Punishment and Rehabilitation

Abstract

In this study we try to explore the concept of punishment and rehabilitation in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on the effectiveness of punishment and rehabilitation and its relation with offender, victim, economy of the state, family of the victim and the society. The research also analyzes many aspects of punishment and rehabilitation and tries to gauge its effect on fiscal state. Finally the research tries to describe the overall effect of punishment and rehabilitation in relation to the future commitment of crime.

Punishment and Rehabilitation

Introduction

Punishment and rehabilitation are the terms used to encourage, motivate or force a person to get back to the normal life and get rid of the unacceptable behavior (Valkova, 1997). The theory of punishment and rehabilitation are based on the notion principle to discourage or offend a person so as to reform him/her or to rehabilitate them so as to make their reintegration in the society easier and acceptable by other participants. Punishment, rehabilitation, deterrence and incapacitation are the four acknowledge objective of the criminal justice system (Blue, 1999).

According to the studies, punishment is not appropriate, and the judge should thoroughly evaluate alternatives before sentencing imprisonment to an individual. However, there are certain instances when there is no alternate and a person should be imprisoned in order to ensure the security of the society and its participants (www.proquest.com, 1998). Rehabilitation is the form of punishment in which a person does not have to leave the society and is trained according to the acceptable behaviors and code of conduct so as to make his presence acceptable and align with the society's principle. In the United States, punishment has always been a primary goal to deal with the criminal acts.

Discussion

Deterrence of Crime

Deterrence is one of the primary goals in the criminal justice system. The purpose of deterrence of crime is to impose or instill the fear on the offender so that they do not commit a crime or any unethical act in the future (Blue, 1999). Consequently, the purpose of deterrence is not only to instill fear on the criminal, it is also used to instill the fear of committing the criminal act in the society. This is referred as teaching society a lesson so that they restrain their selves from commitment of any related criminal activity. Therefore, punishment has always been subject to a criminal based on the idea that it will deter an individual from the recommitment of the crime (Valkova, 1997).

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 69% of the individuals who commit crime are the ones who have already been subjected to punishment recently and had arrest records prior to their current offense. Therefore, there is a sound argument which states that rehabilitation is a more permanent fix to the criminal acts and attitudes rather than punishment. It is because; in punishment mostly people become more aggressive and plot even more severe criminal and unethical acts in their minds ...