Since the dawn of time law enforcement agents have captured 'criminals' and assigned punishment fitting for their crime. Have these actions truly reduced crime? Studies suggest that traditional methods including incarceration are not effective for reducing crime and if anything may increase the overall crime rate or risk of repeat crime from offenders once released from prison (Tonry, 2000).

             Despite these facts the number of people incarcerated every year for petty and serious offenses is growing. As mentioned previous within the West more citizens are incarcerated than in any other region of the world. This suggests that crime is on the rise and jail terms are not stopping the rates of recidivism. Studies suggest that jails are increasingly overcrowded and resources are lacking for supporting even the current criminal base (Tonry, 2000). Is creating new prisons a solution? Not necessarily. Creating new prisons would only exacerbate the problem, increasing the number of criminals incarcerated but not helping reform criminals or reduce the rates of repeat offenses. .

             Creation of new prisons isn't an option anyway in most areas of the country. Many state budgets are stretched so thin they can't afford to house repeat offenders, hence jail terms are prematurely shorted making room for new offenders in many cases (Kupers & Reynolds, 1999). This may contribute to increasing crime rates as prisoners realize they will not been punished for significant lengths of time if incarcerated anyway due to overcrowding. Many may view prison as a brief respite from their activity and actually learn new ways of conducting more serious crimes while imprisoned (Tonry, 2000). Recent reports suggest that crime is increasingly on the rise also among juvenile offenders, who if not properly rehabilitated end up reverting to crime and becoming incarcerated for adult criminal activity (Kupers & Reynolds, 1999).