Edited for references

8/7/2019 Edited for references

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Alternatives

To Incarceration


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Four goals of punishment

Criminal punishment has four goals:

Rehabilitation- Fix the offender and bad habits whichlead to recidivism

Incapacitation- Secure the community from furthercriminal actions of the offender

Retribution- Make the offender pay for what they did

Deterrence- Scare other offenders away fromcommitting similar acts by making the sentence harsh


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Incarceration & Alternatives

Incarceration has been the traditional mode of

punishment in America Alternatives to incarceration are usually only

considered for lesser crimes, if they areconsidered at all

Alternatives include: Day Reporting, Probation,Parole, Work Release, ResidentialRehabilitation and Electronic Home Monitoring(Kushlan, 1996)


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Reasons alternatives should be

considered

Incarceration alone does not work

Incarceration is costly, It costs nearly $79 perday to house an inmate.

Incarceration serves mostly to incapacitate and

pay retribution, it does not rehabilitate offenders,and its deterrent effects are minimal againsthardened criminals.


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Alternatives toIncarceration

Incarceration, when used alone, still has a highrecidivism rate

Therefore alternative methods may be better atfighting crime


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Problems solved by alternatives

to incarceration

Treatment and monitoring while allowing an

offender to maintain employment is the mosteffective way to lower recidivism rates.


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More space and more money

Diverting non violent offenders to community

supervision programs also frees up prison bedsneeded to house violent offenders, and can offerbudget makers additional resources for otherpressing public priorities. (Alemi, Ph.D., &

Taxman, Ph.D.)


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Alternatives are cheaper and

more effective

Research shows that strong community

supervision programs for lower-risk, non-violentoffenders cost significantly less thanincarceration

when appropriately resourced and managed,

can cut recidivism by as much as 30 percent

(Riordan, 2009)


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Costs

Contd

Electronic Home Monitoring, even when

tracked by gps transponder costs as little as $12per day. This is the most costly communitysupervision option, and it still comes in at $67cheaper per day than incarceration (Norman-

Eady, 2007).


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Costs ofIncarceration compared

to alternatives

It costs more per day to manage prison inmates

than to supervise offenders in thecommunity. The reported average inmate costwas $79 per day, or nearly $29,000 per year.

The average cost of managing an offender in

the community ranged from $3.42 per day forprobationers to $7.47 per day for parolees, orabout $1,250 to $2,750 a year.


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Alternatives work well for rehab

but lack in other areas

Alternatives to incarceration rehabilitate

offenders and reduce recidivism while costingtax payers less

Alternatives to incarceration are an attractiveoption for corrections departments, but they still

lack in some areas.


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Cost vs. Quality

The biggest selling point to corrections officials

is the cost of incarceration vs. the cost ofalternative programs. When community safety isat risk, cost should not be the deciding factor onwhat to do with an offender.

Sometimes incarceration is the best option foroffenders from the community perspective aswell as the professional perspective.


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Community backlash when

offenders avoid incarceration

Offenders are no longer welcome members of

society by definition, and therefore thecommunity may not want the offender to be apart of it

It reflects poorly on the corrections department

when an offender is released into thecommunity and then afforded the chance tooffend again

This means, in the communitys eyes,alternatives to incarceration do not payadequate retribution to the offender.


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Community Backlash

Contd

Americans value retribution and incapacitationmore so than rehabilitation

This is evidenced by the fact that the U.S.incarcerates more people than any other country

in the world.


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Further problems

Beyond community concern there are legitimate

security concerns when an offender is notincarcerated.

Work Release programs are notorious for havingoffenders fail to check in at the end of the day.

When that offender fails to return is the only timethe work release program knows an offender ismissing, if they leave in the morning an escapeecould have ten hours of time to run beforeanyone noticed they were missing.


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More problems

Those who are on probation pose an even greater

security risk because their monitoring is moreinfrequent.

Probationers have greater than a 1 in 3 chance ofhaving their probation revoked for re-offending(Maxwell, Bynum, Gray, & Combs, 2000) .

If more than thirty three percent of offenders re-offendwhen released, the community is that much moredangerous then it would be if these offenders wereincarcerated.


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Cons to incaceration

They should not be released from prision early

especially if the have committed a harsh crime.Why give them the opportunity

to commit another crime


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Probation and parole are as

overcrowded as jails

Even if an offender is deemed to not be asecurity risk and they may thrive in the

community, probation and parole are moreovercrowded than jails

Where jails by law can reach full capacity buthave a maximum legal capacity before their

inmates are shipped to less crowded facilities, aprobation officer has no maximum caseload.

The already overworked probation officers arefurther burdened by offenders who could just as

easily serve jail time and be done.


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Pros vs.

Cons

The positives of alternative treatment methods arethat they more readily serve the rehabilitationgoals of punishment.The downside is that to do so these methodssacrifice incapacitation and retribution.

Incarceration has a more deterrent effect butneither option has a strong deterrent effect on thecriminal populace.


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Analysis

The recommendation of this group would be to classify

all low risk offenders and separate them from the highrisk offenders.

High risk offenders should remain incarcerated for thepurposes of community security and retribution for theircrimes.

Offenders who are less of a security risk should begiven the option of alternative treatment methodsrather than incarceration, so they may rehabilitatethemselves and reclaim or better their stake in society.


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Reference

Anderson, D.C. (1997/98). Sensible Justice: alternatives to prison. New York, NY: The NewPress

Carol S. Steikerhttp://www.bostonreview.net/BR28.5/steiker.html

James Q. Whitman Oxford University PressHarsh Justice: Criminal Punishment and the Widening Divide between America and Europe

Kushlan, P.K. (1996). Alternatives to incarceration. Retrieved from

http://www.mrsc.org/govdocs/P54-1996courtsdy.pdf

Maxwell, S, Bynum, T, Gray, K, & Combs, T. (Ed.). (2000). Examining recivism inmichigan. American Correctional Association: Cengage Learning.

Norman-Eady, S. (2007, January 24). Electronic monitoring of probationers and parolees.Retrieved from http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt/2007-R-0096.htm


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References Contd

Riordan, J. (2009, March 02). 1 in 31 u.s. adults are behind bars, on parole orprobation. Retrieved from

http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=49398

Too many offenders strain ranks of probation officers Sunday, June 01, 2008http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/060108-probation-main

To cut costs, send inmates to college Jan 21, 2010 By Chon Noriegahttp://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/to-cut-costs-send-inmates-to-college-

152131.aspx

Why Were So Tough on Crime

Documents

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