Punishment or Deterrent? or Rehabilitation...

[Slytovhand]

yep - I'm back with another one...

Quick thought (after quickly reading Rahmota's post about the snack bar incident...).

Is the so called justice system to be used as a form of punishment to the offender? Or as a means to a deterrent?

And... what about rehabilitation? There are a few different types of rehab, and some of them work for some who try it. If so, shouldn't they be attempted in all cases? And if so, then what then??

If someone commits a crime, ends up 'rehabilitated' (if that can be 'proven') should they then get off their sentence?

If you commit a serious crime, and then 'do your time', does that mean that you are once a gain a 'free' person? Do you get all of your rights back (including things like 'respect'?)

(and this does, of course, go without saying that we don't live in a perfect world...)

[Boozy]

I don't like the concept of "punishing" criminals, because then you get into the criminal system as a form of revenge. The justice system shouldn't act as parents. Nor should society cheapen itself by engaging in any sort of "eye for an eye" behaviour.

I'd prefer the justice system to simply remover offenders from society in order to keep the general population safe. It makes sense to have some rehabilitation programs, because I don't want to keep a petty theft in prison for the rest of his life; at some point, he will rejoin society. But any rehabilitation or education would be for society's benefit, not necessarily the criminal's.

[tropicsgoddess]

Punishing really makes things worse. The current justice and prison system here in the US makes offenders into better criminals. By that I mean they found ways to get away with their crimes after they were punished for it by being incarcerated. Incarceration gives them time to think, but most of the time it's not always the thinking they should be doing in a good way (remorse, guilt, etc.). When you rehabilitate an offender/criminal, it shows them the error of their ways and can mold them into better members of society.

[rahmota]

Well speakign as someone who has been a member of the criminal justice system I would say the system we have now is very messed up and leans more towards punishment than rehabilitation.

I wa in county lockup for 2 weeks (for trying to thump the crap out of my exstepson) and for that two weeks it was nothing more than a place to keep the criminals. and you are right about criminals becoming better criminals in there as the main topics of conversation aroud the lunch table was various crimes, what got people sent up, people they knew who hadnt gotten caught, recipie exchanges, exchanges of techniques for cultivation of certain crops etc.... etc...

I saw three fights between inamtes. Shakedowns by the COs. Apathy from the COs as to the condition of the place or the inmates. Overcrowding was quite an issue. I mean my local county jail is rated for only 60 inmates at any one time max. The 2 weeks I was there the population was 87. I slept on the floor for about a week before I got promoted to a bed.

The food was barely edible. Considering how I have eaten some interesting thigns in my lief this stuff made roadkill palatable so most inamtes tried to make sure they got commisary. But considering how the prices in commisary are rather inflated (usually 10-50% higher than outside) and only a family member or friend can put money in commisary as all the money you had on you is confiscated it can be difficult for people to get comfort or other foods. Which leads to some rather interesting black market trafficing in goods, services etc...

Anyhow I could go on and on about the lack of any concern or respect or rehabilitation I saw but suffice to say that for the most part from the experiences I've had and seen that our criminal justice system here in america is seriously flawed, is just a place to wharehouse criminals for the most part and generally lacking in "rehabilitation" opportunities for people.