NCJ Number
159863
Date Published
1991
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article argues that, to protect the public safety from rising crime rates, the correctional system must build more prisons and incarcerate more offenders.
Abstract
The idea that prison construction will restore equilibrium to the criminal justice system is predicated on the assumptions that criminals must be removed from the community in order to protect its other members, that rehabilitation cannot work for offenders who lack the basic mores and socialization necessary to obey the law, that incarceration will prevent recidivism, and that society will incur financial and physical costs from crime equal to or exceeding the costs involved in prison construction. Alternatives to incarceration, such as shock incarceration programs, can be used only with a few offenders who can be handled safety in a less secure correctional environment.