NCJ Number
81349
Date Published
Unknown
Length
17 pages
Annotation
The rationale for the goals and strategy of the National Moratorium on Prison Construction is presented in question and answer form.
Abstract
The National Moratorium on Prison Construction (NMPC) advocates stopping the building of jails, prisons, and juvenile facilities until the entire justice process has been reviewed to determine how all of its components serve or fail to serve the cause of justice. The NMPC's recommended changes in the criminal justice system include (1) keeping some people out of the formal justice system altogether, (2) diversion of many arrestees from pretrial jailing, (3) keeping sentenced people out of prison, and (4) decreasing the time spent in prison. Suggested sentencing alternatives to prison are probation, restitution, fines, and community service orders. This perspective is based on NMPC's belief that prisons neither deter nor rehabilitate and increase the likelihood of recidivism. Recent studies have shown that prison rehabilitation programs are ineffective. While some prisoners need services and respond to special treatment and education, effectiveness appears to depend upon their being voluntary and performed in a community rather than a prison context. The argument for new jails and prisons to relieve overcrowding and deterioration in existing facilities cannot be justified until a jurisdiction has carefully reviewed efforts to use existing alternatives to incarceration and develop new alternatives. Efforts should be made to develop a screening and classification system that will imprison only those for whom confinement is necessary to ensure public protection. Fifteen footnotes are listed.