Intermediate Punishments as Prison Alternatives

The Need for Alternatives to Prison

In many states, the courts are ordering political entities to reduce inmate prison populations to relieve overcrowding. For example, in 1985, U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Higgins ordered Tennessee to reduce its prison population from 7,600 inmates to 7,019 inmates. At one point, Judge Higgins even issued an order barring imprisonment of new inmates, with the exception of those deemed to be severe security risks. As a result the Tennessee legislature passed bills allowing for shorter sentences, encouraging alternative sentencing and providing authorization for bonds to build new maximum security prisons (Facts on File, 1985).

According to a recently conducted Children in Custody Census conducted by the Census Bureau for the Department of Justice, the number of juveniles in custody reached a peak in 1987, being up 10 percent from 1983 despite the fact that there was an 11 percent decrease in serious violent crimes (murder, aggravated assault, robbery) from 1983 to 1987. A 50 percent increase in juveniles held for drug and alcohol offenses between 1985 and 1987 helped swell t

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ning one person. Denmark also cut sentences for property by one-third to save money, and there has been no increase in the crime rate. It is believed that as many as 90 percent of those in prison have drug and alcohol problems and neither a place to live nor a job. However, changing the system is politically difficult. People fear that pickpockets will be assigned community service in senior citizen centers (Nielsen, 1984). Halfway Houses Halfway houses are recommended both for relief of prison overcrowding and rehabilitation of prisoners. The Federal Bureau of Prisons uses halfway houses. California has 290 halfway houses and Arizona has 3 halfway houses. The argument against halfway houses is that the prisoners will be a threat to the community - in one case a businessman successfully contended that a halfway house was a jail, not a rooming house, and therefore a violation of zoning. To protect the community, use of halfway houses should be restricted to prisoners who have nonviolent records and are within a year of prison release. If the prisoner gets a job, the community benefits from the work and tax revenues collected. The close supervision of the halfway house may also be better than releasing men directly ont
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Approximate Word count = 1697
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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