Community-Based Sentencing as an Imprisonment Alternative
Identification and Description
Community-Based Sentencing (CBS) is the most famous and contradictory imprisonment alternative initiative in Canada, which is also known all over the world. According to Richard M. Zubrycki, who first to introduce this idea, CBS implies that the offender must compensate the crime within the community where the crime was committed (2003). Another aim of CBS is to re-socialize the malefactor to prevent breaking the law again (Zubrycki, 2003, p. 105). Zubrycki also claimed that CBS should facilitate the rehabilitation of the criminals but also unlade the overcrowded prisons of Canada (2003, p. 98), which remains pertinent even today (McIntyre, 2016). The number of people incarcerated has been steadily growing since 2005 (World Prison Brief, 2014), so the imprisonment alternatives are particularly urgent now. Hence, this project discussed the rationale of Community-Based Sentencing, assesses it from the psychological perspective on crime, and presents a summarized policy position.
Rationale and Philosophy of Punishment
As it may be clearly tracked, CBS is based on retribution, rehabilitation, and restoration as the major aspects of its influence on offenders. However, according to Julian Roberts, the provisions of CBS are mostly focused on restoration as an ultimate tool of jurisdiction (2015). He also states that if the criminal rehabilitates and reattributes the damage caused to the victim, he or she also restores the welfare balance of community, which is also the affected party (Roberts, 2015). With a view to the prison-unlading strategy of Zubrycki (2003), CBS intends to reassign the resources spend on penitentiary activities to the community, as it includes all parties of the crime, so absorb all losses. Moreover, Howard Zehr states that the community may be the source of the crime by itself carrying illicit traditions and values (2015). Thus, restorative activities conducted in the course of CBS may also revitalize the criminogenic social groups.
Effectiveness Evaluation
To sum up, the provisions of CBS are more beneficial for all of the parties of the crime than conventional incarceration. This statement may be justified from the psychological perspective on the crime. The study conducted by Cesar J. Rebellon and his team showed that the quilt and anticipation to it prevent the crime intentions of adults (2016). In turn, guilt occurs only if the person is the part of society, and results in “deprecation of specific behaviors, actions, or thoughts” (Stotz, Elbert, Müller, & Schauer, 2015). Therefore, the community in CBS becomes a medium which acts as a catalyst for inner rehabilitation and re-socialization psychological processes within the offender. Moreover, the guilt will prevent the occurrence of further crimes, which increases the overall public safety. Taking into account that CBS also restitutes the damage to the victim, it results to be a comprehensive imprisonment alternative.
Initiative Presentation
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