DB #3 Student Post Response
Iddrisu Ibrahim
Incapacitation Locking Up Offenders
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Reasons for Our Nation’s Higher Incarceration Rates
According to the most recent data collected for 2019, the imprisonment rate in the United States (U.S.) fell for the 11th consecutive year, reaching its lowest point since 1995 (Carson,2020).
Despite the decrease in the total imprisonment rate, the U.S. continues to have a higher incarceration rate compared with other nations. For the U.S., the 1980’s and 90’s were a time of an intense
philosophical and ideological shift in society’s views toward criminals and the desire for harsh punishment. Drug offenses were criminalized without system-based solutions for drug treatment.
Incarceration was used excessively as a societal response to fear of crime and criminals, which explains, in a general sense, how justice was achieved. It was conceived that locking up more
offenders for longer periods of time would give suffering victims the justice they were seeking and enhance public safety (Cullen et al., 2014). The American public demanded tougher penalties for
crime and public officials made “get-tough-on-crime” the basis for cross-party political campaigns (Cullen& Jonson, 2017, p. 120; Tonry, 1999). Sentencing policies were driven by political
initiatives.Other countries place more emphasis on enabling community support in sentencing alternatives,interventions, and facilitating prisoner reentry. The U.S. has yet to fully embrace
criminality as asocial problem.
Many individuals are locked up. This is not due to a high crime rate but rather due to policies focused on “get tough". These policies are one of the many reasons why the prison rate has
climbed to the extraordinary number of almost 2.2 million individuals in prison today (Weiss & MacKenzie 2010).
Impact of Higher Incarceration Rates on the U.S.
The impact of a high incarceration rate not only harms those who are incarcerated but also harms the American people. One would argue that the American people benefit because criminals
are locked up. This may be true to some extent but the reality is, the prison has proven to increase recidivism. Prisons are used because of the belief that they reduce reoffending more than other
penalty options, which is far from the truth (Cullen et al., 2011).
The criminal justice system has failed to account for whom incarceration harms and whom it really serves. Wagner and Rabuy (2017) determined that mass incarceration costs the
government and families of justice-involved persons at least $182 billion every year, including an estimated $2.9 billion cost to families. Removing offenders from the community impacts the family
unit and places a burden on the communities in reintegrating these offenders back into society. It diminishes the chances of offenders’ future employment and impacts their salaries while poorly
serving the crime victims.
Benefits of Incarceration
The obvious benefit of incarcerating criminal offenders is that doing so reduces crime rates (Cullen & Jonson, 2017, p. 123). A secondary benefit of incarceration is that it relieves the public
of the crimes these offenders may yet commit. Additionally, in a study of behavioral continuity, incarceration was found to have the potential to interrupt potential offending behaviors (Konkel &
Daquin, 2020). Cullen and Jonson (2017) refer to this as an interruption of the illegal activities of career criminals which saves society from experiencing more crime (p.141).
Biblical World view
The Bible tells us that God will forgive those who confess their sins and will cleanse them from all unrighteousness (Christian Standard Bible, 1769/2017, 1 John 1:9). This should apply to all
humans and all offenders who have committed sins and all crimes. Are Christians ready to support and provide community interventions as an alternative to incarceration for sex offenders? One
study found that the stronger an individual’s faith, the less accepting they are of registered sex offenders and assisting in the facilitation of their reentry into society (Dum et al.,2019). Additionally,
not all churches welcome all. Understandably, church officials must keep their parishioners safe while at worship which includes keeping registered sex offenders away from children. However,
state legislation is being questioned in the form of lawsuits in North Carolina and Indiana for keeping sex offenders out of churches (Fowler, 2020). Where do you stand on this controversial issue?
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