Alternatives to Imprisonment: 1
| Author | R. W Drinkwater |
| Published date | 01 December 1969 |
| Date | 01 December 1969 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000486586900200405 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
AUST. &N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (Dec., 1969): 2, 4
Alternatives to
Imprisonment: 1
R. W. DRINKWATER*
217
A RECENT review of
an
American work! suggests
that
"debate
about
what
the
criminal
sanction
is good for is
an
argument
about
the
use of power too
important
to be
left
to
the
lawyers, philosophers or social scientists,
and
one
which
the
author
therefore
addresses to
the
common reader." Reading this,
I was confirmed
in
the
intention
I
had
already formed to
concentrate
in
this
paper
on formulating
the
kind of questions which aconcerned
layman
might
reasonably
ask
about one
particular
aspect of
the
criminal sanction
-
the
use of imprisonment -
and
trying to see
what
answers we
can
offer
to him. This I
take
to be in
any
case
an
important
function of a conference
such
as
this
is. By
the
concerned
layman
I
mean
here
someone who is
anxious to play his
part
as a citizen in ensuring
that
the
public activities
of
the
society to which he belongs
are
conducted with due
regard
to
the
rel-
vant
criteria of cost
and
effectiveness.
This suggests immediately
the
first questions to be asked by our con-
cerned layman:
(i)
What
are
the
objectives of imprisonment?
(il) How effective is
it
in achieving these objectives?
(iii)
What
are
its
costs? (Note
the
plural
here
since
different
kinds
of cost
are
involved).
Some answers to
these
questions, however short,
are
essential to
the
argu-
ment
for alternatives,
but
time does
not
allow me to do justice to
the
com-
plexity of
the
issues. Briefly,
the
objectives
are
in
practice to
punish
in-
dividuals for
their
offences against
the
law, to express public disapproval of
these offences, to discourage
their
repetition by
the
offenders or
others
and
to protect society
against
those believed to be a continuing
threat
to its
safety. As to
the
effectiveness of imprisonment, we
can
indicate
a
high
degree of success
in
meeting
the
last
objective as long as offenders
are
de-
tained; we have to
admit
that
the
evidence as to
the
discouraging or de-
terrent
effect is
at
the
best very Inconclustves: we have to acknowledge
widespread doubt as to
the
validity of
punishment
as
an
end
in itself;
and
we
must
recognise
that
the
expression of public disapproval, insofar as
it
*M.A. (Cantab.), Head of
the
Department of Social Administration, University of Hull;
Visiting Fellow,
Department
of Social Work, University of Sydney.
1. Packer, H. L., The limits of
the
Criminal Sanction,
Stanford/Oxford
University
Press.
2. Grunhut, M.,
Penal
Reform, New
York/Oxford
University Press.
"After
more
than
150
years
of
prison
reform
the
outstanding
feature
of the
movement
is
its
scepticism
concerning
imprisonment
altogether,
and
its
search
for new and more
adequate
methods
of
treatment
outside
prison
walls."
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