Alternatives to Incarceration: Problem Analysis Alternatives to Incarceration: Problem Analysis The United States has had a significant problem with overcrowding in the prisons and problems with certain programs in the criminal justice system. Because of the lack of funding in many areas, the programs available to help an offender are few. Specialized treatment and services are available, but not at the rate necessary. The cost to build new jails and prisons has increased and in many instances has a strong affect on the state or local government. One of the solutions to the ever-growing problem in the criminal justice system can be in the area of sentencing.
What does prison overcrowding cause? And can it be stopped? Prison overcrowding is caused by a variety of issues, such as not enough room in prisons, fluctuating crime rates, changes to laws and improvements to law enforcement tactics. So first the obsessive view from some lawmakers that the only way to reduce crime is to keep offenders off the streets no matter what the crime. In other words don’t worry about rehabilitation just keep the offenders in jail for the rest of their lives and pay the cost of housing, boarding, and punishing them.
There has been a negative impact on public safety, county jails and state prisons, judge & juror as well as the cost that will be seen by tax payers now and in the future. The Three Strikes Law The habitual offender legislation or better known as, The Three Strikes Law has brought about many different theories. Theories have ranged from a person’s physical attributes to the person’s social interactions as the causation of crime. Policies have ranged from harsh punishments, long incarcerations, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and probation in attempts to stifle the increase of criminal behavior. Recently, conservative theorists have rallied toward “get tough” laws because the consensus is that “criminals are beyond reform and must be incapacitated behind thick walls” (Lilly, et.
However, this has had more disadvantages than advantages, the main advantage being the induced fear in people of committing a crime with the thought that they will be caught and it won't be pretty afterwards. Disadvantages of new prisons however are a little more complex, because each has a purpose, a conflict, and a possible resolution. A good reference article about these kinds of prison, including life inside a prison, is detailed in the article of "Why Prisons Don't Work", by Wilbert Rideau. Rideau takes an admiring step into describing their problem and its relation into life and social perspective. Let’s take for instance the first situation he presents.
Overcrowding of our prisons is a bad situation that will continue to get worse unless our government figures out a solution. Inmates are at risk, correctional officers are at risk, and the American public is at risk. Without a solution soon, we will be seeing a large scale problem get much larger. Overpopulation is defined as “the condition of having a population so dense as to cause environmental deterioration, an impaired quality of life, or a population crash” (Webster, 2014). Today our prison system has fallen into a desperate time with overcrowding and overpopulation of our prisons county, state, and federal.
It will also discuss how focusing on rehabilitation instead of punishment will affect different aspects of society and the criminal justice system. The juvenile justice system has had its ups and downs. In some years it was thought that having harsher punishment for the juveniles was the ideal answer. During the Clinton administration, crime rates rose for juveniles and congressional leaders demanded tougher treatment for juvenile felons, including more incarceration in both adult and youth correctional facilities (Krisberg, 2008). Although President Clinton passed bills to push for harsher punishment for juveniles before it could go into effect, the juvenile crime rates dropped.
Prison Term Policy Recommendation Proposal Armed robbery is deemed to be a dangerous crime throughout the United States. I could imagine being robbed at gunpoint or with a foreign object that could be a tragedy and terrible experience for anyone to have to endure. Therefore, armed robbery is a violent offense that can have a devastating effect on a person’s life for an entire lifetime. Armed robbery are crimes that are very detrimental to the growth of society, in essence society needs to do as much as possible to alleviate and or decrease these acts of violence. In my opinion, in an attempt to reduce the amount of armed robberies each year it is crucial to do some investigative work on different methods that would aid in the decline in violent crimes that take place annually.
If marijuana was decriminalized users would get a fine if found guilty of possession. It would be seen as a civil matter instead of a criminal matter, therefore saving state revenues. Prison populations would decrease, housing cost for those inmates would not exist, and the state would receive the revenue created from the fine laws. Decriminalization does not include access to the plant. Users would still be forces to illegally purchase the product, unless they had a medical prescription, and live in a state where marijuana is legal for medical purposes.
My opinion is that I feel if someone is arrested for a non-violent crime they should be treated differently as far as consequences go for many reasons. First of all it costs us, the tax payers a huge amount of money to send someone to prison and the jails and prisons are already so overcrowded and out of control to begin with. We live in a society where crime is very high due to many reasons such as the economy, being poor and desperate and lack of jobs. Breaking the law is breaking the law and committing a crime is just that, committing a crime. There has to be a consequence for breaking laws and committing crimes for anyone.
The ‘war on drugs’ has become a harsh and unnecessary measure that frankly costs American taxpayers far too much money. If the type of imprisonment suffered by nonviolent offenders is now deemed cruel and unusual, does the punishment really fit the crime? This is the question American citizens must ask themselves as they consider how far they must go in order to keep drug use and abuse under control. One of the many effects of the severe penalties for drug use is unjust incarceration. The average citizen may correctly point out that everyone has the right to due process and therefore innocent people are not simply sentenced to prison.