US Criminal Justice-Incarceration - Essay Example

Locking up the criminals and isolating them from the society would prevent them from committing more crimes. Moreover, incarceration would introduce the criminals to criminal lifestyle, which they would never like to adopt for themselves. However, there are other people who do not agree with these views. They believe that incarceration changes nothing, the prisoners are just “locked up” and the “key is thrown away”. According to them, this system does not do enough good to the society.

The present essay examines the different approaches in regards of incarceration, analyze the present situation, and provide a viable conclusion at the end. In USA, the policy of criminal justice has been shaped under the guidance of President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (1969). According to Samuel Walker, this commission issued a report called “The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society”, which had ground breaking effects. The report had over two hundred recommendations, which developed a comprehensive approach in fighting and prevention of crime in the United States.

This involved a system that required coordination among the courts, law enforcement agencies, and correctional agencies. Incarceration is an important instrument in relation to the activities of the correctional agencies. Actually, incarceration would effectively do the following: However, people who are against incarceration have their own arguments. According to Hide Yamatani and Solveig Spjeldnes, “The Second Chance Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-199) is a federal recognition that the decades old strategy of locking up the criminals in the name of public safety has been disastrous.

” In this context, elimination of racial discrimination and disparity in regards of recidivism among the people who are exposed to the social services during their imprisonment is critical indeed. Hence, “seamless, intensive, and comprehensive