Prisons

In today’s generation mandatory sentencing, death penalty, juveniles getting charged as adults have become a norm. Many people believe that getting tougher in prisons can help reduce crime rates as well as have the most effect on our society as a whole. Consequently society has struggled to figure out the best way to deal with their criminals in ways that help both society and the ones committing these crimes. While jail has been the most obvious option, the alternatives to being placed in jail may have a better effect on society and the inmates themselves. Anne Reuss from the University of Abertay Dundee, and a teacher to prisoners in the field of sociology states:

“They have been part of our culture for long enough, perhaps too long, for anyone other than those who live and work in and around them or on their behalf, for prison issues to be of concern. Unless you are a ‘regular’ visitor – in any capacity – then you are unlikely to think about whether we ‘need’ prisons, what effects they have on prisoners, whether they are value for money and whether we should ‘replace’ them with something else.”

For one to know what it is like to be an inmate, they must either be a former prisoner or one that is in a prison all day long. The strategy that getting tougher on prisoners and what goes on in prisons is doing more harm than it is good. Finding alternatives to help our inmates will ultimately be less costly, as well as more effective to decrease the rate of crimes in our society.

Background Information

In reality, what do prisons do? Are they a way just to separate criminals from society or is it really rehabilitation for the inmates. In either case, I believe that both