An “alternative to incarceration” is any kind of punishment other than time in prison or jail that
can be given to a person who commits a crime.
Frequently, punishments other than prison or jail time place serious demands on offenders and
provide them with intensive court and community supervision. Just because a certain punishment
does not involve time in prison or jail does not mean it is “soft on crime” or a “slap on the wrist.”
Alternatives to incarceration can repair harms suffered by victims, provide benefits to the
community, treat the drug-addicted or mentally ill, and rehabilitate offenders. Alternatives can
also reduce prison and jail costs and prevent additional crimes in the future. Before we can
maximize the benefits of alternatives to incarceration,
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however, we must repeal mandatory minimums and give courts the power to use cost-effective, recidivism-reducing sentencing options instead. FAMM supports the creation and use of alternatives to incarceration because: They give courts more sentencing options. Each offender and crime is unique, and prison or jail time may not always be the most effective response. If courts have options other than incarceration, they can better tailor a cost-effective sentence that fits the offender and the crime, protects the public, and provides rehabilitation. They save taxpayers money. It costs over $28,000 to keep one person in federal prison for one year1 (some states’ prison costs are much higher).2 Alternatives to incarceration are cheaper, help prevent prison and jail overcrowding, and save taxpayers millions.
They strengthen families and communities. Prison or jail time separates the offender
from his or her spouse and children, sometimes for decades at a time. Alternatives to
incarceration keep people with their families, in their neighborhoods and jobs, and allow
them to earn money, pay taxes, and contribute to their communities.
They protect the public by reducing crime. Over 40% of all people leaving prison will
reoffend and be back in prison within three years of their release.3
Alternatives to prison
such as drug and mental health courts are proven to confront the underlying causes of
crime (i.e., drug addiction and mental illness) and help prevent offenders from
committing new crimes.
The public supports alternatives to incarceration. Eight in ten (77%) adults believe
that alternatives to incarceration (probation, restitution, community service, and/or
rehabilitative services) are the most appropriate sentence for nonviolent, non-serious
offenders and that prison or jail are appropriate only if these alternatives
fail.4
...ould be an effective alternative to jail time for non-violent offenses. Though Jacoby’s arguments regarding the current ineffectiveness of the system, the price, and the crime rates in prisons, there have been many accomplishments with gaining people’s rights. For example, the eighth amendment about cruel and unusual punishment is in place because of forms of punishment like flogging. However, for a non-violent crime, I do think many would prefer this even punishment over jail time because of the risks within jails. Therefore, Jacoby’s argument is not reasonable, even in todays day in age.
Most black Americans are under the control of the criminal justice today whether in parole or probation or whether in jail or prison. Accomplishments of the civil rights association have been challenged by mass incarceration of the African Americans in fighting drugs in the country. Although the Jim Crow laws are not so common, many African Americans are still arrested for very minor crimes. They remain disfranchised and marginalized and trapped by criminal justice that has named them felons and refuted them their rights to be free of lawful employment and discrimination and also education and other public benefits that other citizens enjoy. There is exists discernment in voting rights, employment, education and housing when it comes to privileges. In the, ‘the new Jim crow’ mass incarceration has been described to serve the same function as the post civil war Jim crow laws and pre civil war slavery. (Michelle 16) This essay would defend Michelle Alexander’s argument that mass incarcerations represent the ‘new Jim crow.’
Introduction Alternatives to incarceration have been explored in recent years due to the overcrowding in the correctional system. Intermediate sanctions are one of those alternatives. Intermediate sanctions have long been used in the United States due to the benefits and options that it offers from saving money to reducing overcrowding, but it does, however, have its unfortunate flaws. There are many programs within intermediate sanctions that work, and some that fall behind. Intermediate sanctions are an alternative to the costly prison system, but to what end?
Programs such as parole and probation have been introduced as alternatives to incarceration. These programs are designed for offenders who are not considered a hazard to society. Parole is typically granted towards the end of a sentence and probation commonly in place of one, but because the organization is overloaded, financially unstable, and carelessly managed, it often operates as well as a feeder organization, guaranteeing prison cells will not be unoccupied for long. Actually, according to a report compiled by the Pew Center for the States parole violators accounted for over a third of all prison admissions in 2005 and "half the US jai...
Criminals in the United States often get an unfair prison sentence due to the current imperfect system. The laws and guidelines that are used to determine an offender 's sentence are greatly flawed. Some crimes are much more severe than others; therefore using the same rules and regulations for all crimes as if they are all the same is unfitting. A drug dealer, a murder, and a fraudster could receive the same amount of prison time which is clearly unfair and unreasonable. Changing the guidelines that are followed would be lawful and the morally right thing to do.
have significantly more escapes, homicide and assaults than government run prisons. All of these things
I. Alternatives to incarceration give courts more options. For example, it’s ridiculous that the majority of the growth in our prison populations in this country is due to slamming people in jail just because they were caught using drugs. So much of the crime on the streets of our country is drug-related--crime that would largely disappear if the massive profits brought on by drug criminalization were eliminated. You can reduce drug usage more efficiently, and at a lower cost, through treatment than through law enforcement.
According to the Oxford Index, “whether called mass incarceration, mass imprisonment, the prison boom, or hyper incarceration, this phenomenon refers to the current American experiment in incarceration, which is defined by comparatively and historically extreme rates of imprisonment and by the concentration of imprisonment among young, African American men living in neighborhoods of concentrated disadvantage.” It should be noted that there is much ambiguity in the scholarly definition of the newly controversial social welfare issue as well as a specific determination in regards to the causes and consequences to American society. While some pro arguments cry act as a crime prevention technique, especially in the scope of the “war on drugs’.
Overcrowding of prisons due to mass incarceration is among one of the biggest problems in America, mass incarceration has ruined many families and lives over the years.America has the highest prison population rate , over the past forty years from 1984 until 2014 that number has grown by four hundred percent .America has four percent of the world population ,but twenty-five percent of the world population of incarcerated people Forty one percent of American juveniles have been or going to be arrested before the age of 23. America has been experimenting with incarceration as a way of showing that they are tough on crime but it actually it just show that they are tough on criminals. imprisonment was put in place to punish, criminals, protect society and rehabilitate criminals for their return into the society .
More are sentencing options are great because just like every person is different, so is the crime. Prison may not always be the most effective response for people, so If courts have options other than incarceration, “they can better tailor a cost-effective sentence that fits the offender and the crime, protects the public, and provides rehabilitation” (FAMM, 2011). Findings have also proven that alternative saves taxpayers money. “It costs over $28,000 to keep one person in federal prison for one year1 (some states’ prison costs are much higher). Alternatives to incarceration are cheaper, help prevent prison and jail overcrowding, and save taxpayers millions” (FAMM, 2011, para. 3). Lastly, alternatives protect the public by reducing crime. There is a 40% chance that all people leaving prison will go back within three years of their release (FAMM, 2011). “Alternatives to prison such as drug and mental health courts are proven to confront the underlying causes of crime (i.e., drug addiction and mental illness) and help prevent offenders from committing new crimes” (FAMM, 2011, para.
Prisons are not places where nonviolent offenders can serve time and then be released a better person, more fit for society. The prison environment is wrong, and as a result a nonviolent offender will leave unimproved. It is my belief that the alternatives of community control programs, rehabilitation programs, and restitution programs are the answers to the sentencing of nonviolent offenders.
As the current prison structures and sentencing process continues to neglect the issues that current offenders have no change will accrue to prevent recidivism. The issue with the current structure of the prison sentencing process is it does not deal with the “why” the individual is an social deviant but only looks at the punishment process to remove the deviant from society. This method does not allow an offender to return back to society without continuing where they left off. As an offender is punished they are sentenced (removal from society) they continue in an isolated environment (prison) after their punishment time is completed and are released back to society they are now an outsider to the rapidly changing social environment. These individuals are returned to society without any coping skills, job training, or transitional training which will prevent them from continuing down th...
What is education? Should education be limited to those who are free in society and not locked up behind bars? Education is a broad term which can be interpreted in many different ways, however , it is typically defined as the action or process of teaching , especially in a school, university,or college. As we seek to refine and reform education we must understand that education expands much farther than just the classroom. For instance education in jail, it 's a gateway for prisoners to come out as a new person and have a different view on life For example Malcolm X. Also it 's less likely for a prisoner to reoffend because they 're more likely to get a job with degree they earn while being incarcerated . Also this can help save tax money.
The amount of money that is going towards Incarceration has grown exponentially over the decades, while it contributes to the economic troubles of schools in America today . Just in the US there is a population count of 2.3 million prisoners locked up and over half are locked from a drug related charges. While each prisoner lives there on the people's taxes. He or she does not contribute to the world at all, we are wasting this money. If we don’t slow down the spending on incarceration, eventually our education department will run low on funds. If we let this happen to our country, our future in America doesn’t look very bright.
Verkaik, R. (2006) The Big Question: What are the alternatives to prison, and do they work? The Independent [online] 10 October. Available from: