1. Introduction
There are many different opinions on whether longer prison sentences are effective or whether light sentences are more effective. In some countries, the penalty for the same felony differs greatly. An example could be drug charges in the Netherlands compared to the United States. Where in the Netherlands you might only get a 1-year sentence, for the same felony you could be looking at 20 to life in the United States. This paper aims to examine different perspectives on the duration of prison sentences and the desired effect of those sentences.
Firstly, this paper goes into the advantages and advocates for longer prison sentences. Secondly, this paper takes a closer look at the downside and criticism of long prison sentences. Lastly, it ends with a conclusion to summarize what has been said.
2. Advocates
One of the most used arguments, in this case, is that long sentences ‘scare’ of potential criminals since the risk of committing crime significantly goes up. This stems from the assumption that most people are rational beings that make choices based on the Prospect Theory. This theory states one would only make a choice when the reward is greater than the risk.
Another argument that is used frequently is that it keeps criminals away from society. By removing someone who doesn’t follow society’s rules the society should in theory profit from this.
Lastly, many people feel like that criminals should get punished harshly. This is one of the core principles of prison sentences, to begin with, the sentences need to be satisfactory to the victims of the said perpetrator. An example of this could be Phudit Kittitradilok, he swindled over 1300 people for over 150 million baht in total in 2007. He got sentenced to an astounding 13 275 years in prison. There is no way he will ever fully serve this sentence but for his victims, it was satisfactory that he got such a long sentence.
3. Criticism
One major point of criticism is that longer prison sentences don’t offer the opportunity to rehabilitate. By putting a criminal in jail for 20 years, surrounded by people who have similar ideas and mindsets, one does not just go back to simple jobs because he doesn’t know anything else than crime at that point.
Also, when taking a look at the number of police officers who died on duty in the U.S. compared to the Netherlands the difference becomes clear. In the U.S. twelve officers died in the line of duty in 2019. Seven of those cases were firearm-related. In the Netherlands, there hasn’t been a death on duty for over 5 years. In the last year, only one police officer got stabbed but it wasn’t even a major injury. This leads a lot of people to conclude that when people have a lot to lose they are willing to take more desperate measures to prevent this from happening. Imagine a police chase ending and the perpetrator knowing he has to serve the rest of his life in prison, the chances of him going for a shootout significantly go up compared to knowing you’d only have a lighter sentence.
3. Conclusion
There are different views on whether longer prison sentences have the desired effect. Because there is not a clear answer to that question, sentences differ from county to country. Some advocates motivate their opinion from a standpoint of risk/reward while others seem to look more closely at the societal advantage of incarceration criminals. Another view is that longer sentences lead to more satisfaction with the victims of the criminals.
On the other side, many people feel one of the main reasons for prisons is to offer the ability to rehabilitate back into society. With a very long sentence, this proves to be challenging. Also, it could lead to more violence because the risk is so great, people might be willing to take more drastic measures to avoid the harsh penalties.
All in all, there is no definitive answer which of the two is better, longer sentences or short sentences. This is a field where still extensive research is being done and judging on what the desired effect of the sentence is (punishment or rehabilitation) there are very polarizing views.
Another interesting topic provided in this article. I can understand that there is no clear conclusion since there are too many viewpoints to consider. It is near impossible to choose either one of the options.
According to me, the answer lies in the solution where the person in prison is rehabilitating in contrast to just waiting until his sentence ends.
These people should be able to go back into society as soon as possible since that is the most ethical solution when they have not harmed another person before like murder. Another reason is that keeping them in prison costs the government a lot of money.
Would be interesting to combine this article with Lucas’ article about the death penalty!
Thankyou for your article. I like that you chose the topic of incarceration as it is important to understand what societies goals are with incarceration. Is it rehabilitation or simply just distancing from society? Even though it is satisfactory for the victim to hear about the length of a sentence received, I do not think that it is good to give unreasonably long sentences as this jeopardizes the safety of our police officers and in turn our society. As you mentioned in your article people that know that they will face a long sentence go to greater lengths to try to get out of it during a chase which can potentially be life threatening for not only police officers but for innocent people are in the wrong place at the wrong time.