Intermediate Sanctions
Should intermediate sanctions be run by traditional probation and prison systems or by new private or public agencies seeking to serve as alternatives to them? List two benefits and two challenges for each of these strategies and provide your own policy recommendation about which one should be used (and why).
Overcrowding of prisons and unnecessary incarceration rates is one of the major problems in the United States today. As stated in Chapter 9, “ more then 60 billion dollars is spent on corrections each year” (p. 220). To avoid the over crowding of prisons, a common form of sanction is probation, which is believed to not be tough enough for those who break the law. It has been proven though that someone who had been through the prison system is more likely to not reintegrate back into society and more likely to fault back into the system in comparison to someone who was given an intermediate sanction such as probation or community service.
When it comes to traditional probation and prison systems some of the benefits with probation, restitution, and fines implemented by the court system include giving first time offenders a second chance to reintegrate back into society and avoid incarceration, especially if they don’t intend to offend again. Also, if the offender does offend again, all tracks are kept on file and their exposure to lesser punishment goes away. The challenges with the prison system is that it doesn’t actually solve any problem, if fact it sometimes worsens the situation for offenders. As Chapter 9 states, “We expect prison to teach the offender something and deter him or her from a life of crime, but evidence speaks to the contrary” (p. 221). Studies have shown people do worse after their release because they are subject to go back into old habits and have no support to have a better life. Also, since the probation rate is almost twice as high as the prison rate, the seriousness of probation and the supervision along with it is minimal
Overcrowding of prisons and unnecessary incarceration rates is one of the major problems in the United States today. As stated in Chapter 9, “ more then 60 billion dollars is spent on corrections each year” (p. 220). To avoid the over crowding of prisons, a common form of sanction is probation, which is believed to not be tough enough for those who break the law. It has been proven though that someone who had been through the prison system is more likely to not reintegrate back into society and more likely to fault back into the system in comparison to someone who was given an intermediate sanction such as probation or community service.
When it comes to traditional probation and prison systems some of the benefits with probation, restitution, and fines implemented by the court system include giving first time offenders a second chance to reintegrate back into society and avoid incarceration, especially if they don’t intend to offend again. Also, if the offender does offend again, all tracks are kept on file and their exposure to lesser punishment goes away. The challenges with the prison system is that it doesn’t actually solve any problem, if fact it sometimes worsens the situation for offenders. As Chapter 9 states, “We expect prison to teach the offender something and deter him or her from a life of crime, but evidence speaks to the contrary” (p. 221). Studies have shown people do worse after their release because they are subject to go back into old habits and have no support to have a better life. Also, since the probation rate is almost twice as high as the prison rate, the seriousness of probation and the supervision along with it is minimal