Prisons Are Rivers Of Crime Essay

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According to Howard League for Penal Reform (2017), “prisons are rivers of Crime” and that the state of the prisons should be seen as a national emergency. In support for this statement is the statistics that has been released by the office for National statistics (ONS, 2017), that indicates that there has been an increase of 9% in crime compared to 2016. However, it could be argued that prisons were aimed at detaining a person or deterring people from committing any offences so that their punishment would be arrived at and the offender would receive what came of his/her crime. In most cases, any convicted or accused offender is always sent to prison/remand awaiting conviction or trial of his or her crimes. Per, Criminal Justice Act 2003, an indeterminate sentence can be imposed if the offender poses a potential risk to the public or is convicted of serious offences. (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office) (HMSO, 2003).
There are diverse types of crimes committed by different people and age groups. How these are handled by the prison system matters a lot. If a minor commits a crime depending on what the crime is should be …show more content…

After the trial is over and the judgement rules that the offender is guilty but on a petty offence he/she can be fined and given a timeline in which to pay it. If he/she absconds to do it then the amount may be doubled. There can be a payment plan to ensure that they meet the deadline to pay their fine within the stipulated time. Petty offenses like traffic violation and minors should be fined or given an option of doing community service as a form of punishment. However, financial penalty would only load the offender with financial difficulties and failure to pay may result to the offender been summoned back to court with possible threat to imprisonment. (Cavadino et al, 2013. Pg. 146). In addition, the offender can be asked to return stolen goods back if the offence involves

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