Politicians in response to community fears have introduced legislation to send serious juvenile offenders to adult facilities.
Judges have been sending offenders to jail for terms of several months rather than for symbolic stays of a few days, which had been common.
When we send offenders to overcrowded prisons (at about the same cost as college), they simply learn to become better criminals.
The sheriff sent nonviolent juvenile offenders to work off their fines, and Houston residents turned out in force.
Britain rejected sending fixed term convicts, but offered to send first offenders in the final years of their terms.
In many cases, it is prosecutors who have discretion to send offenders to treatment, instead of filing charges that could lead to jail time.
Step forward Kenneth Clarke, with plans to empower courts to send offenders to new secure training centres.
So his second reason is we send offenders to prison to render them incapable of committing crimes.
The police have been very good at arresting people, and the courts have been sending offenders to prisons in record numbers.
Others urged changes in the criminal justice system like alternative sentences to avoid sending nonviolent offenders to crowded prisons.