Criminal Justice Rehabilitation Essay

A very important aspect of the criminal justice system is to ensure there is a way to rehabilitate offenders, not only incarcerate them. Rehabilitation in the criminal justice system means that there is an attempt by the system to restore a criminal back to a productive and useful member of society free of the life of crime. By rehabilitating an offender, the system is trying to alter their behavior and attitude in a positive way and to make them once again, law abiding citizens (Seiter, 2014). Rehabilitation can come in many forms, such as drug treatment, education, mental health treatment, develop better decision making skills, therapeutic counseling and even job training. An offender does need to be punished for breaking the law, but they need to accept responsibility for their crimes and eventually change their

The term probation derives from the Latin word probatio (meaning “period of proving” or “trial and forgiveness”), thus implying that an offender must prove himself/herself through a specified period of time (the length and term of probation) by complying with the terms and conditions of probation (Bivens, 2012). With this type of sentence given to an offender, he or she is released back in to the community, supervised but with the condition that they must not engage in any criminal activity and prove themselves worthy of not needing incarceration. There are conditions imposed in this type of sentence and if any are violated or not followed, they will be sent to prison, so this can and should actually motivate offenders to do the right thing. Once placed on probation, they are still monitored different ways such as electronic monitoring or through community service programs. By being on probation, not only are they proving themselves to the system, they are also making a new life for themselves by getting support from family and community in their transition to a crime free