To say otherwise (i.e. Archived Posts from this Category. Rehabilitation vs. Retribution: are we balancing the scales of justice? Everyone is worried about whether not justice has been met, but if we result to only punishment that said person will continue to return to prison which is not healthy for the general welfare. In other words, we should be trying to rehabilitate him while he is in imprison (since he is going to be there anyway), instead of just thinking that the job is done. Prisoners were encouraged to develop occupational skills and to resolve psychological problems--such as substance abuse or aggression--that might interfere with their reintegration into society. Retribution versus rehabilitation systems of imprisonment has been a hot topic in the United States for years. Posted on August 29, 2010. With rehabilitation we can can incarcerate while providing the necessary means for the convicted to live a healthy ad productive life after prison. To access the second half of this Issue Report Login or Buy Issue Report, To access the second half of all Issue Reports Login or Subscribe Now, Copyright © 2016 Issue Counsel. Summer Releases These are the first releases of the year, framing the start of competitive training with STRUCTURE (history of the resolution) and STRATEGY (status quo of the resolution). Rehabilitation is the idea of ‘curing’ an offender of his or her criminal tendencies, of changing their habits, their outlook and possibly even personality, so as to make them less inclined to commit crimes in the future. Many programs cannot overcome, or even appreciably reduce, the powerful tendency for offenders to continue in criminal behaviour. Rehabilitation, in the criminal sense, happens after a crime is committed. Neither, ultimately, is rehabilitation. 0. As mentioned earlier, in the adult justice system, there is a choice between rehabilitation and punishment. to say that criminals are merely the product of their unfortunate circumstances) would be an insult to ideas of free will, human autonomy and individual choice – it would be to deny the possibility of human actors making good decisions in the face of hardship.Retributivism alone best recognises the offender’s status as a moral agent, by asking that he take responsibility for what he has done, rather than to make excuses for it. These three utilitarian ideas are in turn very different from the idea of ‘retribution’ – which is not primarily about reducing re-offending. What matters is merely that more serious crimes are treated proportionately more seriously. All Rights Reserved. It appeals to an inherent sense of right and wrong, and in this way is the most respectful to humanity because it recognizes that persons are indeed fundamentally capable of moral deliberation, no matter what their personal circumstances are. I believe that retribution has more power to change a person than rehabilitation. To say that some offenders need help to be rehabilitated is to accept the idea that circumstances can constrain, if not compel, and lead to criminality; it admits that we can help unfortunate persons who have been overcome by their circumstance. This theory is based on the idea of vindictive justice, or a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye. We still have to punish a robber or a murderer, even if he is truly sorry and even if he would really, really never offend again and even if we could somehow tell that for certain. Imprisonment: A special consideration.Rehabilitation is not only important when the court is deciding on the sentence. Which approach has greater regard for the offender?Crime is not pathology, it is not the product of circumstance, and it is certainly not the product of coincidence. Juvenile Justice: Rehabilitation, or Retribution? On the one hand, we think of prison as a reformatory, a place where those who have wronged society learn the errors of their way, gain a skill of … The criminal justice system comprises of many distinct stages, including arrest, prosecution, trial, sentencing, and punishment. It is based on a different, and in my view a more realistic, behavioral premise. retribution.5 Very quickly, rehabilitation became a dirty word in American corrections, an emblem of the ill-conceived romanticism of the 1960s, or the morally irresponsible, ultra-leftist idea that society is the wrongdoer and the criminal is the victim. Copyright © 2021. Which approach has greater regard for the offender?Rehabilitation has another important value – it recognises the reality of social inequity. Evidence has shown that such vast discretion given to treatment staff, guided only by the grand ideal of “rehabilitation”, has systematically produced unfair, incorrect and even racially discriminatory results. of crimes. It appeals to an inherent sense of right and wrong, and in this way is the most respectful to humanity because it recognises that persons are indeed fundamentally capable of moral deliberation, no matter what their personal circumstances are. Rehabilitation should start from the begining of the prison sentence to the to! What basis can they make any fair, sensible decision are terms that are commonly. Offenders don ’ t deserve second chances, but some offenders do there is different... As his race or his poverty him even today retribution ’ ) so?! Sentence to the end of the crime and the victim him even.. Those with the greatest social disadvantages that have constrained them to a life in in... 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