Essay Sample on Alternatives to Imprisonment: A Solution to High Incarceration Rates

Introduction

The United States of America is known to be having a high rate of incarceration; therefore, offering an alternative way, which is another form of punishment, will help reduce the rate of imprisonment. Giving alternatives, however, does not mean that those who purport to have committed ''soft crime'' will find themselves relieved, but rather is it a way of rehabilitating the offenders and thus avoiding additional future crimes. It also helps the government reduce the cost of running prisons. This paper, therefore, aims at providing alternative ways of incarceration for instance probation, house confinement and public shaming.

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Probation

It is also known as community correction. In this alternative way of incarceration, the offenders are kept in the community, but their freedom is limited. When someone is placed on probation, it is accompanied by various conditions, for instance, remaining drug-free, being confined into house arrest in some part of the day, seeing a probations officer on a regular basis, doing community work and taking part in the treatment of people with mental health problems. If the offender decides not to comply with the above conditions, then tough supervision measures are applied, and sometimes it may lead to revocation of the probation if the violation of the condition is severe. (Ben-Moshe 2014) This alternative method of incarceration, therefore, is crucial in lowering the rate of incarceration in the United States because when some offenders are placed on probation, it reduces the number of offenders who are jailed.

Electronic Home Monitoring

It is also called house arrest or home confinement, whereby the offenders are ordered to stay in their homes and certain areas that have been pre-approved. In-home confinement, the offenders are required to be placed on EHM (electronic home monitoring). offenders here are required to wear certain electronic devices that send signals to where a transmitter is located and thus enabling the authorities locate the whereabouts of the offenders at all times. This alternative way of incarceration also helps in lowering the rate of incarceration by confining some of the offenders in the United States. Electronic home monitoring also comes with certain conditions that if one violates, it may lead to imprisonment. The offenders are required to report daily to a probation officer and take drug taste frequently. In most of the jurisdictions, it is the prison official or courts that recommends the electronic home monitoring.

Fines and Restitution

In this alternative way of incarceration, the offenders are required to pay a certain amount of fines and supervision fee, which is referred to as ''Tariff fines''. There is a set amount of money that is normally applied with respect to the crime committed; for instance, $500 is applied when one is found to have driven while drunk. One is ordered to pay these fines regardless of the income level of the offender. The rich usually consider this unmeaning full punishment because they find the fines to be too small, while those who are poor consider it too large, and in some cases, they are jailed due to the failure of raising the fines. It is only in ''Day fines'' that there are balances because there is no set amount of fines. Rather, wealthier offenders pay their fines according to their income wealth, and those who have low income are allowed to pay fines that they can afford. The offenders are also required to pay for destructions that resulted from the crime they committed. Restitution, therefore, lowers incarceration rates because instead of sending the offenders to prison, they are ordered to pay fines or compensate for the damages that resulted from their offences.

Community Service

Community service is where an offender is made to work with no pay. It can be given as one of the conditions for one who has been placed on probation. Community service in federal courts is not considered a sentence but rather one of the conditions of supervised release. It can be used as one of the ways of punishing offenders and will help deter future crimes since it involves heavy works with no payment.

Civil Commitment and Sex Offender Treatment

The majority of sex offenders in the United States are placed on probation and are required to attend sex offender classes and also to report to a probation officer on a regular basis. They are also not allowed to use the internet, work, or live in some areas and avoid contact with their victims. The offenders are taken through counselling and cognitive- behavioural therapy, which will help them reduce the likelihood of committing the same offence in the future. Civil commitment programs are in approximately 20 states whereby sex offenders are placed in secure residential treatment or hospitals for treatment. These offenders are given civil commitment after they have finished their jail term. Sex offender treatment offers an alternative way of incarceration in that it enables the offenders recover from the habit and enables them to have good morals unlike in the case of jailing them where them where they may end up finishing their jail terms having the same behavior.

Mental Health Courts

Mental health courts are courts that places those offenders who are suffering from mental disabilities, drug dependency, mental illness, or other disorders in a supervised treatment program. (STROHMAIER & GALLOWAY 2015) Offenders who usually comply with the supervision are rewarded, and those who fail to comply are disciplined. In the program, the offenders are also linked to healthcare, housing health, and life skills that will help them recover quickly and avoid relapse. Mental health courts are useful in helping offender having mental health and therefore serving as another alternative to incarceration.

Public Shaming

Public shaming is public humiliation, and it is rarely used. For instance, a convicted mail thief was ordered by a court to stand outside a public office wearing a sign written '' I am a thief,'' and this became the punishment. Public shaming is meant for rehabilitation and to discourage the offender from reoffending. Public shaming works and it can be used to held offenders responsible. When an offender is to go through public shaming then because of the humiliation, it will make the offender avoid committing crime in future.

Conclusion

In summary, the above alternative ways of incarceration will be useful in lowering the rate of incarceration in the United States of America if all of them are going to be fully applied. Instead of jailing all of the offenders, these alternative ways may be applied for those who are found to have committed cries.

References

Ben-Moshe, L. (2014). Alternatives to (disability) incarceration. In Disability Incarcerated (pp. 255-272). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.

STROHMAIER, H., & GALLOWAY, M. (2015). The movement toward community-based alternatives to criminal justice involvement and incarceration for people with severe mental illness.