Should a criminal be punished or rehabilitated? There are sound arguments on both sides of the debate. The problem however has been that our system of justice has tried to rehabilitate prisoners while at the same time trying to punish them. This has been a dismal failure. There is a better alternative. Separate rehabilitation from punishment. Consider the following facts.
More than 50 percent of all crimes are committed by re-offenders, and 40 percent to 60 percent of parolees return to prison.(dailytexanonline) In Texas, half of the juvenile offenders become repeat offenders. (agnews.tamu.edu) According to a 1994 study by the U.S. Department of Justice, more than two-thirds of released prisoners were arrested within three years, with more than half of those returning to prison.(dailytoreador) On June 30, 2006, 2,245,189 prisoners were held in Federal or State prisons or in local jails. (www.ojp.gov) These prisoners will be released after serving less than 50% of their sentences.(www.ojp.usdoj.gov)
Why are the recidivism rates so high? Criminals usually have a poor education. Jobs, after release, are hard to find and usually low paying. Who wants to hire a known thief? Returned to their home, they again associate with the society that bred the criminal activity in the first place. They have no base of support from which to rise above their situation and so return to a life of crime.
Rehabilitation of first time offenders should be possible; however, it must be done outside of the normal prison system. Consider the following true story.
It’s 1967; the Vietnam War machine requires recruits. A local man is mean as all get out, fighting, stealing, and overall antisocial behavior is the norm. Arrested, the judge gives him the option; jail or enlist in the military. He joins the marines. Six months after leaving for boot camp he returns home a changed man. From the person who would beat up a little old lady for a couple of bucks, he’s now the one who helps little old ladies cross the street.
With the kinder, gentler military of today, not only does the military not want this type of recruit, they are no longer equipped to deal with them. That leaves it up to the government to establish a system of rehabilitation that educates and establishes the internal fortitude needed for our troubled citizens.
Rehabilitation should mainly be for the first time offender, and rare for the repeat criminal. The program must be voluntary, involuntary rehabilitation will never work. Reward for successful completion of the program would be a complete erasure of the offender’s criminal record, so the individual can reenter society with a clean slate.
The program must be tough, comprising both education and internal character building. Educational goals are established for each person. The non-high school graduate would complete high school, not a GED, and complete some college courses. The high school graduate would be required to complete an associate degree. Medical removal of tattoos is imperative. Tattoos are reminders of past associations and actions; they must be neutralized to allow new associations and personal growth to occur. Intense Group and individual psychological counseling is also a must. A boot camp style environment will set the tone of the rehabilitation.
Living in barracks, there is a 5 AM wakeup followed by an hour of physical exercise. Afterwards come showers and breakfast. The morning is then taken up with education classes and various counseling sessions. After lunch there would be military style training. Obstacle course, group problem solving exercises, physically and mentally challenging tasks would be the type of training provided. Then after supper would come two hours of supervised homework, one hour of free time, and then lights out.
Individuals would carry rank, the promotions based on education and field work accomplishments. As they rise in rank they are placed in increasingly responsible leadership positions.
Graduations would be based on achieving predetermined educational goals and having achieved a minimum rank. Should an individual fail to graduate in two years, they would be returned to the court of jurisdiction with a report of their time in the program. The court would then determine the disposition of the offender.
The cost of this program will be much higher than normal incarceration. According to the Criminal Justice Institute, it costs $20,224.65 to incarcerate one jail inmate for one year in 1997. It may cost twice as much to put the same individual through such a rehabilitation program. Over the long run though, if the offender is rehabilitated and does not become a repeat criminal, then much more is saved then spent.
If first time criminals can be prevented from becoming habitual felons, then our jails would be less crowded, and the hard core criminal could truly serve their sentence and not be paroled just to free up beds for incoming prisoners. With fewer repeat offenders and the hard core spending more time in jail, our crime rates would plummet. True rehabilitation will create good citizens where criminals once were.
