They Tried to Make Me Go to Rehab (I said: I really can't afford that)

In the case of deciding what should be more prioritized: rehabilitation or punishment, I stand in the middle. While I believe that rehabilitating violent criminals is a very important thing to do, I also think that punishment for crimes is practically required to maintain order.

There are plenty of crimes and for each a punishment the government finds fit. We have these set rules for a reason. In the system we currently have, the threat of punishment is supposed to be enough to keep people from committing crimes. The downfall is: it’s just not enough. No matter how strict the laws are on punishments for a crime, there will always be people who commit it anyway. This is why punishment for crimes isn’t going to be the end all.

Now, rehab isn’t a way to fix this problem. That’s not the point of rehab. Rehab and punishment are extremely different and really they combat different problems. Punishment is a threat for those who are considering or planning to commit a crime. It’s supposed to hang over their heads and be a sign to the public that we don’t take things lightly. Rehab is something that we should be doing more of the help those who have committed these crimes.

Basically, the reason rehab is an important part of the justice system is that as a country we should care about the mental stability of our citizens, even the ones who have committed crimes. Not to mention the prevention of double offenders.

Many crimes are committed because of psychological issues that can stem from a number of places. A way of better understanding what causes people to do these crimes and therefore knowing ways to take preventive measures would stem from rehabilitation. If we could record information about prisoners while trying help criminals work their way back into a functional member of society is a win-win.

This, however, raises the issue of what our government can afford. Obviously, in today’s society, our government is far more concerned with the punishment side of this argument. And while I would love to have a solid argument for why rehab is more important, I don’t. It is important that we rehabilitate those who commit crimes, but I think the number one issue is getting people who are a threat to the public off the streets.

Not to mention, if we start treating criminals like we owe them the help, how are we showing the victim we are concerned for them? I think the line of how to best handle this is a very tangled one. On the one hand, you don’t want to treat a criminal as dirt. You want to try and help them and rehabilitate them back into a ‘normal’ person or someone who wouldn’t commit the crime again. But, if we focus more on the rehabilitation side and less on punishment for the crime, we’re probably going to offend a lot of victims who didn’t do anything to deserve whatever crime was committed against them.

Overall, I will say again, that the line for what’s right and wrong in this case is far from straight forward. I think they’re both things the government should focus on, but I’m not really sure how I can justify that economically. In the end, I think what we should do and what they can afford right now are insanely different.

Hopefully that stream of consciousness made sense to someone!

Can’t wait to hear what Kathleen has to say!