Intermediate Sanctions Social Sciences Term Paper Essay (Term Paper Sample)

Intermediate Sanctions
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Unit 5 Assignment: Intermediate Sanctions
Intermediate sanctions refer to criminal penalties that do not entail probation or serving jail term. In other words, these are correctional alternatives that are often less restrictive than the typical prison or jail sentence, but relatively more restraining than the standard parole or probation. Some of the widely used intermediate sanctions include electronic monitoring, shock incarceration and probation, house arrest, community services, financial penalties, and intensive supervision probation. The main purpose of intermediate sanctions is to punish and rehabilitate criminals in a cost-effective way. It is worth pointing out that keeping offenders in prison has economic implications on a state. Consequently, to mitigate this economic pressure, it is essential for policymakers to identify and use alternative options to prison or jail imprisonment. The intermediate sanctions highlighted in the foregoing discussion are a representative of these alternatives to imprisonment. It is opined that the establishment of these types of punishments eliminates the unfairness and arbitrariness that tend to arise when probation and prison are the only options available to a court. In this regard, intermediate sanctions increase the flexibility of the judge in sentencing. Prison overcrowding is a major contributing factor to the poor prison conditions across different parts of the world (Penal Reform International, n.d.). Markedly, this challenge has to a large extent prevented the prison system from fulfilling its proper function. The intermediate sanctions offer feasible solution for dealing with the problem of prison overcrowding. It is suggested that if properly implemented, these types of punishments can help states to effectively deal with challenge of overcrowding in prison, and at the same time, support the efficient functioning of the correctional facilities in a state. A critical analysis of how the courts apply the intermediate sanctions in the criminal justice system reveals that it helps to create stability in the criminal justice process.