Assignment:
Respond with 150 words and 2 references with 1 being the textbook and a biblical reference
Cullen, F. T., & Jonson, C. L. (2017). Correctional theory: Context and consequences (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 9781506306520.
According to Athula Pathinayake (2018), courts use incarceration to accomplish several objectives, including community protection, retribution, and specific and general deterrence. This primary purpose of incarceration is to ensure that offenders are not able to make future offenses in the community so that the community is spared form continuous criminal activity. According to the text, incapacitation is the use of a criminal sanction to physically prevent or make impossible the omission of a crime by an offender (Cullen & Jonson, 2017).
Cullen and Jonson (2017) added that the United States incarcerates more than 2.2 million offenders. Cullen and Jonson came up with three observations about the use of imprisonment in America. First, other countries do not use prisons as much as the United States. Blumstein et al. (2005) added that the United States was the most punitive country for nearly all types of crime, primarily when punitiveness is defined narrowly as expected time served per conviction. Torny (2007) also added that the rise in the United States' prison population over the past 40 years has been remarkable. The United States is not the only nation to have an increase in incarceration rates. However, they are known for their length in the enormity of their prison expansion.
Second, the incarceration rate in the United States is high because it is meant to be that way. This is due to inputs made by politicians to be tougher on crime. This input resulted in higher prison populations. Third, because the size of the prison population is a choice, Americans can decide to use incarceration more judiciously. The incapacitation effect is the amount of crime saved as a result of an offender being physically unable to commit a crime (Cullen & Jonson, 2017). Athula Pathinayake (2018) pointed out two explanations for America's high incarceration rate. The first explanation is that crime rates are higher and faster rising than in other countries. The second explanation is that public opinion shows that crime and drugs come first as America's pressing problem.
The impact of having a high incarceration rate is a huge one but not so much in the right way. While offenders are serving time for their offenses, new offenders are committing new crimes, which would cause them to be incarcerated also. This has led to the overcrowding problem in many of America's prisons. Placing offenders in an environment that is overcrowded with fewer tools for rehabilitation will only create an environment filled with drugs and violence. Isaiah 24:22 says, "They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days" (New International Version). This message pictures the overcrowding of offenders due to the "get tough on crime" initiative. Prisons should only be used for severe offenders (murder, sex crimes), not for petty crimes that can make room for rehabilitation.
References
Blumstein, A., Tonry, M., & Van Ness, A. (2005). Cross-National Measures of Punitiveness. Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, 33, 347-377.
Cullen, F. T., & Jonson, C. L. (2017). Correctional Theory: Context and Consequences (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications Inc.
Pathinayake, A. (2018). The Effectiveness of the Objective of Incapacitation: Is It a Myth? The Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, 21, 344-366.
Torny, M. (2007). Determinants of Penal Policies. Crime and Justice: Review of Research, 36, 1-48.