Jail or education?

Question

Instead of just locking prisoners up, whyd ont we educate them. Make them decide what they want to do with their lives when they get out, then put them in an education program so they can pursue that career. I think that this would be a much more effective way of bettering society then just throwing them behind bars. I think, but I am not sure, that the percentage is 85% or prisoners return to prison when they get out.

Answer 1

Its a very complex issue and each inmate is different. It depends on what type of crime they committed, for starters, a CEO like Martha Steward, naturally, will not benefit from a college education, she doesnt need it, but how about intensive ethics seminars? A child rapist and killer, will never stop doing it, no matter how much therapy you give him, so I say, yes remove them from society permanently, they can live in their own isolated island after they serve their 50 yr sentence or whatever it is...A burglar/drug dealer/purse snatcher type may beneffit from an education but only if there are employments opportunities available after rehabilitation, would you hire a carjacker as your child's teacher or as your accountant? So, it becomes a problem to rejoin society. Some inmates got into trouble because they had addiction or mental problems. Education is great, but again, if you dont address their crack habbit, doubt that they will end up amounting to anything... The sad part is that many inmates have children and if we dont help them as best we can, the next generation will probably end up following mommy's or daddy's footsteps... And for those who dont want to "reward criminals with an eduacation" Think of the millions of tax dollars we owuld be saving if most of these offenders would not go back to jail (trials, prosecution, incarceration, their children on welfare...) And thumbs up for the person creating job opportunites for them. I dont think I would have the courage to...

Answer 2

This is a pretty good idea, but a "political football". The more educated a person is the less likely they are to commit a crime, but these people (criminals) are not known for their intellect (for the most part) so educating all of them is problematic - only some will be able to do it. The schooling should take place while they are in prison, not after, as that may reduce the repeat offender rate... hopefully... its worth a try.

Answer 3

Recidivism is a huge problem in the penal system.
Several causes:
1. No job or means of supporting yourself when you are released.

2. Not many employers looking for employees with criminal history.

3. No marketable job skills.

I think education is a way to reduce this problem, jail is a revolving door for many, Need to try to make it a one way >>OUT. You can't force education on people. I am in favor of businesses partnering with law enforcement to help employ some of these people.
Yes 85% is about the correct figure.

Answer 4

We need to educate while they are locked up, the petty criminals that is. There are many though that are uneducatable, i.e. ...the reason they are in jail, they have no other means of living in society. The hard core criminals will never change, some are very educated, they just have the mind of a criminal. There is so much more to it than that, but thats my opinion in a nutshell.

Answer 5

right here in California, maximum are not getting loose college. very few prisons have college classes obtainable, specifically what maximum get is a GED or HS degree. maximum learn activity skills working jobs around reformatory making decrease than a $a million an hour. think of roughly it this way, distinctive the reformatory inhabitants will at some point be returning homestead. some even on your neighbourhood. What would you like for those adult men to make a contribution on your community while they get homestead? do you go with them to get jobs and grow to be taxpayers or would you fairly they proceed helping themselves the only way they understand how? additionally alot of the adult men in there are clever and characteristic already been to varsity. do no longer stereotype them with the help of the crime.

Answer 6

Because prison is about punishment, not betterment. Convicted criminals face many possible punishments: fines, community service, restriction of freedoms, probation, and the most severe: prison. We don't sentence them to pay a fine to better them, we don't sentence them to probation to better them, so why do you think we sentence them to prison to better them? People are empowered to better themselves, it's not the state's responsibility. The reason so many people wind up in prison today is because of archaic drug laws--abolish those and you'll free up a lot of space behind bars.

Answer 7

Confucius said that most people in prison are uneducated and poor. Therefore if we were to eliminate ignorance and poverty there would be no further need for prisons.

Answer 8

some prisions have tried the education thing but the prisioners still come back--some are behind bars so long they do not know how to act when they return to society

Answer 9

because it is logical, effective, and the right thing to do. if you haven't noticed, almost all goverment services do not do what they are supposed to do: schools don't educate kids, prisons don't rehabilitate prisoners, and welfare doesn't help poor people.

Answer 10

people return to crime, or turn to crime, because of their poverty. i don't think someone wakes up one day and decides that he is going to do something that would land him in jail...

if our government would take care of all citizens, maybe the crime levels would be lower.

yes, education does help a lot...