Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation

It is defined as “punishment intended to reform a convict so that he/she can lead a productive life free from crime” (Smith, n.d.).

Rehabilitation builds upon the notion that instead of punishing the criminal for the offence, he should be reformed by different methods to be able to function in a normal society. It comes from the assumption that criminology is not a permanent state for a person, although this idea is highly debatable. Criminal recidivism is the act of habitually repeating a crime despite being aware of all its consequences and not having remorse for such an act. According to several researches, criminal offenders are more likely to recidivate upon being released from jail (News, 2009). The purpose of rehabilitation is to treat the root cause of the criminal's psychopathic behaviour so that he or she could return to the society and function as a normal member.

According to the Definitions of Correctional Terminology released by the Mississippi Department of Corrections, there are three different types of offences: drug offence, sex offence, and property offence. A criminal's first offence is recorded as the primary offence in his criminal record. A correctional offence refers to criminal offences that are subject to legal correction instead of legal punishment. If viewed from the context of rehabilitation, this is beneficial to the individual's functioning as a normal part of the society. Rehabilitation considers the behaviour of criminals as a disease that should be cured.

A correctional offence is an offence (legal crime) that is subject to correction. Correctional service centres exist for this purpose and correctional service workers are the people who deal with these issues. Rehabilitation aims to target the offence and the root cause for its occurrence, instead of punishing the offender. There are several ways of practicing rehabilitation like religious study, drug/alcohol addiction treatments, etc.

Types of Crimes & Rehabilitation

Not all offenders can be rehabilitated. Criminal offences are either property crimes or personal crimes and they can be divided into several different types:

Felony

Misdemeanor

Infraction

Capital Crime

Felony

It is a criminal offence punishable by law by a sentence to imprisonment of more than one year. These are crimes of serious nature such as a rape, murder, etc. Some types of felons may also be issued a death sentence. Any individual who helps the felon in committing the offence, or hides the criminal after the offence has been committed to save him from retribution would also be subject to similar legal punishment. Any individual convicted of a felony cannot enjoy his civil rights, cannot bear arms and in some states, cannot even vote.

Felonies get classified according to the seriousness level for example Class A Felony, Class B Felony, and Class C Felony, where Class A Felony is more serious in nature an is therefore subject to a harsher punishment. The sentence gets served in the state prison. The duration of the sentence gets decided by the judge.

For example, if a person is found guilty of theft, he or she will generally be convicted on terms of Class A misdemeanor, ...