Incarceration Versus Rehabilitation in the United States - Essay Example

Incarceration vs Rehabilitation in the United s Number April 26, Faculty Incarceration vs Rehabilitation in the United States The judicial system in USA normally is authorized to confine the individuals who are convicted of crimes. The confinement that could even before or after the criminal’s conviction normally is referred to as the incarceration, in the US the adults and the juveniles alike are both subjects of the incarceration. On the other hand, rehabilitation is defined as the practice intended to particularly reform a criminal or the convict so that they are able to lead a productive sort of life which is basically free of the crimes in the United States (Gleissner, 2010). Being incarcerated in the US prison system has been the highest form of legal punishment. The prison systems have served as therapeutic forms of treatment. The confined to their inmates, the peer prisoners are forced to conform into a more socially appropriate member of the community. The United States prisons system have been found to embrace an ineffective form of prisoners treatment offers no benefits to the society and additionally has been discovered too costly for the economy. To begin with, the jails are facilities that are basically designed for the confinement of the convicts after the arrest and even before the trial takes place, or even for a short period of conviction for such a less offense. The prisons are built to keep as well as house the individuals for some longer periods of time which follows the conviction for such a serious offense. In other words, the jails could as well be referred to as the detention centers while the prisons are called the correctional facilities or even the penitentiaries. Irrespective of their names, the functions of both of them generally remains the same which is to lock up the convicted and the accused criminals. Currently in the United States has incarcerated quite a high percentage of the population than any other country on the globe. In the year 2008, more than 2.3 millions of Americans were in either jail or prison where one out of 48 working age men were behind bars. The rates were not just above any other in the world but as well were substantially higher than the long-standing experience in the history. In reviewing then, main cause for the increased incarceration analyzed the main relationship between the crime rates and the incarcerations. The recent review of the research based on the relationship between the incarceration and the crimes, Don Stemen, from Vera Institute of Justice concluded that the most sophisticated analysis agrees generally that the increased incarcerations rates have had great impacts on the reduction of the crimes although the scope of the impact had been limited significantly since a 10 percent rise in the incarceration had a equivalent 2 percent drop in the crime rate. Moreover, the analysis comes out unanimously in their conclusion that the continued growth in the incarceration would considerably prevent fewer if any, crimes than the past increases did and additionally will substantially cost the taxpayers more in achieving (Travis, 2014). Therefore, the available suggestions and the evidences show that the higher rates of the incarceration, the lower the crime rates either by action as deterrent or even by warehousing the offenders within the ages of their lives when they are most likely in committing the crimes. However, the effects of the incarceration on the rates of crimes are surprisingly too small which need to be weighed against the high monitor costs and for the government budgets and the high social costs of the prisoners, the communities and their respective families. Prisons have caused harm to people in several ways, although it does not enough of them penitent. Incarceration usually teaches depravity, it adversely affects the mind, and then releases the damaged products into the world during their mandatory release or on the date of parole. The prisons act as the warehouse for numerous criminal minds. The criminals in there are exposed in a better place where they are able to learn better how to commit even worse crimes instead of how they should be productive in the world or even how to abandon their selfishness and turn out better people (Travis, 2014). Many solid pieces of evidence have shown that the returning parolees normally increase the crime rates within their neighborhood or even elsewhere once released. Rehabilitation has to some extent been considered the most valuable sort of ideological justification for criminal punishments for it alone promote a humanizing the belief within the nation that the offenders could as well be saved and not just being punished. The rehabilitative ideal solely conveys the message that a particular state has an obligation in the help of those that frequently fall short of the standards of the behavior it has strictly set. Most of the victims are those people that at some points in their lives they had social disadvantages that could have constrained them to the life of crime (Gleissner, 2010). The desert (retributive) theory, however, views punishment as an end in itself meaning that punishment should befall criminals for the punishments sake. Notably, this has no space within the enlightened society. The rehabilitative idea usually does not ignore the society with its victims. Actually, it places such great value on the rights which it tries so hard to manipulate the offender and preventing the reoffending in future. In seeking to reduce the offenses and the actions of the offense in crime, rehabilitation seeks to promote constructively the rights in society for safety and in the same period protects the people from the victimization of the crime. Some theories of the punishment however claim that the criminals absolutely deserve suffering of their crimes, arguing that the rehabilitative views they criminal behavior more of a disease which requires treatment by the available specific methods to cure the one in the offense (Travis, 2014). Some of the convicted individuals are found to suffer from physical and even mental illness, addiction to drugs, also have much-limited opportunities for the economic success amongst other problems that increase the likelihood which leads them to engaging in the criminal activities. If they are simply incarcerated, they stand a chance of reentering it with all the obstacles that drove them into the criminal al offenses still in place. They would even need to contend with a few additional difficult. Usually criminal record impacts on their economic and employment opportunities since they grow older without the required marketable skills or even the education, the social relationship deteriorates while in jail and chances are that the person in the jail they might even become further acclimated to the criminal culture. Therefore, the incarcerating of the offenders would actually more like to further commit other offenses once they are released from the confinement and the recidivism rates have attested to this expected outcome (Travis, 2014). The rehabilitation approach to a significant extent would help in the treatment of the common underlying effects of the transgression so as to return to the society to eventually end up a productive full citizen of the USA. Instead of extracting revenge on the criminals and making their existence worse on earth, the rehabilitation helps significantly in managing them uprightly. Additionally, rehabilitation has another very important value. It clearly recognizes the reality of the social inequality. Some of the offenders require help in being rehabilitated so as to accept the circumstances could constrain if not compel and probably lead to no cases of criminality. It indeed admits that the unfortunate can be helped who possibly might have been covered come with their special circumstances (Gleissner, 2010). Rehabilitation has not been for the idea that individuals regardless of their position in their social order, they exercise the freedom which is equal to making a decision whether to commit a crime or even punish equally in accordance with their offence regardless of their respective working backgrounds. A number of policies which ignore the realities normally foster hardships that may primarily fall and disproportionately on the disadvantaged which deepen the resentment that a lot of the inmates find it difficult inappropriately suppressing their release back in the society. However, the goal of rehabilitation is normally at its most dangerous especially when it is applied in the context of carrying out the punishment of the imprisonment; that is in case it is used as the criteria for the release decisions. Some evidence has shown that a vast discretion given to the treatment staff, guided just by the ideal of the rehabilitation has significantly given out unfair racially discriminatory and incorrect results (Travis, 2014). The rehabilitation as a goal can easily force some decisions be made based on the statistical risk issues or factors for instance whether an individual belongs to a certain racial group that is statistically likely doing the offence once again or even if they belong to some economic underclass that makes them statistically to do the offence once more. In such a case, all this is taken as a double penalty to the offender for things beyond their control like poverty and race. Conclusively, rehabilitation is not only important in the event when the court is making a decision on sentence but equally important in events of carrying out punishments. Therefore, the criminal justice system should, therefore, seek to provide the criminals with various meaningful skills and training with good behavioral treatment programs with much of counseling. Such will encourage the criminals to change their criminal thoughts and actions for the benefit of the society and the entire state. References Gleissner, J. (2010). Prison & slavery. Denver, Colo.: Outskirts Press. Travis, J., Western, B., & Redburn, S. The growth of incarceration in the United States. Read More