Alternatives for Incarceration for Juvenile Courts
Courts are reluctant to incarcerate criminal offenders, judges often consider alternatives to incarceration. The driving force behind these alternatives is to save taxpayer money yet still demand offender accountability and impose sanctions for criminal behavior. In this assignment, you will examine alternatives to incarceration for juveniles. Preparation Use the Internet or the Strayer University databases to research the use of sanctions other than incarceration or detention for juvenile offenders.
Instructions
Write a 2–3 page paper in which you:
- Examine the underlying historical and economic reasons behind the quest for alternatives to committing juveniles to detention centers.
- Describe three alternatives to incarceration that juvenile courts currently use.
- Provide examples of such alternatives in practice to support the response.
- Discuss the significant societal and individual benefits of imposing sanctions or punishments that do not involve removing an offender from his or her family or community.
Use at least three quality references.
Alternatives for Incarceration
With the current increase in prison populations, the judges are increasingly considering alternative methods to impose punishment on the criminals. This paper discusses the alternative approaches considered to correct behavior among criminals while providing examples.
Reducing the number of inmates is associated with economic and historical benefits. For instance, this move helps the state minimize the costs of maintaining the prisoners, reducing the tax burden on the citizens. Such is meant to reduce the tax burden on the citizens while maintaining sanity in society. Further, alternatives allow first-time criminals to realize their mistakes and the potential harm they cause to the victims, hence correcting their behaviors for fear of incarceration (Stefani, Freeman & Lloyd, 2016). Besides, it increases the number of options available to the courts since crimes are different and unique, requiring different approaches. This enables the judges to tailor a cost-effective punishment method suitable to the offender and the offense.
The alternatives include probation or community correction, which keeps the offender in the community but under restrictions from movement. Some conditions are associated with this alternative, including staying indoors during some parts of the day and remaining drug-free. Electronic home monitoring (EHM) is another alternative whereby the offenders must remain in their homes. The offender is placed on an EHM by wearing an electronic device that signals the authorities to monitor the offender’s movements (Stefani et al., 2016). Violation of these conditions subjects the offender to imprisonment. These offenders take random drug tests and contact probation officers daily.
Fines and restitution is another alternative that requires the offender to pay fines, supervision fees, and court costs as an independent punishment. For example, a person who drives while drunkard is subjected to a certain fine usually paid within a short duration, mainly on the spot (Gabrysch et al., 2019). However, when the victim cannot pay the fine, he or she is sent to jail. Under restitution, the offender pays for some or all the victim’s medical costs and property loss.
