Prison also known as a penal institution has been a part of the criminal justice system for three centuries in the UK. Over the years prisons have had different aims and functions which range from punishment to rehabilitation, in order to control offenders as this has been the last resort for their behaviour. There have been several discussions on how controversial prisons may be at times and if they actually do what they aim for which is to make offenders into law abiding citizens. This essay it will have a general look at the successes and failures of prisons in the UK through the evaluation of statistics and case studies of criminologists.
There are many reasons as to why prisons do actually work. The aim is to confine offenders into conditions
…show more content…
Offender Behaviour Programs found international evidence that by enforcing programs such as anger management and drug problem courses help reduce offending behaviour. Furthermore Vernard et al 1997 found recognition that programs with certain characteristics are indeed effective in the decline of recidivism and the success is mainly with cognitive behavioural programs. Also having access to education and training is also very important as this will allow offenders to develop their skills and gain qualifications to find employment after their release, this cognitively reinforces the person to focus for their future as they’re given educational …show more content…
This means that there is less attention for the people, less control and resources for them to use. In Wandsworth Prison there are at least 1,100 men who have to share a one man cell. This can be very horrible for a prisoner as it can have a negative experience which can result in violence, self-harm and suicide. Evidence to support this point is the Strangeways riot in Manchester 1990. Hundreds of inmates demolished the prison and the protest lasted a shocking 25 days, cost of £100million in repairs and death of two prisoners. Earlier on in this year a prisoner took to the roof to protest about the prisons conditions which lasted 3 days. In 1985 they did try to make more prisons to prevent transfers and higher populations, but didn’t go through with
In Western cultures imprisonment is the universal method of punishing criminals (Chapman 571). According to criminologists locking up criminals may not even be an effective form of punishment. First, the prison sentences do not serve as an example to deter future criminals, which is indicated, in the increased rates of criminal behavior over the years. Secondly, prisons may protect the average citizen from crimes but the violence is then diverted to prison workers and other inmates. Finally, inmates are locked together which impedes their rehabilitation and exposes them too more criminal
Since the early 20th century, the Scottish penal system has gone through numerous transformations as the society changes and grows, including the important period where Scotland struggled to create it’s own identity, separate from the rest of the UK. These developments have been pivotal in regards to the modernization of the Scottish Criminal Justice system, which is often described as being made up of a complex set of processes and involves many different bodies . Over the past decade, the main problem at hand is that Scotland, a relatively small country in the scheme of things, has a serious problem with imprisonment , meaning that we have a higher imprisonment rate than nearly anywhere else in Western Europe. Recent research has shown that it sends over twice as many people to prison than the similarly sized countries within Europe , but in a debate on penal policy in 2007, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill, stated that “the Government refuses to believe that the Scottish people are inherently bad or that there is any genetic reason why we should be locking up twice as many offenders as Ireland or Norway.” The aim of this essay will be to look at the recent changes within Scotland’s penal system, and whether this ‘imprisonment crisis’ has been the outcome of penal developments in the past.
Prisons exist in this country as a means to administer retributive justice for those that break the laws in our society or to state it simply prisons punish criminals that are to receive a sentence of incarceration for more than one year. There are two main sub-cultures within the walls of prison the sub-culture of the Department of Corrections (which consists of the corrections officer, administrators, and all of the staff that work at the prison and go home at the end of their day) and the actual prisoners themselves. As you can imagine these two sub-cultures are dualistic in nature and this makes for a very stressful environment for both sides of the fence. While in prison, the inmates experience the same conditions as described in the previous
Spending time in an overcrowded cell really lowers your social stability throughout time. Many of the prisoners tend to turn anti-social because they do not want to put up with the conditions in which they live. According to Terence T. Gorski the prisoners tend to develop an illness known as Post Incarceration Syndrome which is something developed through extreme confinement and lack of opportunity. The inmates are more often than not given very little opportunities to rehabilitate themselves with everyday things such as working and receiving an education in the overcrowded prisons. These prisoners are not given enough opportunity to assemble with one another because time is very strict and limited inside the prison walls. Resources are often stretched out to accommodate to everyone’s needs.The inmates tend to get treated in a very inhuman way, resulting in negative consequences. Dealing with the overcrowdedness of the prisons leads to the build-up of stress. Like every human being the prisoners will eventually get very tired of dealing with these conditions and will reach their melting point. When something like this occurs the inmate will most likely receive negative consequences such as complete solidarity. On the contrary being in an isolated cell for about 23 hours a day allows for the prisoners to ponder upon the choices
This type of legislation has been devised to allow for the detention of people based upon assessments of risk of re-offending, this essay will explore the concerns with these practices. This essay further aims to explore the moral and practical implications of such sentencing provisions and the impact it has on the whole Justice System. The writer will also address the conflicting goals of Corrections and the purpose and impact of indefinite sentencing while exploring the justifications against such legislation. This essay also aims to show that even though we may feel disgust for these types of offences we must remember the fundamentals of the Criminal Law system and understand that people are entitled to equality and fairness in the eyes of the law.
Pearson, F. S., Lipton, D. S., Clel & Yee, D. S. (2002). The effects of behavioral/cognitive-behavioral programs on recidivism. Crime & delinquency, 48 (3), pp. 476--496.
Even though prison overcrowding may help prisons make money from its inmates. Prison overcrowding has resulted in an increased number of dangerous prisons, prisons are less sanitary, and the cost to house inmates has increased.
Three walls. One toilet seat. Bars made of mild steel and a lock only accessible to men who government calls authority figures. Prison systems are known for three things: to protect the people, to punish the criminal and to rehabilitate the prisoner so that a crime will not be further committed. However, it has been causing ongoing controversy on whether or not it has been stripping away the earned rights of citizens or indeed helping them become “better” for society.
Every civilization in history has had rules, and citizens who break them. To this day governments struggle to figure out the best way to deal with their criminals in ways that help both society and those that commit the crimes. Imprisonment has historically been the popular solution. However, there are many instances in which people are sent to prison that would be better served for community service, rehab, or some other form of punishment. Prison affects more than just the prisoner; the families, friends, employers, and communities of the incarcerated also pay a price. Prison as a punishment has its pros and cons; although it may be necessary for some, it can be harmful for those who would be better suited for alternative means of punishment.
Prison has been around in human society for many millions of years. Having someone who disobeyed the law of that village, town, city or country punished in some form of institution, cutting them off from people, is a common concept – a popular and supposedly “needed” process society has taken to doing for many years now has been put under the spotlight many times by many different figures and people in society. The question remains – do prisons only make people worse? Many articles have been published in many journals and newspapers of the western world (mainly the USA, UK and Australia) saying prison only makes a person worse yet no complaint of the method has come from the less liberal eastern societies; this only proves how in countries where the rights of humans are valued such issues as if prisons only make people worse are important and relevant to keeping fair to all.
Although it may not seem like a major problem to most people in the United States, prisons are becoming overcrowded, expensive to maintain and have little to no effect on the moral discipline of inmates. The current prison system is extremely inefficient and the purpose of prisons has been completely forgotten. According to Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, the primary purpose of prisons is to punish, to protect, and to rehabilitate. Not only is there an increase in prisoners, but there is a rise in the number of repeat offenders. Alternatives such as counseling, drug rehabilitation, education, job training and victim restitution must be better enforced and organized. People do not understand the severity of the problem mainly because
This research proposal aims to examine the effectiveness of British prisons, a topic that seems to be omnipresent in the media and in public debate. Allison (2014) recently reported that suicide and murder rates in British prisons are at the highest level that it has been for years. In 2013, there were 199 prison deaths, which included four homicides and seventy suicides. Moreover, statistics gathered by the Prison Reform Trust suggest that the rises in prison suicide rates may be a result of mental health problems, with 26% of women and 16% of men being treated for mental heath problems prior to their prison sentence; and a massive 62% of men and 52% of women are classed as exhibiting a personality disorder (ibid). Therefore, these statistics alone justify an updated examination of the effectiveness of British prisons, but there are also other areas that require investigation.
Different programs have diverse impact in reducing the rates of recidivism. Effective programs that help in reducing the rates of recidivism concentrate on three main problems that affect offenders in prison and after their release. They include substance abuse, employment and education services. There emerges a need for most programs to address these issues as they are the most rampant and likely to push the offenders to perpetrating the offence once again.
The origin of the word prison comes from the Latin word seize. It is fair to say that the traditional use of prison corresponds well with the origin of the word as traditionally prison was a place for holding people whilst they were awaiting trial. Now, centuries on, prisons today are used as a very popular, and severe form of punishment offered to those that have been convicted. With the exception, however, of the death penalty and corporal punishment that still takes place in some countries. Being that prison is a very popular form of punishment used in today's society to tackle crime and punish offenders, this essay will then examine whether prison works, by drawing on relevant sociological factors.
Substantive learning on how offenders are prepared, data on sentencing and on post settling forms and also remedial basic decision making is required so as to tailor policies to the particular designs found in a particular nation. Multifaceted investigation on crime, discipline and remedies, in any case, demonstrates that national information sources show “principal issues and insufficiencies”, which make it troublesome (if not unimaginable) to reach and to sum up determinations (Banks,