Some form of crime has always been around and will continue to be around because it is in our human nature. The best thing we can do is to deter as much crime as we can whether it be harsher incarceration sentences or alternative sanctions treatment programs. Unfortunately, I feel incarceration alone is not an effective crime prevention strategy and I will explain why.
A quick fix
In an ideal world, prison and jail make sense. A criminal gets caught, loses their freedom for a while, and learns a valuable lesson after their experience confined in a cell. The issue I have with incarceration is many prisoners are poorly educated, impulsive, and poor that do not think that way(Rideau, 1994). Hence, punishing a some to prevent the others is highly unsuccessful for the most part because many criminals believe they will not be caught, do not care, or are desperate(Rideau, 1994). The real issue is incarceration is a quick fix for …show more content…
Removing a young criminal from society for a period of time so they can work on their issues should be a great reason why incarceration serves a purpose(Rideau, 1994). Also, unskilled and uneducated inmates can receive vocational training and an education during their imprisonment. The issue with that is many prison systems are not highly focused on supporting programs that can improve an inmates chances in life once released(Greenstreet, 2014). Jails are good for detaining someone that is most likely a threat of fleeing prosecution or to the public before they have their day in court. Of course, prisons are valuable in detaining those criminals that are absolutely beyond help and do not wish to be redeemed in any way. So prisons and jails do serve a purpose but it should not be the main focus of the criminal justice system. You have to ask yourself, if prisons and jails are the cure-alls, there should be less of a need for them than more(Greenstreet,