Information AboutIncarceration |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT INCARCERATION | |
| criminal law | |
| imprisonment and detention | |
| sociology | |
| human rights abuses | |
| torture | |
| violence | |
|
, the first modern prison, built in 250 BCE.]] Incarceration is the detention of a person in Jail or Prison . People are most commonly incarcerated upon suspicion or conviction of committing a Crime . Incarceration rates, when measured by the United Nations, are considered distinct and separate from the imprisonment of Political Prisoners and others not charged with a specific crime. Historically, the frequency of imprisonment, its duration, and severity have varied considerably. There has also been much debate about the motives for incarceration, its effectiveness and fairness, as well as debate regarding the related questions about the nature and Etiology of Criminal behavior. RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES Religious opinions have often shaped views towards incarceration. Talmud Yerushalmi , Talmud Babli , and both the Old and New Testament s describe Law as the expression of the will of God . Islam adopts a similar legal posture with Sharia , an Arabic word meaning "path," interpreted as the infallible expression of the divine will that is applicable to all aspects of life. One of the differences between monotheistic religions is the degree to which they emphasize Orthopraxis vs. Orthodoxy (i.e., proper conduct vs. proper belief). In comparison with Islam and Judaism, Christianity emphasizes orthodoxy over orthopraxis. Islam and Judaism emphasize orthopraxis more than orthodoxy. LEGAL POSITIVISM Those who favor Legal Positivism maintain that there is no unjust law and no unjust incarceration. Among the founders of the legal positivism is Jean Bodin , who argued that burning is too lenient a punishment for severe crimes, because the suffering does not last more than one hour. Bodin also approved of Torture during the criminal Interrogation s, including the torture of children to compel them to testify against their parents. This perspective characterizes the legalistic posture of the influential ,'' because law is itself the definition of justice." LEGACY OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT Around the time of the American and French Revolution s, social philosophers started to support the notion that a human law, which violates " Natural Law ," is not a "true" law. In this view, an unjust law is not a genuine law but rather an act of violence, and unjust incarceration is a possibility. Social philosophers who opposed legal positivism include Hugo Grotius , Gottfried Leibniz , Benedict Spinoza , Voltaire , and Jean Jacques Rousseau . John Locke 's criticism of Hobbesian theory was a forerunner to the modern notions of Civil Disobedience and Human Rights . Locke argued that humans in the state of nature are free and equal and that they possess the fundamental rights to life, liberty, and property. Everyone should defend his or her rights and should surrender only such rights as are necessary for the common good. This natural-rights theory provided a philosophical basis for both the American and French revolutions, with Thomas Jefferson substituting "pursuit of happiness" for Locke’s "property" in the trinity of inalienable rights. PUNISHMENT VS. REHABILITATION The above mentioned opinions often inform debates about the goal of incarceration: should the emphasis be on Punishment or Rehabilitation ? Arguments have been made on both sides of the issues, and larger societal perspectives have shifted from one side to the other over the years. Those who favor Punishment often contend that the practice serves both as Revenge for the wronged and as a Deterrent against further crime. On the other hand, those who favor rehabilitation argue that by trying to change a criminal's behavior, Recidivism rates can be reduced, and both the criminal and society can benefit from improvement. JUSTICE STUDIES Penology and justice studies emphasize description and analysis of antecedents of criminal behavior and outcomes of consequences imposed by criminal justice on the criminal behavior. An example of a modern quantitative study of factors influencing the criminal behavior is the study by Krus and Hoehl (1994). In the study by Krus and Hoehl, variables that might explain differences in incarceration rates among populations were located by a computer-aided search of the compendium of world rankings, compiled by the Facts On File Corporation and the World Model Group, containing over 50,000 records on more than 200 countries. They argued that predictor variables explained about 69% of variance in the international incarceration rates. Cited as especially important were unequal distribution of wealth (the explanation perhaps favored by Liberal s), family disintegration (the explanation perhaps favored by Conservatives ). According to Krus and Hoehl, these variables act in concert: the presence of one variable does not always precipitate crime, but the presence of both variables often does precipitate crime. FREQUENCY OF INCARCERATION In the United States Marc Mauer, in his ''Americans Behind Bars: A Comparison of International Rates of Incarceration'' ( 1991 ), was among the first who called attention to the fact that the United States has higher Per Capita rates of incarceration than many countries in the world. Sample headlines regarding Mauer's observations were ''"America, the Land of the Imprisoned"'' ( Santa Barbara News-Press , February 20 , 1992 ), ''"The World's Top Jailer"'' ( USA Today , February 12 , 1992 ) and ''"A Dangerous Place to Live"'' ( St. Louis Post-Dispatch , February 11 , 1992 ). On February 22 1992 , Boston Globe reported that : ''few statistics about the United States are more startling than the growth of the prison population during the quarter-century since Americans abandoned the war on poverty.'' |
|
|