Legal Punishments and Demarcation
Every society adopts diverse measures and efforts towards discouraging crime. The judicial service commission is tasked with the formulation of the legal response to various instances of crime. Legal punishment, which is associated with the imposition of something to deprive individuals of things they value, such as time, money, and liberty, is one way to discourage criminal behavior. Individuals have formulated diverse arguments in their justification for legal punishment. On the other hand, critiques of this approach call for decarceration to discourage criminality. This paper reflects on the decarceration policy’s meaning and reasons why society should embrace this approach for legal punishments.
Decarceration policy is one of the major policy frameworks adopted by most individuals opposed to the custodial supervision of criminals. Individuals supporting this policy argue that the government should adopt community campaigns and policies to reduce the number of incarcerated criminals. Precisely, proponents of this policy argue that detainees with minor offenses should be allowed to reintegrate into society. Angel Davis calls for a reevaluation of the purpose of legal punishments and advocates/calls to adopt a decarceration policy. By this policy, Angela calls for the abolition of mass incarceration and imprisonment as the major approaches used to punish wrongdoers (Davis & Rodriguez 212-218). She considers the question “Are prisons Obsolete” while developing her argument of the need for such a policy change to transform society. This is different from the current approach, whereby criminals found guilty of either minor or major crimes are subjected to imprisonment as a punishment for their wrong deeds. Her policy change aims at ending such mass incarceration and formulating measures to ensure that offenders are reintegrated into society.
Yes, I believe that society should embrace the policy model, especially when dealing with minor offenders. The efforts in contemporary society associated with decarceration fall into three broad categories. Such broader categories depict some of the benefits that can be realized by adopting such a model. Even though this model is appealing, it is worth noting that it should be smart and applied so that it does not lead to societal problems. First, the policy model should only be applied to individuals charged with minor offenses and those who have served long periods in jail and have shown notable positive behavioral transformations. The local leadership should be tasked with following up and ensuring that these offenders have completely reformed their character. Diverse benefits are considered to support this model. First, having criminals counseled before they are reintegrated into society will reduce recidivism, which will positively impact society. Secondly, this model is beneficial because it will reduce prison populations. The high number of prisoners and congestion is a major challenge in the United States and in other nations globally. Prison Congestion is a health threat and makes it challenging when managing the outbreaks of high contagious diseases (Beaudry et al. 1). Arguably, the Covid19 pandemic has proved that a high prison population is a major threat when affected by such a virus. As such, the model will help to reduce the population.
In summary, calls for rethinking legal punishments have intensified in the contemporary world. Angela Davis calls for the adoption of alternatives to legal punishments and advocates for decarceration. Her policy change call means that the government should adopt an alternative approach to incarceration. Such a policy change call is awesome but should be smartly integrated. It should involve individuals found guilty of minor crimes and those with transformed behavior after long periods of imprisonment. Benefits such as reduced recidivism and reduction in prison populations show that the model is advantageous.
Works Cited
Beaudry, Gabrielle, et al. “Managing Outbreaks of Highly Contagious Diseases in Prisons: A Systematic Review.” Available at SSRN 3598874 (2020).
Davis, Angela Y., and Dylan Rodriguez. “The challenge of prison abolition: A conversation.” Social Justice 27.3 (81 (2000): 212-218.