Rocha 1

Alba Rocha
English 123
Prof. Flores
Fall 2015
Annotated Bibliography

Alladina, Natasha. "The Use Of Electronic Monitoring In The Alaska Criminal Justice System: A
Practical Yet Incomplete Alternative To Incarceration." Alaska Law Review 28.1 (2011):
125-160. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.
In the article The Use of Electronic Monitoring in the Alaska Criminal Justice System
by Natasha Alladina, discusses an alternative to incarceration by using electronic monitoring.
Her suggestion is that it controls cost while maintaining public safety. However, offenders
should still be liable for the crimes committed and receive punishments that are just and also a
sense of reintegration and rehabilitation. By using electronic monitoring, offenders will be
serving time at home, and pay a cost per day for the EM. The system will be able to monitor and
make sure the offender adheres to a certain schedule. Alladina views the EM as more
economical than incarceration because offenders cover the cost of the EM sanction. Of course,
this will only apply to low risk offenders or non-violent criminals that have a desire to reintegrate
into society and do not want to return to jail. As always not everyone will qualify for this but
measure will be taken to see who meets the requirements.

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Clifford, Stephanie. "Holder, in Brooklyn, Pushes for More Alternatives to Prison." The New York
Times 2014: 28. InfoTrac Computer Database. Web. 12 Sept. 2015
The article written by Stephanie Clifford, says that in the state of New York they are in
favor of alternatives to incarceration for small crimes committed. US attorney general Eric H.
Holder Jr has pushed for alternatives to incarceration. By providing different programs they will
reduce cost saving in prisons and crime rate by giving people the opportunity to live a normal life
without crime. It is also a chance to redeem themselves and reduce the chances of them going back
to jail for the same crime. The programs that they have in mind are counseling for substance abuse,
rehabilitation programs and housing for those who live in the streets and are subject to be tempted
into crime all over again.
Jacobson, Michael. Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime and End Mass Incarceration.
New York and London: New York University Press, 2005. Print.
According to Michael Jacobson in the article Downsizing Prisons: How To Reduce
Crime and End Mass Incarceration, he argues that prison growth does not mean that crime is
reduce in cities such as New York. He discusses how parole systems are widely misunderstood in
terms of how they operate. Jacobson believes that in the state of California, there has to be
changes made to present policies pertaining to the incarceration subject. California holds the
largest prison population, due to the three strikes law that required life in prison for any 3rd
felony conviction. California Correctional Peace Officers Association is the most powerful
group in the state and before any changes can be done to present sentencing reform they have to
be submitted to the CCPOA. California also holds the highest record in budget crisis which have
to do with prisons and jails.

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Mauer, Marc. "Doing Good Instead Of Doing Time. Business & Society Review (00453609) 66
(1988): 22. Business Source Premier. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.
In the article Doing Good Instead Of Doing Time by Marc Mauer, focuses on finding
alternatives to those low level offenders that need help in setting their life in the right path. He
mentions about Yvonne Johnson of North Carolina, who focuses on helping criminals get lower
sentences or help such as community service, counseling, and restitution to victims for crimes
committed. According to Maurer, there is a Quiet Revolution caused by the rising cost of
incarceration in state and local jails. Another factor that is taken into consideration, is that due to
the overcrowding problem in jails, state is being sued for violation of 8th amendment due to the
confinement and conditions of jail. Experts in the field, argue that the reasons for mass
incarceration is to have a better condition and reduce crime. Now-a-days the sentencing and
parole policies are tougher to improve conditions.
Orrick, Erin, and Lynne Vieraitis. "The Cost Of Incarceration In Texas: Estimating The Benefits Of
Reducing The Prison Population." American Journal Of Criminal Justice 40.2 (2015):
399-415. Criminal Justice Abstracts. Web. 13 Sept. 2015.
In the article by Erin Orrick and Lynne Vieraitis, they discussed the ways they can
reconsider directing expenses towards reducing prison populations as a solution. Due to the increase
expansion of prisons and the high number of incarcerated prisoners some states have no budget.
They suggest that the state of Texas, in this case, should spend more money on public safety and
assistance to low level criminals. Some of the resources that they suggest is employment, substance
abuse counseling, education and housing, they believe that they can reduce crime and reduce having
an over population in prisons. If money is used efficiently it could prevent the need to build more
prisons and spend more money per day in each one.

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"Prisoners Dilemma." America 04 Aug. 2014: 5. Military & Government Collection. Web. 13 Sept.
2015.
Editorial piece with no authors name. USA being the country with the most prisoners
where over half of inmates are incarcerated for non-violent crimes should seek to provide resources
to reduce this amount. Too often the system fails to treat prisoners as human beings, they fail the
inmates and in some cases violate their 8th amendment, cruel and usual punishment. Their call for
action is to reform the prison and educate the inmates with more than just job skills and shorten
their sentences. Mainly this applies to minor offenses. Some other alternatives of incarceration to
those who suffer from addiction or mental illness to reduce the amount spent on each one.
Rivera, Carla. "California; Program Offers a Way Off the Street; City-Sponsored Project Provides
Alternative to Court for those Arrested in Petty- Crime Cases." Los Angeles TimesDec 26
2003. ProQuest. Web. 13 Sep. 2015.
Some people have no option than to go to jail and get served a hot meal and a bed to
sleep. Due to the lack of support they end up on the streets for many years. In the article by Carla
Rivera, she focus on the homeless in Los Angeles area. There is a program called Streets or
Services, which basically is sponsored by the city for non-violent and non-weapon offenses for
homeless people to turn their lives around. They are offer a bed in exchange for services provided to
the city such as picking up trash etc. John Roberts, executive director of P.A.T.H- People Assisting
the Homeless- hopes that this will break the cycle of arrest in aims to decrease the over
population in jails. People can chose to access those resources to stay away from the streets instead
of spending time in jail for minor offenses.

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Schwartz, Nancee S. "I Had A Dream: Alternatives To Prison Solution Program (APS) In The
Southern District Of California." Federal Probation 76.2 (2012): 13-14. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 13 Sept. 2015.
Nancee S. Schwartz in her article I Had A Dream: Alternatives To Prison Solution Program In
The Southern District of California argues, the need for remedial options for people. Programs
such as counseling, employment, support, and medical should be provided to low level offenders to
perhaps change their lives. In order to reduce the overcrowding in prisons some measures should be
taken into consideration. People in this programs are not treated like victims, they are punished for
their action yet given a chance to redeem themselves and do well. Punishments are lessons so that
the person who commits a crime could see that every action has a reaction. Yet there is always a
new way of living and changing their course.
Shapiro, Ian, and Stephen Wizner. "Better ways to end prison overcrowding than just releasing
inmates." Christian Science Monitor 30 June 2011: N.PAG. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 12 Sept. 2015.
In the article by Ian Shapiro and Stephen Wizner, they describe what happens when in
California they release inmates that dont belong in prison and that need help because of the hard
time they will have getting adjusted to the outside world. The US Supreme Court describes the
prison systems as shameful prison overcrowding, because they house some low level offenders
due to the three strikes law. California is the 17th highest rate of incarceration in the US.
Vitiello, Michael. "Alternatives To Incarceration: Why Is California Lagging Behind?." Georgia
State University Law Review 28. (2012): 1275. LexisNexis Academic: Law Reviews.
Web. 10 Sept. 2015.

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In Alternatives to Incarceration: Why is California lagging behind? Article by Michael

Vitiello, he discusses how California compares to other states when it comes to lighter sentences
and other alternatives to the overcrowding in prisons and mass incarceration in America. By the
introduction of the Three Strikes law in the 1990s, which was adopted by US to impose harder
sentences on repeated offender, California ended minimum sentence and exceeded long prisons
terms for low level criminals. The Vera Institute, which focuses on how to find alternatives to the
prisons overcrowding and reducing jail time for low level offenders, suggests to create alternative
programs that offer the same level of protection to the public at lower cost. In the state of
California, according to Vitiello, the highest prison rate in the country and the highest rate of
recidivism or people that return to prison for the same crime. In California due to the overcrowding
in State prisons many of them are shifting the responsibility to a county jail in certain number of
areas.

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