Alternatives to Incarceration Essay

In right a tracks economy keeping nation in prison house is becoming an ugly, dearly-won mess. There be now so many alternatives to incarceration that we need to research and start using. Johnny Cash wrote a song c exclusivelyed Folsom Prison Blues describing the angst of convicts, permanently immortalizing them in the publics minds. However, now that prisons across the expanse atomic number 18 running out of resources and space, it is the prison officials who are feeling the blues.There are a number of alternatives that are use for offenders who view committed non-violent crimes. The options can prescribe from probation all the way to public shaming. For those who throw up been convicted of drunk driving, public shaming might have the most impact. In some states, convicted offenders leave behind be made to drive some with signs put on their cars stating that they have been convicted. No one convicted of this sort of crime runs almost announcing what they have done be cause its embarrassing. In planetary most prefer to keep it a secret because it is humiliating. With signs pasted to their vehicles, there is no way to escape the public well-read what they have done. some other option employ for drunk driving is the use of a breathalyzer. This device is installed into the offenders car and the car is rattling programmed not to start if they are intoxicated. This could put a definite damper on party habits.Another alternative that has popped up is based out of Texas. Texas is one of the populate few states that enforces the death penalty and in any case has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Ironically, a state with such an urge fist reputation, has started to put offenders on probation and blame them to read as debate to prison cartridge clip. This trend has slowly started to spread across the United States. Offenders and repeat offenders are uniform to attend a specific see group where they get into discussions over classics similar Of Mice and Men and To Kill A Mockingbird. A study was done from 1997 to 2008 and it was discovered that that 6% were either move derriere to jail or had their probations revoked. Another cop of this program is that it only costs taxpayers $ five hundred a year as opposed to the $30,000 a year it takes to keep an inmate imprisoned. This programs seems to work best for those who have been convicted of crimes involving robbery or drug abuse. It gives them a witness to have a voice and raze a sense of identity and confidence.Another tough crime to address as far as sentencing goes, is when a soul is arrested and that individual is morally ill. For the longest time when someone was arrested for drug possession, trespassing or any other non-violent offense, they were automatically sent to jail or probation, regardless of their mental instability. Now it seems, there is a in the altogether option of an alternative court font setting where attorneys, mental heal th organizations, and the pronounce work together to coordinate a manipulation option that will fix the offender will stay on the right path. So many plenty are incarcerated who have mental illnesses, yet have never had the opportunity to be officially diagnosed and continue to go untreated. Providing intercession is the right thing to do, it is humane, and is even up to a greater extent cost effective then incarceration. overall the criminal aloneice system ask to really start to change the way certain offenders are handled and then clean much lost in the system. It efficaciously helps to create more and more offenders and even encourages repeat offenders. Financially for taxpayers it come acrosss more sense. It is cheaper to will outpatient options and treatments then to pay to keep an offender confined in prison. Aside from all of this, the criminal justice system of necessity to remember these low level offenders are still human beings. We all make mistakes and dese rve to do the appropriate punishments, save a lot of these mistakes might just benefit more from appropriate treatment programs and interventions. Hard prison time is not always the best answer.References1) The Economist, July issue, 20102) Nolo.com3) American mental Association4) The Guardian, July, 2010