Alternative Methods to Prison Sentencing in Britain

More and more people in Britain are being sentenced to jail time: this

is a fact. In 2004, there are currently over eighty thousand inmates.[1]

(Peter Reydt, 2004 / Scottish Executive, 2003) Crime is on the

increase but our prisons are already overcrowded. Consequently, new

prisons will be required to accommodate prisoners. Where will the

money come from to pay for the construction of new prisons? Will they

have a sufficient rehabilitation programs in place? The prison

system is obviously failing because it is not acting as a deterrent.

Clearly we should now be examining why the system is failing and

possible alternatives to prison. What should these alternatives be?

Would they work and would they be seen as a suitable punishment?

First of all, I'd like to look at why the prison service is failing.

Ten years ago, Britain's prison population was actually on the decline

(Casciani, 2002)[2]. This was due to the government at the time

implementing more community based punishments over the use of prison

sentencing. However, not all of the Home Secretaries of the time -

Kenneth Baker and Kenneth Clarke - agreed with this policy and soon

changed their minds and began to follow up on the 'rhetoric of being

'tough' on crime'[3](Cascianni, 2002) by asking the courts to sentence

more people to prison.

Due to these sterner policies being put in place, the government

figures in 1999 actually showed that there were now more than twenty

four thousand people being sent to prison than there were ten years

previous.(Cascianni, 2002)[4] This was despite no change in the amount

of adults being convicted of offenses. The government's 2001 Halliday

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...m the best way forward. If one life -

even that of a prisoner - can be saved, then this must surely be a

very good idea? If these alternatives were in place they would help

the overcrowding in jails and the building of more jails - which cost

on average sixty million pounds each to build.(Rethinking Crime and

Punishment, 2002)[12]. This would be less of a burden on the taxpayer

and this money could go into developing these alternatives and having

them implemented instead of prison. If the offender is shown to be

fully rehabilitated and to want to give something back to society,

this can only be beneficial: not only to the offender to but to

society as a whole.

"There are some duties we owe even to those who have wronged us. There

is, after all, a limit to retribution and punishment."

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)[13]