Nonviolent Offenders Essay -- essays research papers

Non reddened Offenders Is Incarceration the Answer? Its re all(prenominal)y clear that the most potent way to turn a nonviolent person into a violent one is to send them to prison house, says Harvard University criminologist crowd together Gilligan. The American prison system seize ons nonviolent offenders and makes them live side-by-side with hardened killers. The very nature of prison, no matter people purview it, produces an environment that is inescapably harmful to its residents.America locks up five times more(prenominal) of its universe than any other nation in the world. Due to prison overcrowding, prisoners atomic number 18 menstruumly sleeping on floors, in tents, in converted traverse closets and gymnasiums, or even in double or triple bunks in cells, which were designed for one inmate. Why is this happening? The U.S. Judicial System has establish so succumbed to the ideal that Imprisonment is the most visibly form of punishment. The current structure of this system is failing terribly. To take people, strip them of their possessions and privacy, expose them to vehemence on a daily basis, restrict their quality of life to a 5x7ft cell, and deprive them of any meaning to live. This scenario is a standard form of punishment for violent offenders, although non suitable for nonviolent offenders.Today, almost 70% of all prisoners are serving time for nonviolent offenses. U.S. States are spending an medium of $100 million per year on new prisons and all U.S. taxpayers forepart the bill for a system that is not working (Carson). Why should we depict taxpayers to pay to keep nonviolent criminals sitting in prison cells where they cause bitter, aggressive, and more likely to repeat their offenses when released? The answer is we shouldnt, there are more reliable forms of punishment available, and rehabilitation and restitution are two alternatives I firmly believe are most effective than incarceration. Nonviolent criminals should be punished differently. This is because nonviolent criminals do not learn from the misery of macrocosm in cells with violent inmates. Drug offenders for example are a open health problem, not public safety problem, and nonviolent offenders can be properly educated. We offer convicts no opportunities to learn compassion or take responsibility for what they have done, nor make restitution or offer satisfaction to their victims in any practical ways. ... ...he certainty of restitution, by requiring monetary payment, takes the turn a profit out of crime (Carson). Most people have the common view that the criminal justice systems increasing arrests and imprisonment is an effective strategy for reducing crime. If the judicial system makes greater distinction among violent and nonviolent crimes, the prisons will have the vacancies to incarcerate the Jeffery Dahmers of the world in prison for life. By providing alternatives to imprisonment for nonviolent offenders will reduce the burden of taxpayers dollars for added bread and butter for construction of new prisons. I know as a College Student I would like to see increased State funding for education system rather than the millions allocated to the prison system of Pennsylvania. Prisons are not places where nonviolent offenders can serve time and then be released a better person, more fit for society. The prison environment is wrong, and as a result a nonviolent offender will leave unimproved. It is my tactile sensation that the alternatives of community control programs, rehabilitation programs, and restitution programs are the answers to the sentencing of nonviolent offenders.