Do you think prisoners should rehabilitated....?

Question

As its a huge drain on taxpayers money and waste on time and energy to let humans rot in a concrete building.....whats the most effective way to punish and educate at the same time...

Answer 1

Well there are certainly many that should never be let out. Come on, do you want some of the people that we see on MSNBC "Lockup Extended Stay" living in your neighborhood, so lets agree on a number and write them off, they aren't leaving. On the other hand, I think it is useful to teach the ones that will be released a useful skill (like a trade) that will pay well when they get out. The only problem is most well paying trades require a lot of smarts, the ability to get bonded, the ability to stick with the training program and the ability to learn from (listen to) more senior people. And even trades that don't require strict apprenticeship programs to get licenses, or direct contact with the public, such as auto mechanics, are not that easy these days, they are very technical and require a lot of study and skill, if you know a mechanic, you know a very smart person, educated person. All of the easy trades these days have been taken over by "undocument guest workers who do jobs that American would want" so they don't pay that well anymore. So what's left?

So I don't know what the answer is. I agree that something needs to be done, but I don't know what. I think it would make for a very dismal life to walk out of prison with only the most menial, minimum wage job to look forward to for the rest of one's life - I wish there were a way to convey this notion to the young guys that are about to commit their first crime before they do it.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

I used to think that a too until I began studying prisons and incarcerations as a Criminology Major. I am by no means a "hug-a-thug" or even somewhat soft on this issue, but I call them as I see them. The fact is, most inmates will be released from prison. When these people are re-introduced into society, the chances of them succeeding will be slim if they do not exit prison in better condition than they entered it.

I do not like the term "rehabilitation," rather I perfer "Empowerment." No one can change a criminal, but if provided the means to make change within themselves, SOME, not all criminals can turn their lives around. These tools, first and foremost should include education. If these people are left ignorant, then when they are released, they will not have any advantage in the job-market and the probability of them turning back to crime is much higher.

That being said, I am a firm believer in Capital Punishment for convicted murderers. I am a strong advocate for chain gangs and judicial shaming. These have proven through time to be effective (despite what the hug-a-thug critics say).

Answer 4

Individual cases require a different method of rehabilitation.

some prisoners shouldn't be out in society before they have been rehabilitated as far as the prison can take them then released into an external rehabilitation establishment.

some prisoners should be rehabilitated under close supervison but in society.

The drain on taxpayers money happens when prisoners are released without rehabilitation attention because they are guranteed to re - offend and we have to keep paying for them to be imprisoned when we could be helping them and ourselves.

Answer 5

no one who has done a bad crime wants to be punished for it, and most although they admit it don't feel they did anything wrong or can give some excuse for what they did that to them (but not to the rest of us) sounds reasonable. There are crimes like from corruption, drugs, raping or raping children, killing or killing and decapitating people that those people will never be rehabilitated, that's just the way it is.

There are others of lesser crimes (still bad but lesser) who have done them repeatedly over the years and sometimes from childhood and it's become not only a habit, an addiction but a lifestyle. And, once in jail they collaborate with others who have done the same thing but being in jail and chatting with those other people makes their crime seem like it was nothing and so when they come out of jail they repeat the crime and get back in jail.

People on the outside of jail who have say addictive problems, drug problems, etc. can only get past those problems if they get help. How many people do you know who on the outside, who think they have a problem? And, a person needs to understand within themselves that they have that problem, know it affects their life, all aspects of their life, and affects their family as well, and only then when they want the help will that help they look for will help them. See? They have to want to be helped.

No, it's not a waste of taxpayers money on time and energy if people who are a danger to society are locked up. It's better to pay that money than to have those among us.

There are some college courses in jail, some trustee jobs in jail, jailbirds have tv to watch and a library to learn, and some work release programs after they have left jail that help criminals get back into the mainstream after they have "done their time". Some criminals think that if they did the time for the crime then all is well, but there are still things they can't do or jobs they can't hold that try to protect the public from them. Yet even then they commit the same crime again and return to jail. So punishing isn't really the answer. Part of the answer is for the victims that suffered by the criminal's hand to keep them in jail for as long as it takes.

A lot of criminals have a pleasant personality and are very convincing and they play us and the system, they get easy jobs for being good, they get time off for good behavior (lesser time in jail), they can be your neighbor, your significant other, your relative and you'd never know.

Answer 6

Rehabilitation should be the third priority, in my mind.

First, we separate the criminal from society. Second, we punish him (or her, I'm equal opportunity here.)

But unless the prisoner has a life sentence, he (or she) will be back out on the street some day. Wouldn't you rather this person learn a skill while in prison? Without some sort of rehabilitation, he (or she) will go right back to a life of crime, and you might be his (or her) next victim!

No sexism here, that's for darn sure!

Answer 7

It's clear that something needs to be done since the system we have in place now is clearly not working. Few prisoners are actually rehabilitated. Perhaps that's because few are interested in turning from a life of crime. I don't know about that part. I do believe, though, that every effort should be made towards rehabilitation. The system we have now is not based on even the remotests notion of justice, but rather based on notions of vengeance.

Answer 8

No, all prisoners CANNOT be "rehabilitated" and those who believe they can have almost certainly never been exposed to that culture. There is definitely a class of offender who finds his lawlessness a rewarding way of life and looks on it much the same way a professional tradesman or craftsman looks at his own, and has absolutely no intention of changing. There is a class of dangerous and violent criminal character that is quite more serious than most average people will ever be exposed to, and all the good intentions by reformers will not have the least effect whatsoever on them.

Answer 9

Depending on their crime. Like that Duncan guy. Rehabilitation for him is pointless, since he's not getting out of prison(alive, anyway).

But for someone who committed theft, and is willing to change, then yes. But if they do it again, no, rehabilitation is pointless.

Answer 10

I have a cousin who was "rehabilitated" for 18 months (pot possession) at Tucker Prison Farm in Arkansas in the early 60s when it was a place of punishment. I'm talking "real" punishment, and no, I don't condone it. But it really straightened him out.