Alternatives to Incarceration

ALTERNATIVES TO INCARCERATION

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ALTERNATIVES TO INCARCERATION

The Underlying Historical And Economic Reasons Behind The Quest For Alternatives To Incarceration

Incarceration is a form punishment that has been around for centuries now. It is based on the concept that restricting wrong doers their liberty for agreed periods of time is a retribution enough for the crimes committed. However, this form of punishment has been met with a significant number of critics who advocate other forms of punishment as opposed to incarcerations. There are several historic and economic reasons behind this quest for alternatives to incarceration as a mode of punishment.

The incarceration system only aims at denying criminals their liberty and it assumes that the punishment itself will rectify the inmates. Historically, this has not always been true following some inmates serving time for their third or even forth time. This shows that the system on itself is not very efficient because any form of punishment should be aimed at punishing and also rectifying the offender. In addition, the idea of serving time in prison has been a norm to most criminals who have previously served time. Some of the incarcerations act as reunions of the offenders with their friends and acquaintances already in there.

Adding to the reasons is the increase rate of corruption which make it possible for ‘well of’ individuals serving time in prison make deals with the prison guards enabling them to still run their business and gangs while still in confinement. Evidence of the above was presented by a report by Baltimore Sun which showed a notorious prison gang leader who sired children with four different security guards while running his outside operations despite being behind bars. This shows the level of inefficient in the incarceration system.

Economically, the cost of constructing and running these confinement facilities is usually very high. According to Petteruti, Velazquez...