NCJ Number
214097
Date Published
December 2005
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This paper reviews the use of imprisonment throughout the industrialized world and a proposed and attainable alternative to the overuse of the penal institution through minimalism, where punishment becomes only one of many options.
Abstract
Understanding and agreeing that the abolition of the penal institution is not an attainable position within the industrialized world, a more reasonable position may be the position of minimalism. Minimalism accepts that in certain cases, punishment is unavoidable. Abolitionists and minimalists take undesirable acts as their point of departure. Minimalists ask how undesirable acts can be dealt with; they open up the idea of choice. Punishment then becomes one, but only one, among several options. Minimalism takes away the rigidity in seeing punishment as an absolute obligation and forces one to give some reasons for the choice of punishment versus non-punishment. By reviewing the extent in which incarceration is used within most industrialized countries, with the United States and Russia forging the lead in incarceration rates and Iceland with the lowest rate of incarceration, this expert paper, examines plausible solutions and options to the overuse of incarceration, the abolition of punishment, and minimalism. Appendix