Punishment Or Rehabilitation Essay

Hannah Fisk

Commerce

Law and Society

2018 Term 1

Punishment or rehabilitation? Originally, rehabilitation was the main purpose of a prison, to eventually reintegrate inmates into society. Since then, punishment has become prison's main function. This approach leaves us with an excessive prison population and if anything, it has made crime worse. Whether this is ideal or not has been a nationally debated issue, involving governments around the world. Psychologists and psychiatrists have also been large advocates for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation function isn’t to let the offender off easy, but to teach and promote responsibility for their actions. It has shown very promising results as well, like in Norway where prisoners are given and education

Stanford arguably was brought to justice, sentenced to life in prison at his hearing in which he plead guilty after his brother sang like a canary. The problem I present you with is: can the perpetrator of such a heinous crime ever be rehabilitated? Can we trust him to be reintegrated into society. I suppose what it comes down to is does he deserve a second chance? Many argue, yes, everyone deserves a second chance. They bring up many good points, such as mental illness or unresolved childhood trauma. These may be seen as excuses or reasons. Others say that there is a fine line between who deserves rehabilitation and who does not. That line resting far before murder is even considered. People, especially the family, often wish for a type of compensation for what they lost. Not money, but retribution. They want the perpetrator to pay an equal fate to their lost loved one. But to some, they see the family as far too emotionally involved to be deciding the fate of another human being, which is why juries are made up of people unrelated to the issue to remove any biases and decide upon a fair punishment. In this case, obviously the family is not going

This is public because Stanford and his brother committed a punishable offense that affects all of society, causing unrest and fear in the hearts of citizens. Public laws procedures were inspired by enlightenment in the French Revolution and covers any issue between an individual and the state, holding jurisdiction over constitutional law, administrative law, tax law and, like the case of Vincent Stanford, criminal law. This is also criminal because it’s a crime. Criminal law is generally defined as conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to others. With criminal law comes criminal punishment, the punishment ranging depending on the act and