Sentencing
Sabrina Carlamere
Deterrence Needs to be Deterred
The one quote that stood out the most to me was the one given by the American Correctional Association. They stated, “The absence of a noticeable reduction in the adult crime rate as incarceration rates have climbed raises serious questions about the efficacy of America’s sentencing policies”. To me this is very relevant to society today. In American today the incarceration rates have climbed, but the adult crime rates have not reduced. Therefore, how effective is our sentencing policies in America. The American Correctional Association is hinting at the ideology of deterrence, and what deterrence should encompass. In goal of deterrence is highly theoretical (which is half the problem) in the fact that it is intended to prevent other potential offenders from committing crimes due to the potential for punishment. In other words, deterrence is supposed to make people not want to commit crimes if they see harsh punishment against crime. Therefore, the behavior of the offender should change, because they will not want to go through with the crime to resort with that harsh punishment. However, does this actually work? Do prisons deter people from crime? Behaviorally, I do not think deterrence works, because this might not faze them. Sometimes when people commit crimes, they do not care about the punishment, or feel any kind of remorse. Therefore, their behavior would not change so deterrence would be ineffective. Also, this also comes across the ideology of the death penalty, because that’s a major punishment. However, the death penalty doesn’t stop people from committing the crimes that person committed either. Therefore, deterrence simply does not work, because for an adult a slap on a wrist doesn’t cut it anymore. However, I believe incapacitation sentencing does work, and this should be used instead of deterrence. If you are imprisoned how are you supposed to commit crime? You simply can’t. Therefore, if an
Deterrence Needs to be Deterred
The one quote that stood out the most to me was the one given by the American Correctional Association. They stated, “The absence of a noticeable reduction in the adult crime rate as incarceration rates have climbed raises serious questions about the efficacy of America’s sentencing policies”. To me this is very relevant to society today. In American today the incarceration rates have climbed, but the adult crime rates have not reduced. Therefore, how effective is our sentencing policies in America. The American Correctional Association is hinting at the ideology of deterrence, and what deterrence should encompass. In goal of deterrence is highly theoretical (which is half the problem) in the fact that it is intended to prevent other potential offenders from committing crimes due to the potential for punishment. In other words, deterrence is supposed to make people not want to commit crimes if they see harsh punishment against crime. Therefore, the behavior of the offender should change, because they will not want to go through with the crime to resort with that harsh punishment. However, does this actually work? Do prisons deter people from crime? Behaviorally, I do not think deterrence works, because this might not faze them. Sometimes when people commit crimes, they do not care about the punishment, or feel any kind of remorse. Therefore, their behavior would not change so deterrence would be ineffective. Also, this also comes across the ideology of the death penalty, because that’s a major punishment. However, the death penalty doesn’t stop people from committing the crimes that person committed either. Therefore, deterrence simply does not work, because for an adult a slap on a wrist doesn’t cut it anymore. However, I believe incapacitation sentencing does work, and this should be used instead of deterrence. If you are imprisoned how are you supposed to commit crime? You simply can’t. Therefore, if an