By Dr. Bruce Bayley
The issue of incarceration in America has been at the heart of an ever-present and never-ending debate.
On one side of the issue are those who feel incarceration is nothing more than an overpriced, inhumane attempt at punishment that does nothing more than force individuals into deeper and more sophisticated lives of crime.
There are others, however, that feel incarceration is a needed and proactive element of our modern justice system that is truly effective even when overburdened with decreasing budgets and restrictive oversight.
Adding to this debate is the recent re-introduction of Senate Bill 306 (formerly Senate Bill 714) by U.S. Senator Jim Webb who hopes to "...create a blue-ribbon commission to look at every aspect of our criminal justice system with an eye toward reshaping the criminal justice system from top to bottom.”
With four of his five key bullet points focusing on corrections, it is easy to see where he feels this reshaping should begin.
In response to the on-going debate and as a known advocate of incarceration, I was contacted over the summer by an element of the United Nations and asked to write a piece for their educational archive that reviewed why we incarcerate individuals in the United States.
For the past three months, ten of my graduate students and I have investigated this controversial topic, reviewing hundreds of academic and professional articles and in the process, constructing a response that outlines three of the primary reasons we imprison those convicted of criminal offences by our courts of law.
This initial installment will introduce you to the three elements, followed by articles on each topic that reviews the reason in greater detail.
1. Punishment
The first and primary reason we incarcerate those convicted of crimes in America is to punish the offender. This is most evident in the court element of our criminal justice system where offenders are sentenced. While it’s true judges will often incorporate treatment and rehabilitation into their ruling, the primary justification for incarceration is to punish individuals by holding them accountable for their actions.
Closely tied to this concept of punishment/accountability is the belief in deterrence. Does incarceration deter crime? The simple answer is both yes it does and no it doesn’t. While we’ll go into more detail in the second installment of this series as to the issues surrounding this central conflicting point, a good introduction to the concepts of deterrence can be found in a previous article – Custody Vs. Treatment Debate: Deterrence – The Two Great Lies.
2. Treatment
The second reason for incarcerating offenders is to insure treatment. Yes, those who advocate incarceration do believe in treatment (and a subsequent rehabilitative component). Treatment, in a general sense is the precursor to rehabilitation. You must insure a condition, whether it be alcohol/drug addition or anger management issues, is first managed before effective rehabilitation can occur.
Take, for example, a skier who has taken a nasty spill and broken his leg. Where is he sent first – the emergency room to treat the injury or a rehabilitation center to build back strength and coordination? The answer is simple – treatment. You have to treat/manage the condition (the broken leg) before you can effectively rehabilitate the injury and restore the body.
Incarceration allows for the effective treatment and management of the social, psychological, and medical needs of offenders. This isn’t to say that successful treatment cannot occur within the community – we know this is true.
One reason for incarceration, however, is that for some individuals intensive oversight and daily monitoring of their psychological, emotional, and medical needs is necessary and as such, incarceration provides an environment that facilitates this “jumpstart” to future rehabilitation.
3. Rehabilitation
It should come as no surprise that the third and final reason we incarcerate is rehabilitation. As treatment extends into rehabilitation, incarceration in many cases aids in the effective restoration of the offender to a functioning condition.
As with treatment, incarceration helps in this process by providing the ability to insure daily monitoring and oversight that may not be available or desired by those on the outside.
The myriad of helping services that can be found within a facility gives testament to the ability of incarceration to support those who are dedicated to assisting others in their return to productive and fruitful lives once released.
Conclusion
As mentioned in the beginning, this article was not meant to fully investigate or defend each of the three reasons. Instead, it was designed to peak your interest and hopefully ignite conversations within your agencies. Think of this piece as a teaser of sorts. An introduction to the next three installments in which we will attempt to answer the age-old question – why do we incarcerate?
Acknowledgements
I want to thank the co-authors of this series for their help and dedication to this project. Their time and efforts were invaluable to its completion. They are: Andrew Waters, Karen Stringham, Jean Kapenda, Laura Gutierrez, Sean Franzen, Jerica Dahlberg, and Todd Beatse.
