Charting a Course for Imprisonment Policy

Abstract

There is no coherent policy on the use of imprisonment in the United States or on its operation other than the interpretation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution by the federal courts. The absence of such a policy results in overcrowding and other abuses, made even more serious than ever by the increasing concentration of violent prisoners in the large penitentiaries of the more populous states. It is proposed here that the elements of a coherent policy should comprise appropriate restraint, differential security, middle-range planning, an integrated penal plan including community programs as well as incarceration, and the maintenance of public support. To assure that such a policy is continuously sustained, a commission on penal policy should be instituted in each state to plan and review legislative and policy changes.