Crime and Punishment?
Well here we go again.
I've just finished reading some blogs regarding drug dealers and prisons. Whew! What a misunderstanding people have. They actually seem to think that when someone in sent to prison they are there so that they may be taught how to become nice, contibuting members of our society.
BUZZZZTTT!!!! Wrong answer!!!
Lets look at the semantics of the matter. A prison is a penitentiary (n. from the Latin poena, punishment) and , as such, is meant to punish, not rehabilitate. To be in the penal system, a crime has been committed for which the penal code demands punishment. While it may well be a public good that those denizens of our penal institutions be rehabilitated, the penitentiary is not the place to do so.
For people to be rehabilitated for their antisocial proclivities, they should be placed in the proper facilities, such as halfway houses, work release, home confinement or other such place. Psychologists and social workers must be a part of such rehabilitative efforts, or the efforts will come to naught. Rehabilitation can be a very long process and society may not be able to pay for such a long, drawn-out process.
But prison is for punishment, and punishment only. Anyone who thinks they can do rehabilitation in a prison setting is sadly mistaken. Take the license plate machinery out of the prisons, take away the computers and the televisions. Put the license plate machinery in a closed commercial type setting and have the halfway house or work release clientele perform useful work for which they are adequately compoensated. Do not allow access to computers or televisions to prisoners. Allow access only for specific programming in other settings (in other words, no crime shows, no gangster music, no blatant sex shows.)
Prisoners should work in the prison setting. Jobs such as agricultural work, highway maintenance, building maintenance, cooking, cleaning and so on. Under adequate supervision of paid prison personnel. Eliminate any 'Trusty' situations (remember the 'Trusty' earned his punishment also.)
I don't want to seem excessively harsh, but I think society had better get its head out of where it is and screw it back on staight. We've tried rehabilitation for two hundred years and it ain't worked, folks. I don't think we need to go back to the Angola type prisons but we certainly need to get back to the basic use of a prison, and that is punishment. I've worked hard all my life and kept out of trouble, like most of you. While it was never uppermost in my mind, I always wanted to avoid going to jail because that is where the worst dregs of society end up. Not only that, I always knew that prison was a place where you were punished. (Did your parent ever tell you that they were going to have the Sheriff come get you and haul you off to jail if you didn't straighten up and fly right? Be honest, now!)
As Earl would say, "Wake up, America!"
I've just finished reading some blogs regarding drug dealers and prisons. Whew! What a misunderstanding people have. They actually seem to think that when someone in sent to prison they are there so that they may be taught how to become nice, contibuting members of our society.
BUZZZZTTT!!!! Wrong answer!!!
Lets look at the semantics of the matter. A prison is a penitentiary (n. from the Latin poena, punishment) and , as such, is meant to punish, not rehabilitate. To be in the penal system, a crime has been committed for which the penal code demands punishment. While it may well be a public good that those denizens of our penal institutions be rehabilitated, the penitentiary is not the place to do so.
For people to be rehabilitated for their antisocial proclivities, they should be placed in the proper facilities, such as halfway houses, work release, home confinement or other such place. Psychologists and social workers must be a part of such rehabilitative efforts, or the efforts will come to naught. Rehabilitation can be a very long process and society may not be able to pay for such a long, drawn-out process.
But prison is for punishment, and punishment only. Anyone who thinks they can do rehabilitation in a prison setting is sadly mistaken. Take the license plate machinery out of the prisons, take away the computers and the televisions. Put the license plate machinery in a closed commercial type setting and have the halfway house or work release clientele perform useful work for which they are adequately compoensated. Do not allow access to computers or televisions to prisoners. Allow access only for specific programming in other settings (in other words, no crime shows, no gangster music, no blatant sex shows.)
Prisoners should work in the prison setting. Jobs such as agricultural work, highway maintenance, building maintenance, cooking, cleaning and so on. Under adequate supervision of paid prison personnel. Eliminate any 'Trusty' situations (remember the 'Trusty' earned his punishment also.)
I don't want to seem excessively harsh, but I think society had better get its head out of where it is and screw it back on staight. We've tried rehabilitation for two hundred years and it ain't worked, folks. I don't think we need to go back to the Angola type prisons but we certainly need to get back to the basic use of a prison, and that is punishment. I've worked hard all my life and kept out of trouble, like most of you. While it was never uppermost in my mind, I always wanted to avoid going to jail because that is where the worst dregs of society end up. Not only that, I always knew that prison was a place where you were punished. (Did your parent ever tell you that they were going to have the Sheriff come get you and haul you off to jail if you didn't straighten up and fly right? Be honest, now!)
As Earl would say, "Wake up, America!"
posted by tanstaafl | 2:40 PM
1 Comments:
Once again, I say AMEN!!! I too am tired of paying my tax dollars to find that those who have broken the laws of this country are treated better than those of us who haven't. That inmates receive---for FREE---a better education than the one that I PAID for. Hello???? Anyone home?? Or are the judges and the lawmakers all out to some ACLU cocktail party? I would like to think that after prison, those who were incarcerated would be rehabilitated by simply NOT wanting to go back to prison. Yet time and again, we see the same repeat offenders committing the same crimes. I think an attempt should be made to use psychology to show the inmate that "being good" )for lack of a simpler term--it is way past my bedtime--is more rewarding than "being bad". But not at my expense--they committed the crime--let them pay the cost.
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