Discuss in detail shock incarceration, explaining what it is, and who it is most used for.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

For certain offenders, the subjection to a loss of freedom is all that is needed to get
their lives in order. As a result, the mechanism used for its stunning value is that of
shock incarceration. Shock incarceration is a short term of incarceration followed by a
specified term of community supervision in hopes of deterring the offender from
recidivating. Because the brief stint of incarceration is meant to provide a sense of
punitive reality to the offender, most shock incarceration programs are designed for
juvenile offenders and those who have never been incarcerated before. Given the basic
tenets of shock incarceration, it is mostly used in the form of mixed sentencing. In this
case, offenders are given a short term of confinement and then placed on community
supervision to complete their term of probation or parole.
Under shock incarceration (sometimes called split sentencing), offenders are sentenced
to a term of confinement only to be released after a set time and ordered to serve the
remainder of their time on probation. The logic behind such action is that the offender
will develop a natural dislike of incarceration and will seek to abstain from criminal
behavior in hopes of avoiding such an unpleasant experience. Vito and Allen (1981)
hold that shock incarceration should be viewed as a viable intermediate sanction
because it (1) allows offenders the opportunity to realistically reintegrate into the
community, (2) continues positive connections with existing family, (3) decreases the
amount of time spent in prison, (4) decreases prison populations, and (5) decreases the
amount of funding spent on prisons. Research has demonstrated that at least three-
quarters of all shock incarceration programs have shown some effectiveness.