Imagine being stuck at home for days, weeks, months, or even years only able to leave when someone else says it is allowed: the only places to escape home would be school or work. Picture a life where the only phone calls and visits to home where from surveillance officers. These are only some of the aspects of a punishment, known as house arrest, for those convicted of a crime. With house arrest becoming more popular it raises questions regarding whether or not it is an overall good idea. House arrest along with electronic monitoring is worth it and can be a beneficial alternative to prison. House arrest was not an option even a few decades ago; once anyone was found guilty, they spent their sentences in a jail cell. Today this is used more …show more content…
Schenwar told the story of Marissa Alexander who was a victim of domestic violence and went to jail because of firing a warning shot of self-defense. The media made it sound like she would be free after her jail time but she was coming home to house arrest. People in these situations have to stick to a strict schedule and it takes the comfort and privacy out of your home. The devices that come along with the arrest can quickly become expensive and make it harder to find a job. Because of the price, not everyone may be able to afford it so this may not even be an option for some. Even wearing them at all times may not result in accurate readings; devices may signal false positives and say offenders were out of range all because of improper charging (Development Services Group, Inc). Something similar happened in another situation: there were monitoring devices on two people on parole and they allegedly raped and killed two women and these devices never sent signals (Siegel and
Intermediate sanctions is a courts response to the overcrowding prisons in the United States. These sanctions are a step up from probation and a set down from incarceration. With these sanctions, rehabilitation is the primary goal, which is used to reform offenders who return to society. There are several types of intermediate sanctions such as house arrest where the offender confined to their home, which they can not leave unless there is school, job, or court. Fines can be several dollars or several thousands of dollars.
This article is based on imprisonment and the basic reality of American prisons is not that of the lock and key but that of the lock and clock, so it states. The scale and the brutality of the prisons are the moral scandal of American life. The United States is known to have the highest rate of incarceration per capital to other countries. Many people are trapped for many years in prison, sometimes even for life due to being caught with the procession of marijuana or for committing some brutal crimes. Just like the article stated, around fifty thousand men wake up every day to be found in solitary confinement.
This often leads them back into communities that attract police attention and ultimately back into the system (Lobuglio and Piehl 2015). The worst post-incarceration punishment is that their right to vote is taken away. This disenfranchisement can be extremely frustrating because these people are no longer able to have a say in laws that effect them
Alexander explains how discretion is granted at almost every stage of the legal system, especially regarding the discretion that prosecutors have, jury selection and policing. Also, many of those arrested either get no legal representation or are given public defenders who are too overworked to truly dedicate their time, and rarely go to trial due to the pressures of guilty plea bargains. To add to the misfortune, arrestees are not told how a guilty plea will negatively damage the rest of their life, due to debt, denial of public assistance, loss of voting rights, and the social label of being a felon. Innocent family members are punished sometimes too, for if they are caught housing a criminal they can face losing their home, food stamps, and welfare. Alexander makes it clear that convicted criminals aren’t the only ones being affected by the vicious consequences of the legal system, but that their families are
It appears that in the state of Oklahoma, the systems used to monitor people on home confinement just do not work. To track Petty, there has to be someone watching the output of the monitor and also understand any red flags that might indicate he is in danger of reoffending. Manion shared that the state lacks resources and staff time to make the monitor useful. Based on statistics, Manion also shared that the use of ankle bracelets does not keep suspects from committing more crimes. According to Manion, the county suffers from "...a lack of knowledge about sexual assault within the criminal justice system, and what we know about violent offenders is that they will re-offend."
First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That 's institutionalized.’ A prison should aim at retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation. I am very well convinced that prison has served its first three purposes by depriving offenders’ freedom, but the
Home confinement and electronic monitoring are another possible alternative to incarceration. Home confinement reduces the cost of housing the specific individual in state and federal prisons. Electronic monitoring would allow the offenders to work while they serve out their time which again, would reduce the prison populations. Boot camps are another option for alternatives to incarceration. However, mixed results have risen up pertaining to their effectiveness.
Some might argue that solitary confinement is actually effective and has its benefits, however this is not the case since this punishment only seems to make criminals much more dangerous when they leave prison than they were before and research shows that inmates who left solitary confinement experience increased anger and end up committing the kind of criminality that society is looking to prevent by using this method of punishment. Thus, solitary confinement ultimately fails as a rehabilitative measure, and as a way to "settle down" problematic
Those who find themselves sentenced to time in a penitentiary, jail, or prison are at risk of either being broken or strengthened by the time they spend behind bars. There is a great debate of whether or not the prison system in the United States is positive or negative. The following will briefly highlight the positives, negatives, and possible alternatives for our nation's prison system. First, there is a long list of negatives that the prison system in America brings. The prison system is filled with crime, hate, and negativity almost as much as the free world is.
Have you ever wondered how many people actually get arrested in a year? According to the U.S Department of Justice, a staggering estimate of over 14 million people were arrested in 2005. Of those 14 million people that were arrested, about 1.53 million of them were sentenced to a jail term. That same year a study was done on 404,638 newly released prisoners in 30 states. The study showed that within three years, about 67.8 percent of released prisoners were rearrested and within five years about three-quarters of them were arrested.
The NSA or the National Security Agency carries out most of the domestic surveillance in the United States. Before the 9/11 attacks the NSA needed approval from a court, but after the attacks, they were given free reign to copy any data that possibly linked to terrorist activities. This led to many arguments over whether this collection of data was unconstitutional or not. The extent of this surveillance shocked many people; many civil rights advocates thought that this surveillance breached United States citizens’ rights. Because of the threat of domestic surveillance in the United States it should be decreased drastically but not entirely stopped.
Also, it help create stability, punish criminals who are considered to receive a stricter punishment than probation alone, restrict activities of a probationer and make them more accountable for their actions. Intermediate sanctions include a range of punishment options between probation and imprisonment. These punishments include house arrest, shock incarceration, and halfway or community correctional centers. House arrest is when an offender is being confined to his or her home. The offender usually cannot leave unless traveling to and from court.
However, crimes are committed whilst in prison, such as drugs and assaults. Some critics say the ‘three strikes and you are out’ law where repeat offenders get a longer sentence are wrong, as the third strike could be a lesser crime such as public disorder. Nevertheless, if just incapacitation and no rehabilitation some critics say will be costlier to society as they will go out and reoffend and, they are not employed and pay taxes. Rehabilitation is also a punishment which should improve the offender's behaviour and stop them committing crimes. Advocates of rehabilitation state prison does not work; however, critics of rehabilitation state prison does work as the criminal cannot commit a crime against the public while incarcerated (Cavadino, 2007 p 36/56).
Incarceration also punishes offenders by depriving them of their liberty once the court of law has convicted. Moreover, incarceration deters criminals from committing further crimes
Similar to be confined to being grounded, being in jail one will be locked in a room and will not be able to roam between areas. At the same time, one will lose the same privileges as being grounded but will have no way of communicating except a visitation once a week. Of course being jail has more harsh living conditions but no one wants to grounded or in jail. Given that, we are going