Fool Me Once, Fool Me Twice

I'll start off my post for this week's topic concerning punishment vs. rehabilitation in the criminal justice system by saying that I'm all for rehabilitating those who can successfully be rehabilitated, but it's often hard to judge who those people are until after they have proven themselves otherwise.  As the old saying goes, "fool me once shame on you, but fool me twice..." you get the point.

I believe that in most first-time cases where mental illness is not a factor, punishment coupled with rehabilitation works as the best deterrent against crime.  I'm a big believer in having the criminal justice system grant second chances, especially to young people who tend to be the most apt to change when given the option of rehabilitation.  However, I recognize that this train of thought is all good and fine in a world that contains infinite resources, but it is very costly in both money and resources to properly undergo both processes.  Since the real world usually forces us to choose one option, I would have choose prioritizing punishment over rehabilitation in the criminal justice system.

My one hope in prioritizing this method in the criminal justice system is that the punishment itself is enough to get criminals' attention and prevent them and potential criminals from committing illegal acts.  However, with our current recidivism rates as high as they are, it seems like punishment itself is not working the way it should.  I'm not saying that we should, by any means, torture or mistreat criminals, but they must be punished for their crimes, and maybe what's going on in our criminal justice system isn't "punishment" enough to deter offenders, wether they be repeated offenders or first-time offenders.  My only problem with rehabilitation is that when our prisons focus on rehabilitating criminals, their time in prison doesn't feel like punishment.  If criminals don't feel as though they are being punished, what's there to prevent them from committing more crimes?  And while rehabilitation does work in some instances, it is simply too risky for our society to rely on rehabilitating all of its criminals instead of punishing them.  There are many people who can benefit from rehabilitation, but quite frankly, there are some people who cannot or will not be rehabilitated.  Unless rehabilitation is coupled with real punishment, I don't view it as a realistic priority for our criminal justice system.

To sum it all up, I think that a combination of punishment and rehabilitation is the best option for our criminal justice system.  Although I think that our criminal justice system needs to put an emphasis on punishment, I also believe that it is important that the opportunity for rehabilitation is available to those who can and will benefit from it.