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chance to a second life.
While solving criminals personal problems to help integrate them into society once more is arguably the morally correct thing to do, the argument of justice is still in question. Prisons that mainly focus on punishment are based on the premise that inmates should suffer to allow the nature of their wrongdoing to sink in. The purpose is to make criminals feel like their life is taken away from them; that they are not even a person any more. Rehabilitation, on the other hand, focuses more on the idea of fixing and moving forward rather than staying in the same place.The overall goal for rehabilitation is for the output to be greater than the input. Instead of making the criminal feel worthless and hopeless, rehabilitation works on changing the mindset of the individual to make them realize what they did was unjust. While I truly believe that justice is a fair desire to obtain, I more so believe in the hope for the future. A study done by McCorkle (1993) using opinion polls revealed that the public holds a strong punishment orientation towards criminals. While I understand that citizens may wish to seek revenge on those who have wronged them by seeing them rot in a prison, if we were to only focus on the negative actions of individuals and then not help them right their previous wrongs, we are giving no hope to a future with the idea that people can change.
The issues discussed above in relation to punishment and rehabilitation in prisons included prisoners' personal issues, the futures of criminals, and granting society the justice it desires. The controversy surrounding this topic among the public is an ongoing dilemma that will most likely not be resolved without compromise. However, if we are able to move society along a path of open-mindedness and humanistic beliefs, it is plausible to say that there is hope that my belief of rehabilitation triumphing over punishment within prisons has a chance at coming out on top.However, in the end, one can only hope that the final decision is in the best interest for citizens and criminals alike.
References
Elison, S., Davies, G., Ward, J., Weston, S., Dugdale, S., & Weekes, J. (2016). Using the "recovery" and "rehabilitation" paradigms to support desistance of substance- involved offenders:exploration of dual and multi-focus interventions. Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, 2(4). 274-290.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jcrpp-09-2016-0021
Esherick, J., Sullivan, L., & Culotta, P. Prisoner rehabilitation (1st ed.).McCorkle, R. (1993). Research Note: Punish and Rehabilitate? Public Attitudes Toward Six Common Crimes. Crime & Delinquency, 39(2), 240-252.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0011128793039002008
Zinger, I. (2016). Human Rights and Federal Corrections: A Commentary on a Decade of Tough on Crime Policies in Canada. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 58(4).609-627.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2016.e06
1) Paragraph 3. The paragraph begins with the statement: "The world is obsessed with right and wrong."
Is this a convincing statement? Why or why not?
A. It is convincing because the reader knows that the statement is factual common knowledge that does not require evidence for support.B. It may be true, but it is presenting the author's opinion as if it were a fact and generalizing about the people of the world without any evidence.
2) Paragraph 1. The essay begins with a general, but somewhat imprecise, statement: "Prisons were originally made to hold those individuals who were involved in some sort of crime."
Which of the following would add more precision to the statement?
A. Prisons were originally made to hold those individuals who were found guilty of committing the most serious crimes.B. Prisons were originally made to hold those individuals who were involved in specific crimes.
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