Prisons as Punishment or Whether They Are

¶ … Prisons as punishment or whether they are good for rehabilitation or rather perhaps neither are of a positive effect for the offender or have a negative effect. Prison as a Punishment There are many arguments for and against prisons many see the prison role as a way of helping to fight crime, for example many argue that as a deterrent it can force criminals to avoid prison by not committing crimes.

However, this ideal was a theory that began as policy for governing penal centres in the early 1970's, since that time the prison populations have increased fivefold (Clear, 2002 and Blumstein, 1993). Never the less the growth of the prison system is not being met with a decrease in crime, rather the opposite. The major increase of those being incarcerated and the lack of a reduction in crime needs to be discussed and looked at with some in-depth examination (Clear, 2002 and Blumstein, 1993).

There are many arguments that will pursue the debate that the idea of prison is a simplistic attitude as it does not give a full credence or allowance for any unintentional consequences that arise from the imprisonment (Blumstein, 1993). There are many unforeseen effects that although subtle form a combination of systemic actions that counteract any positive reinforcement that is introduced.

On a wider scale any effects of imprisonment would need to be examined in more detail to further understand them and the limits of any crime prevention strategy utilized within the prison system (Felson, 1994). It has been seen above that in many cases prisons do not help to deter crime, rather as noted crime has increased.

Yet if prison populations have increased in size and crime rates have also increased what is happening to the cause such an increase? In many ways the increase is not down to those prisoners who have been released re-offending, probably around 75% of those released do not re-offend it is the increase in the general population that is keeping crime rates high along with lower standards of living a in the poorer areas (Felson, 1994 and Freeman, 1992).

There are many ways that prisons are now trying to reduce crime and an increase in prison sizes. Rehabilitation classes and seminars are being held in nearly all prisons across the continent. Many of these rehabilitation courses and factions are run my religious groups such as the Christian Jail Ministry, these are a Christian-based fellowship which serves the Howard County Detention Center in Maryland (Blumstein, etal, 1986).

If a person has committed a crime then he or she should be punished for that crime, once that sentence has been passed then the prisoner is free whether he or she is rehabilitated or not.

If there is a chance that the prisoner will offend again then there should have been some form of rehabilitation program in place to help them (Pugsley, 1982) However, if the offender is given a parole and has taken part in a rehabilitation program and offends again what good was the program, it was in many ways just a way for the offender to come out of prison early then the program was for them a waste of time.

Therefore, there is some consideration as to whether rehabilitation programs are of any use to the prison service. If an offender is going to re-offend then they will no amount of rehabilitation or social and community work will prevent them. In summation it can be seen that whether a person is in prison or not the crime rate is going to increase, there is no true deterrent for a minor criminal. Unless.