Poll: Should prison serve as punishment, or should it be used for rehabilitation instead?

[Spleenboy]

Rehabilitate might not be the best word here, seeing as some criminals cannot be restored to 'normal', since they were never 'normal'.

Anyway, the aim of rehabilitation is to alter the behaviour of the criminals so that they will not commit any further crimes.

Punishments are used as deterrents, that is, they are used to alter the behaviour of the one being punished, so that they will avoid the action that caused the punishment in future. As such, the two are not mutually exclusive.

That said, imprisonment should not be used as just a punishment, rather, it should be used to rehabilitate the prisoner as best as possible, perhaps using punishments to further that goal.

 

[Sporky111]

I think for some, rehabilitation is the best choice. For others, it wouldn't do any good and punishment is what's needed. Unfortunately modern justice systems don't allow room for people to make those kinds of judgements on someone's personality.

Besides, prison isn't about punishment (aside from the people who file lawsuits for trivial reasons). It's more about getting dangerous people away from the rest of society.

 

[ApeShapeDeity]

Broadly, I'm going to say both. (After all, not all lessons are fun to learn!)

It's a problematic area, though. Firstly, prisons ARE expensive to run, next, they're run by government bureaucracies. As we know, these orginisations only run as well as their government spurs and funds them to run, and the government usually doesn't care about the long term... they care about the next term.

I think ideally, prison should be a tiered system. A deep, dark, 'you're never getting out' hole for the worst of the worst (like an oubliette) Then with incremental diffferences, which can be earned through socially acceptable behaviour. With the scale ending in essentilly a gated community, where prisoners are treated largely like they could expect "back in the world".

At all levels of this system I also believe that some sort of labour should be required ofthe prisoners to;
A) help pay for their incarceration
B) help to make amends for their deeds
C) get them used to the idea of working for a living.
Further more, I'd say that willingness and effeciveness of work should be reinfoced.

BTW: I'm also an advocate for military service. It must however be volintary, endorsed by the judge and approved by a military selection panel...

 

[AngloDoom]

Both?

Scolding a child without telling it what it's done is useless. The same applies.

 

[Eldan]

The purpose of prison is isolation, not punishment. Rehabilitation is secondary.

 

[Zanaxal]

Rehabilitation for anything that isn't intentional murder or grievous bodily harm, some people might grow up in a bad neighbourhood and community which wouldn't be their own fault. I for one think where i live the leaniancy given in my country (usually only a few weeks in prison if that, suspended licence for a couple of months) to reckless driving or driving over someone often under the influence is appaling, They should never get the chance to drive again if they're willing to get Impaired or risk other peoples life due to their own lazyness/severe lack of judgment. Atleast have extensive training and a very long time before they get a license again. Oh and a long prison stay.

 

[Blemontea]

Ive always felt like criminals in some cases treat prison as a second home and will purposely be caught to go back in. BUT rehabilitation is a broad term sometimes criminals are clockwork oranged into not doing bad. If there is a non CO Style of rehabilitation then i would say make prison use that. as for now the prison punishment is best we can get.

 

[thiosk]

Of course it should be rehabilitation.

Problem is, who really WANTS to rehabilitate someone? If that person is you, please sign up. I sure don't. From a practical standpoint, its way easier to throw away the key.

 

[SoranMBane]

Depends on what they did. For violent criminals like murderers or sexual predators, it should be a punishment, because people like that have forfeited their rights as a citizen through their actions and can not be allowed back into normal society. For relatively nonviolent crimes like drug dealing (which shouldn't be a crime anyway) or theft, rehabilitation is the way to go, since there may still be hope for that individual.

 

[ultrachicken]

Everyone is scared to hell of going to prison, but they still commit crimes.This is because people who commit crimes don't expect to be caught. Until that's fixed, it doesn't matter how bad the punishments are, because they're not preventing crime, only avenging it. And then, when a prisoner is released, he has learned nothing, save for how the government has treated him. He returns to prison again later on for doing something stupid.

We should not base our prisons around some barbaric sense of vengeance, but the prevention of future crimes.

 

[warprincenataku]

Rehabilitation rarely works. A good portion of the time convicts after being released have a down period before repeating whatever offense landed them in prison in the first place.

A lot of times we do good things because we are afraid of punishment, be it from prison or from the afterlife. Either way, the fear of punishment is usually the main deterrent for not committing a crime. Rehabilitation is fine in theory, but for the most part, people need punishments for their negative behavior.

It's funny, I just taught a class on this subject and the majority of the class sided with punishment instead of rehabilitation.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

It should probably feature several forms of institutions, depending on length of sentence and type of crime.

More somewhat "open" institutions for shorter sentences, first time offenders, non-violent types of crimes etc. which focus on rehabilitating them through education, stable environments, psychological evaluation, help for abuse of stimulants etc.

Traditional stereotypical types of prison for the more hardcore offenders, those with long sentences who are repeat offenders and violent threats. The focus should be on keeping those away from society, once the rehabilitation process have been tried and failed for their first offences.

highly agree to this.

if your caught for doing some bad rape/murder/ (other really really bad stuff)

then i support death penalty, why waste resources on you when you obviously aren't worth it anymore, it's basically giving you a free ride through life after that.

 

[Stammer]

To me, I find punishment is rehabilitation in and of itself. If the punishment is great enough, a person will be a lot less likely to execute that crime again. Especially if he knows he won't get away with it ever again.

Of course, this only really works if prison is actually punishment in and of itself. Which from what I've heard, is seriously not the case. Apart from taking away your freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want:
- You get 3 square meals a day
- You get a roof over your head
- You continue to make money from any income sources you previously had
- You do not ever have to pay money
- You may even have some luxuries that you didn't have before such as video games

And on top of all that, once you're out of prison it's almost as if you'd never been in there.

 

[ikey]

Well, technically prisoners are slaves to the United States. This is probably not true anymore, but I don't know. Just puttin it out there.

OT: Personally I think they should go through rehabilitation if they're not repeat offenders. Maybe after the second offense, but it just seems useless if they keep going to jail. If it sounds like I have no idea what I'm talking about, you're probably right.

 

[Dwarfman]

So, I am taking an intro to sociology class (because I like that type of stuff, and I need the social science credits), and we recently started talking about crime and deviance. One of the topics mentioned was whether the prison should serve as punishment, or should it be used to rehabilitate the prisoners. So I was curious: what does the Escapist community think? Should prison serve as punishment or rehabilitation?

Both.

Incarceration is a punishment, you aren't an alcoholic, you are someone responsible for vehiclular manslaughter, therefore you are going to prison not Betty Ford. You did something wrong, therefore society dictates you shall be removed from it.

That however is not - and should not - be the end of it. During their time prisoners are made to work and given the options to learn new trades. They are also provided therapy and psychological assistance to help them overcome their problems and be 'productive members of society' as the saying goes.

One cannot work without the other. Simply punishing someone and then dumping them back into reality with all their limbs attached makes the problem worse. Alternatively giving them a therapy session that doesn't involve the giant robotic overmind, giving them a labotome and telling them it'll be alright is just as worse.

The prison system is at it's best when it is both a means of punishment and rehabilitation.

 

[SteewpidZombie]

I think that punishment should be reflective of a crime committed. If you commit murder (Purposely killing someone), then you should be executed. If you rape or molest someone, that should be like 60 years. If you sell drugs like meth or cocaine, you should be locked away for 10 years. Yet in the legal systems of Canada and the US, most of the time a Murderer will only get a 20-40 year sentence. Or a child molester will get 30 years or less before being released back onto the street. I believe in the concept that 'If you kill someone or several people, you don't deserve to live as you've ended their lives', or 'If you molest a child, you shouldn't be allowed to move on with your life, as they may never move on with theirs'.

 

[Anaklusmos]

I voted punishment. I'll explain why. When I hit another kid at school and my mum was informed, she didn't sit me down and explain to me what I did was wrong. What she did was punish me, she told me that hitting is wrong and took away some of my favourite toys. I've never hit another person since. Even bullies who have taunted me constantly. I think it's called positive reinforcement where you do something right and someone gives you a treat so you keep on doing it. Well this is the opposite. If I was not shown that my actions have consequences then I would keep on doing bad things. Every action has a reaction.

I believe that prison is too soft, it doesn't actually punish anyone. If the prisoners are not being punished then they will never learn that what they did was wrong. They need to be shown the error of their ways. If you all you do is say to them 'What you've done is wrong' and that is the extent of their punishment then they won't feel like anything negative has happened from them commiting a crime, and they will not see why they shouldn't commit the crime again.

 

[coolkirb]

I dont know but I like to be idealist and hope for the best side of humanity, so as Beccaria said justice should be swift and timely and the sentance should be a lite as possible, though this is not allways possible

 

[Dr Snakeman]

I say punishment... BUT only those who really deserve it should be thrown in prison. Only the truly unrepentant rapists and murderers. People who are criminals due to their station in life should be helped to make something of themselves. The harsh punishment of prison should only be used against the worst of criminals.

And that's exactly what it should be: a harsh punishment.