The Probable Efficacy of Alternatives to Incarceration - Research Paper Example

1). So the criminal justice system is looking into the efficacy of many alternatives to incarceration like intensive supervision, boot camps and electronic monitoring/house arrest, which offer many advantages in terms of cost reduction, social relevance and the feasibility of a meaningful and effective rehabilitation. The Probable Efficacy of Alternatives to Incarceration Introduction Any sane and sustainable from of sentencing ought to be pragmatic, result oriented and financially viable, while confirming to the moral, ethical and social objectives inherent in it.

Since times immemorial, civilizations have resorted to opting for incarceration as a regular mode of restraining and punishing their criminals and offenders. However, a more realistic approach towards this issue does not validate the fact that all the offenders deserve to be rigorously incarcerated, nor incarceration is the only possible method of achieving all the objectives ascribed to it (Bailey, 2003). In the criminal justice systems around the world, incarceration serves varied and multiple purposes.

Incarceration is resorted to, to keep the individuals suspected of having committed some crime under a secure control, till their innocence or guilt is validated by a court of law. Incarceration is also used to penalize offenders found guilty of having committed a crime by depriving them of their freedom and liberty. Jail terms are also used to prevent chronic criminals from further committing a crime, until they get appropriately rehabilitated. To put it simply, the objective of incarceration is to allow the state to have a control over the factors that lead to crime, to protect the society at large from the offenders considered willing to and capable of indulging in further crimes and to rehabilitate the offenders, if possible (Bailey, 2003).

A more versatile and creative approach towards these objectives do corroborates to the conclusion that many of them could be achieved by resorting to varied alternatives to incarceration like intensive supervision, boot camps, electronic monitoring and house arrest. Merits of Resorting to other Alternatives Necessity is the mother of invention. Hitherto, the criminal justice system has been opting for a one size fit all approach towards sentencing, being somewhat oblivious of the problems it would have created for law enforcement mechanisms.

However, with the dawn of an era where the penitentiaries are fast getting overcrowded, the budgets ascribed to criminal justice systems are more than ever under diverse pressures and a relative humanization of the ethical, social and legal approaches towards sentencing, the criminal justice system is awakening to the fact that many available alternatives to incarceration could successfully serve the vouched objectives, while facilitating varied advantages (Diiulio Jr, 1991, p. 7). The criminal justice system is fast recognizing the fact that the homogenization and generalization of sentencing has given way to many problems and has divested it of varied other sentencing options like intensive supervision, boot camps and electronic monitoring/house arrest, which extend much scope for sentence customization.

These alternatives arm the courts with much choice and multiple options. They allow the courts to opt for economically viable sentences, while ascribing the penalty in consonance with the gravity of offence of an offender (Diiulio Jr, 1991). Not to mention that varied