A Term Of Imprisonment Is The Absolute Penalty Open To The State When Imposing A Punishment On A Person Who Has Committed A Criminal Offence.
A term of imprisonment is the absolute penalty open to the state when imposing a punishment on a person who has committed a criminal offence. The financial cost of imprisoning an offender places a heavy burden on the tax payers of the country. If prisons are to be described as ‘universities of crime’ in contemporary Ireland, as suggested by McCullagh (1996) it is important not only for financial but also societal reasons, that this argument is investigated. It would be useful to gain an understanding of the objectives of sentencing, in determining whether or not it should be used as a sanction of last resort, as suggested by McCullagh (1996).
The Irish Prison Service is responsible for the provision of a protected secure custody of people who have been found guilty of a crime by the courts and are sent to prison. The Irish Prison Service has responsibility for sixteen prisons and other places where people may be detained. The yearly budget the prison system receives in Ireland is in the region of three hundred million euros. As many as three thousand four hundred people are employed in the Irish prison system to look after, approximately three thousand one hundred prisoners. (Irish prisons website, 2006).
There are four main objectives put forward for the punishment of a prison sentence in Ireland. Conor Hanley in his book ‘An Introduction to Irish Criminal Law’ describes them as, ‘Incapacitation’, ‘Rehabilitation’, ‘Deterrence’ and ‘Retribution’. ‘Incapacitation’ is used mainly for serious offences. ‘Incapacitation’ stops offenders from re-offending because they are locked up and taken out of normal society. ‘Rehabilitation’ is an attempt to change or reform the prisoner through a range of services, examples of these being counselling or education. ‘Rehabilitation’ which was the most favoured form of punishment in the 1950’s and 1960’s is based on the premise that when a person is...
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