Incapacitation is an act of making an individual incapable of committing a crime by putting them in jail where they would not be able to commit any offences. Examples of incapacitation are; removing the individual from society where they have committed a crime, back to back life sentences and three strike sentencing.
Incapacitation is put into place to protect the public form further crimes being committed by the defendant. By using the method of incapacitation it gives the defendant time to mature. It is shown that an individuals’ brain is not at full capability of its biological maturity during their adolescence stage as it is still going through development. While the brain is still developing, it leaves a gap between the physical and neurological maturity stages which is known to play a part in the antisocial behaviour coming from individuals aged 15-24. Studies show that after lengthy prison sentences, which is the aim of incapacitation; the older more mature offenders are less likely to reoffend than when they were younger. This theory is based upon studies that show the most crime being committed is by individuals who are in the stages of adolescence and early adulthood.
The reason for the introduction of incapacitation was not only to get rid of crime on the street, but to ‘keep’ it off the street. The theory was, if we kept the offenders in prison and off the streets then it would be impossible for offenders to reoffend and it would help clear our streets of crime.
Incapacitation is a very effective punishment, as long as the offenders remain locked up. Incapacitation punishments remove the offender off the street and make it physically impossible for them to commit further crime.
Restitution is the act of restoring the rightful owner something that has been taken away from them, lost or surrendered as a result of a crime, and to get them back to their financial state they were at before the offence was