Abstract: Incapacitation or Deterrence? Is it really a matter of one or the other or is it the matter of properly using both stratagem for the efficient, and effective management of the criminal justice system in America? Furthermore, in a decade where the penal system seems to focus on strictly punishment I seek to discover if there is a better way.
According to Todd Clear and Natasha Frost (2014) by the year 2002 the penal system of the United States had exceeded two million inmates. Furthermore, according to the statistics laid out in their book The Punishment Imperative after the turn of the millennium roughly 5 million Americans had spent time in the penal system (Clear and Frost 2014). Worst of all they estimate that …show more content…
It is important to know and remember that this papers purpose is to find out if there are viable alternatives to the current applications of incapacitation, and deterrence to effect rates of recidivism (re offending). So let us examine recidivism rates as they apply to the statistics mentioned earlier about incapacitation. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics website(2014), a study done by Dr. Allen J Beck and Bernard Shipley found that in 1983 forty seven percent of those released were generally re-arrested on a new crime. It was also found that of those roughly 40% of those who were rearrested would find themselves inside the walls of a correctional facility yet again(BJS 2009). A second study also found through research on the Bureau of Justice Statistics website by Drs. Alexia Cooper, and Howard Snyder, with the help of Mathew Durose found more disturbing results. Their five year study beginning in 2005, was a study essentially of recidivism rates in thirty states. What they found was that 67% of those released were rearrested for another offense within three years, the percentage only rose to 76% within five years (BJS
According to Todd Clear and Natasha Frost (2014) by the year 2002 the penal system of the United States had exceeded two million inmates. Furthermore, according to the statistics laid out in their book The Punishment Imperative after the turn of the millennium roughly 5 million Americans had spent time in the penal system (Clear and Frost 2014). Worst of all they estimate that …show more content…
It is important to know and remember that this papers purpose is to find out if there are viable alternatives to the current applications of incapacitation, and deterrence to effect rates of recidivism (re offending). So let us examine recidivism rates as they apply to the statistics mentioned earlier about incapacitation. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics website(2014), a study done by Dr. Allen J Beck and Bernard Shipley found that in 1983 forty seven percent of those released were generally re-arrested on a new crime. It was also found that of those roughly 40% of those who were rearrested would find themselves inside the walls of a correctional facility yet again(BJS 2009). A second study also found through research on the Bureau of Justice Statistics website by Drs. Alexia Cooper, and Howard Snyder, with the help of Mathew Durose found more disturbing results. Their five year study beginning in 2005, was a study essentially of recidivism rates in thirty states. What they found was that 67% of those released were rearrested for another offense within three years, the percentage only rose to 76% within five years (BJS