Controversies surrounding the punishment for criminals never seem to cease. While it may sound valid to some people that imprisonment should be applied to all lawbreakers, I believe that other alternatives could work better.
Advocates of imprisonment have their own convincing grounds. To begin with, prison could completely isolate criminals from society for a period of time. As a result, this could help protect the innocent as well as persuade victims to support the police in the process of on-site fact gathering, analysis and determination of probable causes, which may accelerate trial proceedings. Additionally, imprisonment could serve as a general deterrence for latent criminals. Granted, this method could warn them about legal consequences of committing crimes including staying away from family, withdrawal of certain human rights and social stigma, thereby, reducing the rates of offenders.
However, I contend that other methods could act as better punishments for lawbreakers. Firstly, lawbreakers could be required to engage in community services. By applying this, governments could show mercy to the criminals and provide them with opportunities to compensate for their wrongdoings. Therefore, this might help reduce the chances of re-offenders, especially for minor crimes. Secondly, probation could be sentenced to lawbreakers. Consequently, this might prevent problems of imprisonment, namely overcrowding, inhuman detention conditions, limited access to medical services, while also save governmental budgets for running the prison and covering prisoners’ basic needs.
In conclusion, I am of the opinion that community services and probation could be other profound punishments for criminals beside imprisonment.