Every nation uses some form of social compact theory. The social compact theory is essentially the idea that we need police protection at some level in order to have an orderly society. However, the degree to which this theory is applied ranges greatly across nations, as many nations such as the United States incarcerate a huge number of its citizens. There are multiple reasons that countries imprison people. While deterrence and rehabilitation are regularly used as the altruistic reasons for imprisonment, there are also political issues that can impact the number of individuals who actually have time taken off of their lives.
Reducing Crime
The primary general concept that governments use in addressing crime reduction is to outlaw certain behavior. Illegal behavior can be more than just acts that are perpetrated among the members of society. Obvious law violations such as armed robbery and murder are always prosecuted vigorously and result in harsh penalties in most cases. However, that is not always the case, as many criminals are able to escape prosecution when they can retain a criminal defense attorney who can craft reasonable doubt into the state’s case. Many times this potential influences prosecutors to request the highest punishment possible in a typical case that could be settled for far less incarceration time.
Should we imprison for Rehabilitation
Most prison sentences are the result of basic crime and punishment theory. When they do the crime, they do the time. Rehabilitation is something that governments would like to see as a natural outcome of imprisonment, but that is rarely the case. Many criminals learn how to be a more efficient criminal while in jail.
Deterrence
One of the main reasons that government imprisons its citizens is to deter people from committing crimes.
Politics
This may be the real reason so many people are incarcerated, at least the United States. The U.S. is an assembly of 50 states that also have state legislative assemblies. All members are elected officials and use stringent criminal legislation actions as a method of being continually reelected to the position. In addition, there has been a flurry of sentence enhancements regarding certain crimes within the U.S., and each state addresses the issues as they wish. The final result has been a general over-classification of certain crimes as felonies that should actually be scheduled as misdemeanors.