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Punishment Fails, Rehabilitation Works
As defined in the dictionary, rehabilitation is the process of changing or reforming a criminal through socialization. Rather than keeping prisoners in jail or isolation for a long period of time, the rehabilitation process allows people to learn how to live appropriately in society without causing trouble to others. There are many other options for people who commit crimes besides being sent to jail or being punished. Some of these alternatives to prisons include a combination of prison and probation, community-based programs, and diversion strategies.
Many institutions are more likely to use alternatives because they save more money than the jails cost, they strengthen families and communities, and it has been proven that they have reduced crime. An example of a popular alternative for criminals is a drug court, which provides court-supervised drug treatments to offenders with substance abuse problems. There is also probation, where the offender is allowed in the community but has been given restrictions. For the criminals who have spent much time in jail already, the officials would probably request that they be sent to a halfway house. Halfway houses are used to socialize the person into living in neighborhoods, rather than living in the jail cells. Another option for offenders would be to be put under house arrest, which requires them to stay in their homes unless given permission to leave by officials. A common known alternative to prison is community service, when offenders either pay off a fine or are punished by doing unpaid work for the community.
Despite all of the other options available to criminals, many people believe that punishment is the only answer. However, statistics sho...
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...habilitation is far more efficient than any kind of punishment towards crime. However, I also agree that certain crimes call for certain measures, which is why there are many alternatives available for offenders. Everyone deserves a second chance to life and these alternatives will give criminals that needed opportunity. While some people are committed to the idea that punishment is the only solution, I suggest that they put themselves in the offender’s shoes. Yes, not everyone is likely to commit serious crimes – however, many people commit crimes because of mental or even drug problems. These people do not ask to have these disabilities and they certainly do not ask to be sent to prison for the majority of their lives. Mistakes happen, and while some of these mistakes can be major, everyone deserves a chance to set things right, both for society and for themselves.
Rehabilitation also involves programs in prisons that have the goal of helping offenders return back to society (Goff, 2014, p.20). Prisons have also put in place programs to assist inmates, “the goal of these release programs are to ease the transition of offenders from the institution into the community while simultaneously promoting stable employment after release” (Cullen & Jonson, 2011, p.309). If a person has been in an institution for a long period of time it is often hard to adjust to life outside, which is why these programs are important in the justice
Every civilization in history has had rules, and citizens who break them. To this day governments struggle to figure out the best way to deal with their criminals in ways that help both society and those that commit the crimes. Imprisonment has historically been the popular solution. However, there are many instances in which people are sent to prison that would be better served for community service, rehab, or some other form of punishment. Prison affects more than just the prisoner; the families, friends, employers, and communities of the incarcerated also pay a price. Prison as a punishment has its pros and cons; although it may be necessary for some, it can be harmful for those who would be better suited for alternative means of punishment.
The offender should be held responsible for their actions, and should be taken out of society to complete their punishment. I am torn between which system I believe does the most good. I used to believe that no contact with the outside world would always be the best punishment. They committed a crime, and they should pay for it. These days, people with a record can have a very hard time bettering their life after jail or prison. Having some contact with other prisoners, society, and a means to work inside can help with this. It really comes down to whether you believe criminals should be able to start fixing their mistakes during or after their punishment. The cost of these systems is different and should not be ignored, but for my assessment of the systems I have not included a difference in price. This is mostly because I feel as though there are cuts that could potentially be made to make the costs more
Wilson, James. “Do the time, lower the crime” Too many people behind bars? The statistics suggest otherwise (2008) 1-3. Print.
Panel on Research on Deterrent and Incapacitate Effects (1978), Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates National Academy of Science, Washington DC
As some criminologists have debated, the methods and approaches to crime control have failed miserably. They are of the opinion that the criminal justice system fails in achieving its aims in rehabilitating criminal offenders. For example, a report made in the U.K claimed that 58 per cent of the prisoners released in 1997 were convicted of another crime (SEU, 2000). Some argue that it seems for the criminal justice system there is only one answer to crime control, a prison sentence. Nevertheless, some question how accurate this method is for some crimes in society. That is to say, that for certain crimes, taking the consumption of marijuana as an example, a prison sentence is not the solution, rehabilitating individuals should be the main priority and in certain cases if not the only
There is a common knowledge that capital punishment would prevent people from committing crime. But until now, there has not been any actual statistics or scientific researches that prove the relationship between the capital punishment and the rate of crimes. According to Jack Weil, “criminals, who believe that their chances of going to jail are slight, will in all probability also assume that their chances of being executed are equally slight. Their attitude that crime pays will in no way be altered” (3). Most people commit a crime when they are affected by the influence of drugs, alcohol or even overwhelmed emotions, so they cannot think logically about they would pay back by their lives. Also, when criminal plan to do their crime, they prepare and expect to escape instead of being caught. Some people believe that the threat of severe punishment could bring the crime rates down and that capital punishment is the ultimate crime deterrent. However, in fact, the rate of ...
Throughout history, it has become very clear that the tough on crime model just does not work. As stated by Drago & Galbiati et al. In their article: Prison Conditions and Recidivism, although it is...
This research seeks to establish whether making the penalty stiff will work in repeating repeat and future offenders. This research is tied to a larger theory that harsh punishments act as a deterrent to crime. They work by making people not commit a crime for fear of the punishment that is going to follow. This research is applicable across many facets of crimes that are rampant. It is going to help identify whether enacting stricter laws and enforcing them helps in reducing the relate...
More are sentencing options are great because just like every person is different, so is the crime. Prison may not always be the most effective response for people, so If courts have options other than incarceration, “they can better tailor a cost-effective sentence that fits the offender and the crime, protects the public, and provides rehabilitation” (FAMM, 2011). Findings have also proven that alternative saves taxpayers money. “It costs over $28,000 to keep one person in federal prison for one year1 (some states’ prison costs are much higher). Alternatives to incarceration are cheaper, help prevent prison and jail overcrowding, and save taxpayers millions” (FAMM, 2011, para. 3). Lastly, alternatives protect the public by reducing crime. There is a 40% chance that all people leaving prison will go back within three years of their release (FAMM, 2011). “Alternatives to prison such as drug and mental health courts are proven to confront the underlying causes of crime (i.e., drug addiction and mental illness) and help prevent offenders from committing new crimes” (FAMM, 2011, para.
Many observers have drawn a simple correlation between these two trends. Putting more offenders in prison caused the reduction in crime. The Sentencing project has just completed a study that examines this issue in great detail and concludes that any such correlation is ambiguous at best. In examining the relationship between incarceration and crime in the 1990s the picture is complicated by the seven year period just prior to this, 1984-91. In this period, incarceration also rose substantially, at a rate of 65%. Yet crime rates increased during this time as well, by 17% nationally. Thus we see a continuous rise in incarceration for fourteen years, during which crime rose for seven years, then declined for seven years. This does not suggest that incarceration had no impact on crime, but any such connection is clearly influenced by other factors. A comparison with other nations is instructive in this rega...
During the 1970s, the top argument in favor of the death penalty was general deterrence. This argument suggests that we must punish offenders to discourage others from committing similar offenses; we punish past offenders to send a message to potential offenders. In a broad sense, the deterrent effect of punishment is thought to b...
Crime is an extremely prominent part of American society. Recorded activity within the US saw 10,329,135 (1,246,248 violent crimes and 9,082,887 property crimes) crimes perpetrated with 62.5% of all violent crimes pertained to aggravated assault and 68.2% of all property crimes were considered larceny-theft in 2010. (FBI.2011) Despite the large number of crimes the United States also has the largest number of incarcerated citizens per capita in the world with nearly a quarter of the world’s prisoners coming from the United States’ 5% of the world population. This is due to much harder punishments in the US than those that are given a shorter longer period of incarceration or merely fined in other countries.(Liptak 2008) Due to the prevalence of crime in the US, economists have used models to explain the behavior and ramifications of government actions and the motivations behind crime and its effect on society that psychologists and sociologists are usually unable to address.
(Stojkovic and Lovell 2013) The pros of rehabilitation are of course the fact that it is successfully most of the time and is beneficial to society when a person can go from being a criminal to being a productive member of society like a preacher or teacher. The cons are some people just don’t want to change so rehabilitating them is nearly impossible and even there are those that cannot be because they suffer from mental issues or enjoy committing crimes too much to want to change. (Stojkovic and Lovell
Punishing the unlawful, undesirable and deviant members of society is an aspect of criminal justice that has experienced a variety of transformations throughout history. Although the concept of retribution has remained a constant (the idea that the law breaker must somehow pay his/her debt to society), the methods used to enforce and achieve that retribution has changed a great deal. The growth and development of society, along with an underlying, perpetual fear of crime, are heavily linked to the use of vastly different forms of punishment that have ranged from public executions, forced labor, penal welfare and popular punitivism over the course of only a few hundred years. Crime constructs us as a society whilst society, simultaneously determines what is criminal. Since society is always changing, how we see crime and criminal behavior is changing, thus the way in which we punish those criminal behaviors changes.