Criminology - Criminal Courts And Prisons Essay

Criminology - Criminal Courts And Prisons - Essay Example It will be possible to determine whether indeterminate sentences can be defended; and whether life should mean life. According to Criminal Justice Alliance (2012), Wales and England register the highest prison population in Western Europe, hence prison overcrowding. Although the prison estate has attempted to address this situation, no major results have been achieved. Prison overcrowding occurs when prisons have to house a bigger number of inmates compared to the number they were designed for (Ashworth 2010). In addition, when there is no investment in prison building programmes, this leads to lack of capacity to accommodate inmates. Furthermore, inefficient bureaucracies in the management of prisons might be the cause of prison overcrowding. In England and Wales, indeterminate sentences have been considered to contribute to prison overcrowding (Ashworth 2010). Judges in Britain sent many people to prison between 1951 and 1980. This contributed to the high level of prison overcrowding experienced in the late 1970’s. However, this declined considerably starting 1981. This was because other alternatives such as fines, punishment, cautions, and community sentences as forms of punishment were adopted (Politics.co.uk 2012). In 1991, the Woolf report predicted that prison population would double from 44, 000 to 83,000 by 2008 (The Howard League of Penal Reform 2013). This led to the adoption of new measures in prisons in order to help prevent prison population from rising rapidly. The main measure adopted was early release. This measure was put into practice for less than one year and this registered a considerable reduction in the prison population. However, when the measures were dropped, the prison population began to surge again. Plans by the government to address this issue have continued to be thwarted. In January 2011, the prison p opulation was 82,991, compared to its holding capacity of 87,936 (Politics.co.uk 2012). The existence