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Incarceration or Rehabilitation

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Incarceration or Rehabilitation
Incarceration or Rehabilitation for Non-Violent Drug Offenders Statistics have proven that incarceration alone is a monetary pitfall and does not deter the cluster of non-violent drug related crimes in this country. We need to create an alternative habilitation pattern for these offenders including an assessment of their mental health, specialized life skills training, and occupational employment assistance: in some cases, in lieu of incarceration and in others, in conjunction with incarceration. Ask yourself these questions: What affect would this type of intense program have on the recidivism rate? Would we be saving tax-payer dollars by producing graduates from drug rehabilitation programs instead of housing repeat criminals? To eliminate overcrowding in our prisons, reduce the soaring incarceration costs, and provide parolees the tools necessary to re-enter society in a productive manner, we must develop a rehabilitation system for the non-violent drug offenders. Throughout my research, there are many differing opinions on this subject depending on the source. Reading information from a psychologist, you see they tend to bend toward forced rehabilitation. Reading information from government policy-maker institutions, you see they tend to follow the prison sentence route. One thing is for certain, regardless of profession, all tend to agree on the need to revamp the current judicial system because it is not working and extremely expensive to the federal and state governments. Although some people believe that rehabilitating these offenders is much more costly, actually statistics prove the contrary is true. The cost of rehabilitation is much less than incarceration. Three of the states that have already implemented such programs are New York, Maryland, and California. After looking at the following statistics provided by McVay, Shiraldi, and Ziedenberg of the Justice Policy Institute, you will see that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do


Bibliography: Gottesman, Ann. Proposition 36: Drug Rehabilitation Instead of Jail for Non-Violent Drug Possession Offenders. Pasadena, California. 5 July 2011. Web. 16 January 2012. McVay, Doug, Vincent Schiraldi, and Jason Ziedenberg. Treatment or Incarceration? National and Findings on the Efficacy and Cost Savings of Drug Treatment Versus Imprisonment. Justice Policy Institute, Washington DC. January 2004. Web. 8 Feb 2012. www.justicepolicy.org. More`, Jared. Jail vs. Treatment for Drug Offenders. Treatment Solutions Network Drug Treatment and Recovery Articles. 31 March 2009. Web. 23 Jan 2012. www.treatmentsolutionsnetwork.com. Office of National Drug Control Policy. Who’s Really in Prison for Marijuana? Executive Office of the President of the United States. Washington DC. 2003. Web. 23 Jan 2012. Peele, Stanton. “Court-ordered Treatment for Drug Offenders is Much Better than Prison: Or Is It?.” Reconsider Quarterly, Winter 2000-1001: 20-23. 22 February 2011. Web. 20 Jan 2012. .
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