Punishment_vs_Rehabilitation

Punishment versus Rehabilitation Robin Valdivia University of Phoenix Survey of Justice and Security CJA 500 Arnold Wicker, Sr. January 17, 2010 Abstract In this paper, I will discuss and debate the issues of punishment versus rehabilitation. Specifically pointing out how these issues affect the deterrence of crime, the impact upon victims and their families, the impact upon the offender, the social impact upon society, and the fiscal impact upon society. Let us look at two schools of criminology; classical and positive. The classical school proposes that punishment works to deter and the positive school proposes that rehabilitation works to reduce recidivism. Is there enough evidence that both schools of criminology will work or is it only one specific school' Punishment versus Rehabilitation Two of four objectives in the criminal justice system are that of rehabilitation and punishment, and this society has high expectations that the system will live up to those expectations. Everyone in the criminal justice arena and the public has ideas and opinions on what will work and what won’t work when it comes time to punish or rehabilitate criminals, and there are pros and cons to this debate. In this paper, punishment and rehabilitation will be addressed in consideration of appropriateness. Deterrence Being one of the primary goals of the criminal justice system, deterrence has the purpose of specifically instilling fear into the offender, in the hopes of not committing future crimes. General deterrence is to punish the offender to instill fear into our society by teaching and showing society what the consequences can be when committing a crime. Punishment has been part of our society that goes as far back as in the days before Christ. Punishment is based on the idea that it will deter people from committing crimes or repeating those acts. The most common form of punishment is to incarcerate a criminal for a certain time, but research has shown that “recidivism amongst convicted felons following release from prison is as high as 63%” and most of the inmates had arrest records and convictions prior to the incarceration of their current offense (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1989). Incarceration is a punishment that is a temporary fix during the confinement of the offender. It has been debated that a maximum sentence of life or a sentence of death is or can be deterrence to crime. Underlying factors in the criminal justice system that contribute to the effectiveness of punishment can be due to the appeals process with death penalty cases and the lengthy time offenders sit on death row. Rehabilitation is a permanent fix in deterring crime, others would argue. Community supervision as rehabilitation can have a long-term effect on offenders, deterring them from future criminal behavior, learning to adapt in society because of acquiring academic or trade skills. Rehabilitation programs can help offenders find jobs and allow the offender to have a sense of existence in the community. Another form of rehabilitation to help the process of deterrence is for the offender to engage in therapy, which can include; drug therapy for those offenders that have substance abuse addictions, and psychological counseling for those who have been abused or are abusive. Rehabilitation can create change in the offenders’ view in which the crime is no longer a desire or activity they wish to participate in. Probation can offer the offender to be self-supporting in their community whereas the taxpayer and states money is not used to house the offender. Impact upon victims and their families Victims have been overlooked for a long time, because of the rights of the accused. In the past, the courts concern have been to make sure the accused knows their Constitutional rights that include; “the right to a speedy trial, the right to counsel, the right to confront witnesses, and due process under the law” (Larrabee, 2006, p. 1). In the past, victim’s rights were not recognized or as important during the process of trials. The courts found victims to be an inconvenience, ignoring them during court proceedings, and at times the victims were forced to leave or stay out of the court room during the proceedings. The victims believed to be rejected and re-victimized by these acts of ignorance. In 2004, specifically on October 30th, President Bush signed into law the, Crime Victims’ Rights Act, which guaranteed right to victims of federal crime. The rights enacted include; to be reasonably protected from the accused offender, and to receive reasonable and timely notice of any public proceeding involving the crime or of any public proceeding (Larrabee, 2006, p. 1). Victims and the majority of society would rather have an offender receive swift punishment than to be rehabilitated through some type of probation. More than three-quarters of our society believe primarily that punishment is the best sentence an offender recieves. More than 70 % believe prison is the only way an offender will not commit future crimes and more than three-quarters feel the courts are too easy on criminals (Larrabee, 2006, p. 1). Victims and the families of the victims often have emotional stress if an offender is not given a proper sentence. When restitution involved and the offender cannot pay it because of incarceration or lack of job skills, this causes financial strain on the victims and their family. Probation for an offender can benefit victims when the offender is supervised out in the community and they can work to pay off the restitution. Probation can also offer other programs to the offender that will benefit the victim and their families through programs like the Victim Impact Panel. The panel speaks face-face with the offender and victim in the hopes to mediate and have resolution and in hopes that the offender will understand how their criminal act affected the victim. The crime committed can range from shoplifting to murder. Impact upon the offender and the offender’s family When an offender’s punishment is incarceration it has many effects on the offender, psychologically. Depression is one affect incarceration can have because of being separated from their immediate family. Incarceration as a punishment can also cause social disconnect, and increase the risk of recidivism. It also hurts the family structure, especially when it is a parent who is incarcerated and leaves the other parent to raise his or her children in a one parent home. After incarceration, the offender faces the risk of; social isolation, and stigmatism. They also have the challenge of obtaining employment. Probation can allow the offender to stay in the home and continue to support their family financially, all while being closely supervised. Social impact upon society A brief description of social impact upon society could be; if a person is in a room full of people and the majority agrees with the subject matter, most likely he or she will be in agreement to avoid an argument. In regard to the social impact of punishment and rehabilitation, it varies because of cost increases of prisons, disruption of families, to the fear of offenders being released back into the community. Just as society’s beliefs in the “just desserts” theory played a role in the courts, so has it played a major role in the criminal justice system. “Getting tough on crime” was a big push from society, which entered political campaigns, in which society wanted to see different mandatory sentencing practices. An increase in building prisons is also because of social impact upon society regarding punishment versus rehabilitation. Fiscal impact upon society Punishment by incarceration has had an enormous fiscal impact in our country. $30,000 a year is spent on prisoners to house, feed, clothe and, supervise. Construction of prisons is not included in that dollar figure. Rehabilitation programs recently introduced help to deter crime and to reduce the high and ongoing cost of punishment. To reduce the cost of incarceration, privatizing prisons may be an option, but alternative programs to incarceration, such as boot or shock camps may also be an option and lower the cost of rehabilitation programs. A New York State shock incarceration camp estimates they save $10,000 per year versus traditional incarceration, and implementing intense parole programs can save and estimated 10 to 13 thousand dollars per year to taxpayers (Larrabee, 2006, p. 2). In conclusion, the information presented is twofold. Punishment and rehabilitation can work in tandem because they both play a vital role in the criminal justice system. Punishment and rehabilitation is important to incorporate in order to effectively control crime. Punishment needs to be followed by rehabilitation by placing the offender on parole or probation, depending on the type of crime committed. An appropriate sentence will help deter the offender from committing future crimes. Therefore, I believe that punishment and methods of rehabilitation should be used together to deter crime effectively. References Larrabee, A. K. (2006). Punishment vs Rehabilitation in the Criminal Justice System. Retrieved from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/89124/punishment_vs_rehabilitation_in_the.html'cat=17 Tan, N. (2008). Rehabilitation vs Retribution. Retrieved January 17, 2010, from http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php'topicid=307