The customary criminal justice framework aims at achieving public wellbeing. For quite a long time, it has relentlessly held to the thought that ‘extreme felony’ includes a strict detainment arrangement. Nonetheless, it serves to introduce social issues, such as prison overcrowding. Lack of places in jails is probably the biggest problem that is being discussed by jail frameworks today. Impoverished jail conditions caused by a massive flow of new prisoners lead to the low personal satisfaction that deteriorates detainees’ medical care, food, protection, and essential living facilities. Thus, it is essential to consider other means of punishment for minors and mentally ill convicts and shorten the length of stay for unproblematic prisoners.
The behavior of those who commit non-severe crimes and are underage needs to be corrected through less cruel penalties, other than jail. According to statistical data, almost 5,000 youth are held in offices for adult prisoners (Walsh, 2015). Settling minor offenses outside of criminal court with casual or therapeutic arrangements forestalls the framework, getting stalled pointlessly. Simultaneously, social approach interests can guarantee that those confronting criminal court have better admittance to legitimate guide before their preliminaries. Those with peaceful or non-genuine violations can receive their punishment elsewhere. Habitually, those sorts of detainees are in an ideal situation with non-custodial sentences or sentences that do not entirely happen in jail, such as releases, network administration, house capture, and asylums.
Additionally, psychologically unstable criminals and illicit drug users are regularly positioned in jail as a default. It is advised to place them in facilities that would treat them and decrease recidivism (Siegel & Worrall, 2018). The jurisdiction system needs to help these convicts instead of tormenting them in prisons. Most detainment facilities are unprepared to address people who have a mental disorder and worsen these prisoners’ situation. A few states are currently rebuilding the state foundation to guarantee that disciplines suit the wrongdoings by lessening the least sentences for first-time drug guilty parties and expanding sentences for drug dealers (Siegel & Worrall, 2018). Hence, authority offices could reduce detainees’ numbers and diminish the probability of re-offenses by consulting and treating psychologically sick people and substance abusers in rehabilitation centers.
Judges regularly force sentences including fines, compensation, and administrative service for offense violations, for example, intruding, sauntering, and untidy lead as a choice to imprison. The court can condemn the criminal to pay a fine, pay compensation to the person in question, and work a certain number of administration hours. Compensation includes paying the casualty for any monetary misfortunes continued as the aftereffect of a crime. For example, the US jurisdiction system demands to pay the expense of supplanting property, clinical or guiding expenses, and lost wages due to missed work for small misdemeanors (Walsh, 2015). Another good alternative to jail is to condemn a litigant to unaided or managed probation. This typically includes a conceded or suspended sentence, and these sentences are accessible in both crime and offense cases. Therefore, alternative methods such as community service, fines, and probation can reduce the prisoners’ number in jails.
In conclusion, it is necessary to lower the number of criminals entering jails to promote a fair court system and improve the prisons’ life conditions. One alternative to prisons is to restrict the number of juveniles in jails whose crimes are considered minor. It is crucial to correct their behavior instead of sentencing. The court also should focus on sending people with mental and drug addiction problems to rehabilitation centers. Finally, imposing compensation and fines, mandatory service, and probation are useful alternatives to imprisonment. The United States seems to be effective in condemning payments for minor offenses instead of jailing.
References
Siegel, L.J. & Worrall, J. (2018). Introduction to Criminal Justice (16th ed.). EBSCO Publishing.
Walsh, J. P. (2015). The culture of urban control: Jail overcrowding in the crime control era. Lexington Books.