Imprisonment is More Effective than Rehabilitation

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Two of the United States correctional system functions are punishment and rehabilitation. Black's Law Dictionary describes punishment as: "Any pain, penalty, suffering, or confinement inflicted upon a person by the authority of the law and the judgment and sentencing of a court, for some crime or offense committed by him, or for his omission of a duty enjoyed by law". In recent years we have all but eliminated the pain and suffering found in this definition. We have now come to think of punishment as the penalty and confinement one suffers for committing a crime. They define rehabilitation as: "Restore something to its normal or near normal capabilities after a disabling event occurs". In this context, the person we are trying to restore is the criminal. When we send someone to rehabilitation we are trying to return them to a normal or non-criminal capacity. This paper will clarify three questions regarding this subject. 1) How does the correction system punish offenders? 2) How does the correction system rehabilitate offenders? 3) Which method is more effective in reducing crime?

How we, as people of the court, punish criminals depends on the circumstances of the individual case. Crimes of a state level are prosecuted by the State District Attorney because they are considered offences against society. The punishment for these crimes are regulated by state statutes. In Maine this statute is Title 17-A: Maine Criminal Code and separates crimes into the following categories: Murder, Classes A, B, C, D, E, and Infractions. Murder, and Class A, B, C crimes are heard through the state superior court. Whereas, Classes D, E and Infractions are heard through the district court. According to Title 17-A murder is punishable by incarce...

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...eles: SAGE 2009.eBook, Data: eBook Collection: Found at http://ehis.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/eds/results?sid=4074fdc5-0c13-46ba-b18a- 1db5ffc81986%40sessionmgr112&vid=1&hid=106&bquery=criminal+rehabilitation&bd ata=JmNsaTA9RlQmY2x2MD1ZJnR5cGU9MCZzaXRlPWVkcy1saXZl

State of Maine Judicial Branch: Criminal Case, found at http://www.courts.state.me.us/maine_courts/district/crimial.html

Schmalleger, Frank J. Criminal Justice Today: An Introductory Text for the 21st Century, 11/e VitalSource ebook for Kaplan University. Pearson Learning Solutions. VitalBook file.

United States Sentencing Committee, 2013 USSG Guideline Manual, Chapter One - Introduction, Authority, and General Application Principles, Part B -General Application Principals, S1B1.9, Class B or C, Misdemeanors and Infractions: found at http://www.ussc.gov/Guidelines/2013_Guidelines/index.cfm

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