It is an admitted reality that correctional facilities across the United States, and even around the world, are becoming overcrowded. Moreover, the rate of such overpopulation is still growing and counting. The authorities should also take into consideration other related issues like the health of the prisoners and the risk of escaping from detention that accompany the problem of overpopulated prisons. However, not all of those persons incarcerated are convicted felons. Some of them were detained on mere suspicion of a crime. Others are still undergoing trial. Their crimes range from petty, like abuse of the illegal substance, to heinous crimes, like manslaughter. This is without counting the youth offenders and the mentally ill.
As reported by the Juvenile Justice (2008), there are about 27,000 juveniles that are incarcerated every day in the United States (duihua.org). This has reference to the juvenile offenders only, what about other felons? With this great number of influx of inmates into the prison facilities, housing all of them will be a big problem. Prison authorities should not take this predicament to the sidelines because there will come a time when more correctional facilities need to be constructed and a lot more prison officers will have to be employed. Consequently, this will entail additional government expenditures from the people’s tax money.
Taking on this challenge, the courts and authorities have thought of alternatives to incarceration. A lot of programs have evolved and most of them are the non-custodial type. Understandably, these alternatives apply to those which are considered light felonies, for instance, a traffic violation. A judge can impose a mere community service as a substitute for incarceration. In one online legal encyclopedia, it provided options sans incarceration, whereby the judge suspends the sentence; and in another instance, he can order the offender to undergo probation (nolo.com). Juvenile Justice Information Exchange reported that community-based programs help in the decline of youth incarceration (jjie.org).
References
Juvenile Justice, US Criminal Justice. (2008, October 29). With Intent to Reform: Alternatives to Juvenile Detention, Incarceration. Retrieved March 26, 2016, from http://duihua.org/wp/?p=2924
Juvenile Justice Information Exchange » Community-Based Alternatives. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2016, from http://jjie.org/hub/community-based-alternatives/
Sentencing Alternatives: Prison, Probation, Fines, and Community Service | Nolo.com. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2016, from http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/sentencing-alternatives-prison-probation-fines-30294.html
