Imprisoning Offenders

Running head: IMPRISONING OFFENDERS
Imprisoning Offenders
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1IMPRISONING OFFENDERS
From the very beginning, prison has not only been considered as an institution but also as
a centre of correction in which inmates have lived their lives and experienced the worst.
Traditionally, the concept of prison was based on the perspective that, individuals who have
committed wrong against the society are bound to be kept in prisons. In this regard, scholars
were of the opinion that for the purpose of protecting the society from crime and disorder, it is
important to imprison offenders (Armstrong and Maruna 2016). In modern era, adequate
research has been conducted on the life of the inmates inside the prisons however; the effects and
necessity of incarceration was not emphasized. The essay is commissioned to examine the fact
that why imprisonment of offenders plays significant role in the Australian Justice System and
the impact of incarceration on inmates however; much emphasis is laid on the fact that why
prisons are considered to be obsolete.
In the past the criminal justice system of Australia was complex in nature however; in
recent era, with the implementation of various programs and individualized treatments, the
criminal justice system of Australia gained new shape (Baldry and Cunneen 2014). According to
the perspective of modern authors, the community of Australia deserves an efficient criminal
justice system which would be beneficial in enhancing community safety. However, it is
important on the part of the Australian Justice System to apply appropriate policies for the
purpose of holding the offenders accountable for their criminal activities by ensuring the
outcomes of their actions (Tonry 2015). It is noteworthy to mention here that, from the
beginning, the primary objective of the Australian Justice System is community security and
protection. However, community safety can be ensured if the crime rates are reduced
considerably and the individuals of the society are deterred from further commission of crimes. It
is evident that an offender shall be able to reform himself if he remains within the community

2IMPRISONING OFFENDERS
however; in this regard, the community plays a major role in accepting such offenders back into
the society (White 2015). The Criminal Justice System of Australia has undermined the risks
related to this matter from time to time (Buchanon, Swanson and Swartz 2017). Now the
question lies in the fact that why imprisoning the offenders is important for the Australian Justice
System. This is due to the reason that with the imprisoning of offenders, the risk towards the
society can be reduced to a large extent. In this regard, the Australian Justice System has
undertaken flexible sentencing regimes for the purpose of improving community safety and
contributing towards lower rates of recidivism (Glass 2016). It is worth noting that due to the
implementation of such policies in the Australian Justice System, significant results has been
achieved in managing the number of offenders in the community. However, it has contributed
towards an increase in number of inmates in the prisons of Australia.
It is worthwhile to mention here that the criminal justice system of Australia has proved
to be beneficial in protecting the interests and security of the community to a large extent. In this
regard, the criminal justice system has been considered to be just and fair for enforcing and
applying various successful programs for the elimination of crime from the society. Therefore,
much emphasis has been laid upon the concept of sentencing and its significance for the
betterment of the community. In the early 1980s, an unprecedented growth has been experienced
in the prison population of Australia (Jeffries and Newbold 2016). As a result of such rapid
increase of rates in prison population, highest per capita incarceration rate has been witnessed in
Australia as compared to other industrialized democracies. In this context, mention can be made
regarding the substantial increase in the number of inmates in Australian prisons that has
efficiently attributed to the elimination of crimes from 1975 to 1985 (Tubex, Blagg and Tulich
2018). During that period, it was observed that, for the purpose of enhancing quick response