prison overcrowding is one of the contributing factors to poor prison conditions. Its consequences can prevent prisons from fulfilling their functions as well (penalreform.org). For example, it can increase sickness among the inmates and prison guards.

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The elements necessary to control the use of force in prisons are well known. To prevent abuse, the use of force must be controlled through (1) clear policies; (2) meaningful and constant supervision of all uses of force; (3) timely and truthful reporting of all uses of force by the officer involved and anyone who witnessed the incident; (4) an accurate and unbiased investigation into allegations of excessive force; and (5) the consistent imposition of progressive and proportional discipline when excessive force is used or when it is not reported. A breakdown in any one of these components will inevitably lead to

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894 Words | 4 Pages

The system may be a better place for these individuals. Their lives are simpler with less temptations and situations that entice them to commit crimes again . In conclusion, there are both positive and negative effects on the prison system in America due to the shifts in sentencing of criminals. The positive effects outweigh the negative effects as America is less about mass incarceration and more about rehabilitation.

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679 Words | 3 Pages

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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912 Words | 4 Pages

We are paying too much for prisons and this can be greatly reduced I believe. The goal of going to prison in my opinion is to have that person change, realize what they’ve done and have a form of normalization practiced in the prisons so they have that preparation for re-assimilation into the normal world. Don’t get me wrong, SOME inmates do not deserve a second change to be with society again. Those I would consider to be the more heinous of crimes.

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One of the most common problems with prisons in America today is how they are all overcrowded. One reason that prisons keep receiving more prisoners is the fact that the reoffending rate among prisoners is extremely high. According to the article “Recidivism Rate by State 2023”, 44% of criminals released from prison return within their first year out. For comparison, according to the U.K government, the average reoffending rate in the U.K is around 25%. That is almost a 20% difference between the countries which just goes to emphasize the glaring issue of reoffending rates in America.

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989 Words | 4 Pages

The government treats prisoners as if they are nothing in this world. The U.S prison system needs to be reformed by building new and better prisons and making it more humane and fair. Looking back to the prison history. Incarceration has not always been a common form of punishment. Back then people wanted to reform and change the way

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1678 Words | 7 Pages

However, crimes are committed whilst in prison, such as drugs and assaults. Some critics say the ‘three strikes and you are out’ law where repeat offenders get a longer sentence are wrong, as the third strike could be a lesser crime such as public disorder. Nevertheless, if just incapacitation and no rehabilitation some critics say will be costlier to society as they will go out and reoffend and, they are not employed and pay taxes. Rehabilitation is also a punishment which should improve the offender's behaviour and stop them committing crimes. Advocates of rehabilitation state prison does not work; however, critics of rehabilitation state prison does work as the criminal cannot commit a crime against the public while incarcerated (Cavadino, 2007 p 36/56).

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