Imprisonment and its abolition

Running head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE 1
Criminal Justice

CRIMINAL JUSTICE 2
Imprisonment and its abolition
The concept of imprisonment has been adopted by many countries as a means of punishment
for various kinds of crimes. During the nineteenth century, it was prevalent in many countries
to a huge level. Even though there have been calls for the doing away with the system of
imprisonment since the twentieth century, it is still prominent to a considerable extent taking
account of the current trends. Additionally, imprisonment also acts as a curtailment of the
personal life and liberty of a person as a result of detention or confinement. In some
jurisdictions, imprisonment also results in physical torture and abuse by the authorities of the
prison thereby leading to the treatment of the prisoner in a derogatory manner, even to the
extent of the blatant violation of basic human rights and civil liberties (Rynne & Cassematis,
2015). As a result, there have been proposals relating to the reformation of prisons thereby
implying a suitable and dignified environment for the inmates as far as the proper and
appropriate living conditions are concerned. Many human rights organizations have reported
that prisoners live in pitiable conditions which are generally below the required living
standards. As a result, custodial deaths are quite prominent in some countries. There has also
been the promulgation of the tortuous act which is popularly known as false imprisonment as
a result of the instances and events pertaining to the imprisonment of a person in an illegal or
wrongful manner without any reasonable cause. Such a measure was adopted by the Court of
Appeal of England and Wales in the case of Meering v Graham White Aviation Company
Limited. For certain kinds of crimes, the sentencing implies imprisonment for a prolonged
period or imprisonment for life. Imprisonment in certain aspects leads to the detrimental
effect over the mental state of the person as a result of the trauma undergone during the
period in prison. After release from prison, such people are also ostracized form the society
on grounds of being apprehended as a potential criminal. As a result, it becomes difficult for
them to integrate into the society again. In order to imply the correctional aspects with regard
to the alternatives to imprisonment in the traditional forms, the concepts of probation, parole
and furlough have been formulated in various legal systems of the world. As a result, there
has been a reformation with regard to the system of criminal justice to a massive extent at the
global level (Rubin, 2019). The concept of probation implies the segregation of first time
offenders from hardened criminals in a proper and appropriate manner so as to prevent them
from the influence of heinous criminals and tendency to commit crimes in a more aggravated
manner after being released from prison. Such a concept was proposed and formulated in the