‘The Rationale for the Use of Imprisonment as a Last Resort
Throughout history societies have attempted to manage and control their deviant populations. Western industrial societies have undergone a number of transformations in their quest to achieve such control. Disenchantment with the penal system and its inability to achieve rehabilitation within its confines has meant that in recent years, and especially since the 1960’s, a central element in the social control practises of advanced capitalist societies has been a state-sponsored attempt to deinstitutionalise deviant populations. In face of steadily escalating crime rates, overcrowded prison systems and an increasing number of the population formally deserving imprisonment, a variety of approaches have been initiated in an attempt to reduce the number of prisoners. In varying degrees control of such deviant groups has become increasingly community based. This major shift in social control styles and practises is known as decarceration and will form the focus of this paper. In order to understand the concept of decarceration it will be necessary to contextualise the concept within a historical framework. This paper will therefore begin with a brief explanation of the historical precedents that led to the modern approach of dev
The master changes in deviancy control that occurred from the end of the eighteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth centuries were interconnected with the advance of the capitalism (Scull 1977, p31). These changes saw an increasing involvement and intervention of the state with regards to deviancy control, the increasing classification of deviant groups into separate categories and the increased segregation of these groups into closed institutions (Cohen 1985, p13). The decline of punishment as a public spectacle saw the victory of closed, segregated institutions and concentrated control. Professional dominance that had not been present pre-eighteenth century was established and strengthened, and although the boundaries of control became clearer, the visibility of this control became very discreet. These changes were seen in terms of ‘a victory of humanitarianism over barbarity, of scientific knowledge over prejudice and irrationality’ (Cohen 1985, p.19) whereby the focus of punishment was shifted from the body to the mind, punishment as torture giving way to economically discrete prison sentences. This more rigid form of control saw surveillance and not just punishment being the objective. Deviants were to be ‘observed, retrained and rendered obedient’ (Cohen 1985, p.26). The prison now came to symbolise and monopolise all forms of punishment.
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Approximate Word count = 2402
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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