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Essay On Rehabilitation Vs Incarceration

995 Words4 Pages

Giving a person a chance gives them the whole world. Life is about chances and being limited to one restricts a person from progressing and improving their own life in major ways. Throughout the US’ justice system’s history, incarceration and punishment have both been used to penalize criminals in a multitude of ways and it has been improved and tweaked multiple times to better fit the country’s crime and laws. Rehabilitation on the other hand, has been inserted into the justice systems in some cases and has been able to provide a second chance to people even after they commit a crime. Although some believe that punishment is the only way to truly punish a person for their crimes, in reality, rehabilitation is a better option because of its …show more content…

One of the main strengths that punishment has is from its ability to provide a deterrent to newer criminals by making an example out of previous offenders. Along with serving as a deterrent, punishment also gives criminals time to reflect on their behavior away from society. The idea of deterrence is the first line of defence against criminals because it is able to push people away from committing a crime before they commit it by instilling fear through the thought of being caught and punished. If deterrence fails and a person is caught committing a crime, they will be forced to reflect on their behavior in prison or with other punishments depending on the crime making punishment and incarceration a stable and solid choice for justice systems. The reason that deterrence is able to stop a crime before it is done is by providing the details of a punishment and explaining what will happen to a person if they choose to break a law. Deterrents work hand in hand with punishment and according to …show more content…

The main issue with punishment is recidivism which is a term that describes the rate at which a criminal chooses to return to a life of crime after being punished for it. As rehabilitation policies have been implemented into multiple justice systems around the world, many officials and analysts have been able to draw multiple correlations between rehabilitation and a decrease in recidivism. In fact, many studies have indicated “that a carefully implemented rehabilitation program could reduce recidivism” meaning that in many cases after a criminal has been put through a form of rehabilitation, their will to commit a crime after the original decreases greatly rather than if they were incarcerated. Not only does rehabilitation work to reduce recidivism but it also provides a more humane option than punishment. Rehabilitation focuses on the efforts that the justice system takes to change the person’s behavior. Punishment on the other hand focuses more on giving the criminal what they deserve. The reason that rehabilitation is a stronger option is that it is able to improve upon a person and change them to be better overall. Bryan Stevenson writes about the value of giving a second chance and the benefits that rehabilitation offers in his book Just

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