Homework Question On Types of Sanctions
write 600–800 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.
An alternative criminal sanction may be to confine a defendant to a mental facility for psychological or addiction treatment.
- In your opinion, should the defendant have a right to refuse the alternative sentence?
- Should suspended sanctions or community correction programs be part of a plea bargain, or should they be restricted to the sentencing phase only?
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Homework Answer On Types of Sanctions
Mental facility for psychological treatment
Psychological treatment for prisoners as an alternative sentence should not be voluntary for the following reasons. It is alarming to know that even though there are defendants who are found not guilty due to insanity, asstudies reveal that half of prisons population have at least one mental illness. Furthermore, the prison system does not successfully treat them, and this is the reason they reoffend upon release. Forensic hospitals which treat the offenders found not guilty due to insanity successfully manage to prevent most of the disordered people from returning to crime. In the year of 2000, a forensic psychiatrist at the University of Washington analysed data from various states including California, New York and Victoria Harris and reported that people from those institutions reoffended at very low rates as compared to untreated mentally ill inmates (Walker, L. E., Pann, Shapiro, and Van Hasselt,2015).These studies reveal that treatment works and instead of prisons incarcerating disordered prisons they should impose alternative sanctions of psychiatrist treatment on them. Many prisoners with mental illnesses refuse from receiving mental treatments because of complex reasons such asthe society’s view towards mental illnesses. It should be a rule and not something for bargaining rather should prisoners be allowed to refuse this alternative sanction in order to break the cycle of crime. It is essential for the public to gain full knowledge of this alternative by supporting its benefits and encouraging people to obey the sanctions.
The complex reasons especially those based on societal expectations and stigmatization may motivate disordered people to refuse been confined to a mental institution for mental treatment, but in the real sense they actually need it.Prisoners should therefore not be allowed to approve this sanction for that reason. The consequences of lacking this treatment are quite costly starting from the individual health status to consequence to the society in case of reoffending. Disordered Prisoners may find the prison conditions incompatible. Prisons are characterized by overcrowding, violence, lack of privacy, isolation from social networks and inadequate health services especially the mental health services (Byron, 2014). These factors among many others have negative effects on mental health and this may cause one to commit suicide or his or her mental condition to get severe from depression. To ensure that offenders are well taken care of, they should be put in the right facilities, and this should be made a mandatory law for the benefit of the victims. A good example of an untreated mental case is that of Adam Lanza which even though medical experts had called for drastic measure be taken before he shot and killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary school, the mental illness remained untreated. This one of the cases that should be put in alternative sanctions when signs of violence are detected to prevented crimes than waiting for them to happen. Confining offenders to mental facilities do not mean infringement of rights but an application of law to treat mental health and prevent related crimes.