Incarceration Advantages

A third group of personnel who would benefit would be those individuals responsible for providing group treatment programs. As the overcrowding situation is lessened, there would be the opportunity for larger meeting spaces, hopefully resulting in a potential rise in group participation rates. If an alternative to incarceration proves viable, perhaps these services could be offered to those populations outside of the grounds of the prison and would help to give the individuals the social context in which to apply these therapies while going through them. As an example, drug or alcohol addiction treatment within prison may initiate an individual’s recovery, but the real test will be when they are attempting to function once again in society, and having those resources available to them when they are confronted with the temptation may prove the mechanism needed to help break the revolving-door cycle. …show more content…
The first is from a financial standpoint whereby, the increasing costs of incarceration cause individual taxes to rise, and correspondingly, if alternative treatments can prove both cost-effective and divert individuals away from subsequent criminal acts, the public can see a lower financial cost. The second is a gain of societal aspect due to alternatives to incarceration which allow for offenders to become a more integrated and thereby contributing member of society. If some of the underlying causes of incarceration: low education, low unemployment, low social skills, drug/alcohol abuse are addressed, then society will benefit by having a more educated, self-sufficient, law abiding citizen. This will also help to address issues of public safety whereby fewer subsequent crimes would be committed by those successful program