Criminal Justice Systems: Examining the Flaws and Debates - Essay Sample

Introduction

Crime and punishment are among the most politically challenging and historically divisive issues in the country. This is arguably the reason why the flaws within the country's criminal justice system have been debated for years. Critics have argued that the system has criminalized too many things, a factor that hurts the poor and disadvantaged, is too punitive, and little is done to rehabilitate the prisoners. While criminal justice systems around the world are aimed at the rehabilitation of offenders, the American system focusses more on criminalization and incarceration. The overemphasis on incarceration is grossly inadequate on the rehabilitation front, especially where the youths of the country are concerned. As a result, the U.S. has one of the largest incarcerated populations on the planet. According to statistics, despite holding only 5% of the global population, the U.S. accounts for 25% of the global prison population. Prisons in the country are also overcrowded further stretching the ability of the criminal justice system to meet the prisoners' basic human needs and appropriately rehabilitate them. Moreover, regardless of the billions of dollars that go into the system every year, the rates of recidivism remain high, with as almost half of former prisoners rearrested within 8 years of release, and crime rate has also not been significantly addressed. Therefore, there is a need for bold and structural changes at every level of the government. However, while the system has several flaws, the lack of rehabilitation and insistence on punishment stands out as the biggest of them all. As such, developing a system that sufficiently promotes rehabilitation is the single most important reform that should happen to the country's criminal justice system. The reform will significant enhance the reintegration of prisoners into the society, which will in turn reduce the rates of recidivism and crime. The reform will also ultimately address the high numbers of incarcerated Americans.

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Rehabilitation and Re-Integration of Inmates in Society

Enhancing the ease of re-entry and reintegration into the society is the major reason why the criminal justice system should focus more on rehabilitation. Up until the 1970s, rehabilitation was an integral part of the American prison policy. Prisoners were encouraged and helped to develop various occupational skills, as well as resolve any existing psychological problems, which might affect their reintegration into the society (Polgar 15). However, the system changed and adopted an approach that focused more on punishment. Today, corrections based on a punitive philosophy have made rehabilitation more unlikely among the prisoners. The effect has been an explosion in the prison population, by an estimated 500%, without any significant reduction in the rates of crime. Prison conditions also encourage the development of mental illnesses, a factor that also affects the reintegration of the prisoners into society. Recent studies have showed that properly implemented education, work programs, and psychotherapy ease the transition of the prisoners into the free world. The prison environment has also been shown to significantly shape the behavior of the prisoners, a factor that also affects their lives once released into the society. When prisoners are released from punitive environments, such as those found in the country's prisons, they possess few occupational and social skills. As such, their chances of succeeding in the outside world are greatly reduced. Rehabilitation should be focus on the whole criminal justice community, including the offenders, both adults and juveniles, their families, the victims of crime and violence, correctional officers, as well as law enforcement administrators (Schaefer 50). Stress management and mediation are examples of areas that should be focused on, since an inability to control one's emotions and impulses is one of the reasons why individuals commit crime. A system that focusses more on rehabilitation instead of punishment does not necessarily excuse bad behavior. Instead, it helps the offenders heal and go on with their lives. In turn, the transition of the prisoners into the free world smoother and communities become safer. Therefore, if the challenges facing the criminal justice system, in regard to the reintegration of inmates into the society, are to be addressed, a greater focus should be placed on rehabilitation, rather than punishment.

Rehabilitation and Justice

However, some people will argue that punishment presents a better solution to the problems facing the country's criminal justice system. According to this school of thought, rehabilitation does not bring greater justice or reform. They also argue that though the criminal justice system is flawed, retribution is not its main problem. Borrowing from C.S. Lewis' 1949 essay titled, "The Humanitarian theory of Punishment", it can be argued that though rehabilitation as a form of punishment for offenders looks merciful, it is not just (Lewis 1). According to the author, justice can only exist where people get exactly what they deserve. He further states that for justice to be served, especially for the victims, the offender must be punished. Criminal justice systems have erred by concentrating on the questions of whether punishment can cure the offender or deter others. Unfortunately, these questions are not based on justice. Rather, they are built on effectiveness. In choosing effectiveness, the system abandons justice (Lewis 1). By abandoning justice, rehabilitation might look insufficient in the eyes of the victims and society as a punishment for crimes committed. Therefore, in stride with the Rawls' Veil of Ignorance, the offenders are at a higher advantage as compared to the society. Looking at the issue from this perspective, the argument is logical. The victims and society expect that offenders should be punished for the pain and distress they cause, which is a violation of state of nature as advanced by John Locke in Second Treatise. Often, those arguing against punishment give examples of European countries such as Norway where inmates spend their time playing electric guitars and indulging themselves in other fun activities, in pretty comfortable environments (Tonseth and Bergsland). In the view of the public, this does not look like a sufficient way of punishing law-breakers. However, the punishment must be proportional to the crime committed. For instance, petty crimes should get more lenient sentences.

Rehabilitation Reduces Recidivism

As intimated earlier, almost half of all released prisoners are rearrested within 8 years. Recidivism, therefore, remains a major problem in the criminal justice system, and has significantly contributed to the huge prison population in the country. Rehabilitation of prisoners is one of the most effective solutions to this challenge. The greater focus on punishment as opposed to rehabilitation in the American prisons has been blamed for the high rates of recidivism. Some people opposed to rehabilitation have argued that the programs require huge amounts of money to implement. However, since these programs reduce recidivism, the prison populations also decrease, and hence cost of operating prisons also go down. Therefore, the programs ultimately saves taxpayers' money (Bhuller, Dahl and Loken 7). Some of rehabilitation programs offered in the criminal justice system include counseling, alcohol and drug dependency, as well as awareness programs. Various studies proven that these rehabilitative programs have been shown to be effective. In Ohio, it was established that prisoners who enrolled for college classes had a recidivism rate of 18% as compared to 40% among those who did not take up the classes (Reich). In New York, prisoners who earned college degrees while in prison were shown to be half as likely to be rearrested as compared to those who did not. The changes ultimately lead to reduction in prison populations. For instance, following the implementation of various rehabilitative programs, the population of inmates in state prison in Nevada decreased by 1.6% between 2008 and 2009 (Reich). The state, in turn, saved an estimated $1.2 billion (Reich). Other than the educational opportunities, different job-training programs also help reduce the rate of recidivism by enabling the prisoners find work and hence rebuild their lives (Bhuller, Dahl and Loken 1). Drug addiction programs also help the prisoners rebuild their lives, and hence remain outside prisons. Unfortunately, such programs are not provided in all correctional facilities. Therefore, a reform that would see the programs introduced in all prisons across the country would significantly address the challenges facing the criminal justice system.

Conclusion

It is no secret that the country's criminal justice system is deeply flawed. Despite gobbling up billions of dollars every year, the country has the largest incarcerated population on earth, yet no significant decreases in crime rates have been recorded. Therefore there is a need for far-reaching reforms in the system. Adoption and implementation of various rehabilitative programs has the potential to address these challenges. Rehabilitation promotes reintegration of prisoners into the society and decreases the rate of recidivism. While some quarters argue that punishment is the best way of serving justice, this paper presents a reform that advances Mill's utilitarian theory of justice. By serving their sentences and earning skills to help them after leaving prison, both morality and justice is observed. Moreover, the reform will help address the problems plaguing the criminal justice system by reducing prison populations, recidivism, and crime rates.

Works Cited

Bhuller, Manudeep, et al. "Incarceration, recividism and employment." The University of Chicago Press Journals (2016). <https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/705330>.

Lewis, Clive Staples. "The humanatarian theory of punishment." Chitty's LJ 20 (1972): 1. <https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/chittylj20&section=4>.

Polgar, Alexander T. "Challenging Current Strategies of Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Offenders: Reasons for Hope." (2019). <https://socialwork.asu.edu/sites/default/files/polgar_alexander_arizona_state_u_spring_2019_haskell_lecture_text.pdf>.

Reich, Jacob. "The Economic Impact of Prison Rehabilitation Programs." 17 August 2017. Wharton University of Pennsylvania. 2 March 2020. <https://publicpolicy.wharton.upenn.edu/live/news/2059-the-economic-impact-of-prison-rehabilitation/for-students/blog/news.php>.

Schaefer, Lacey. "Correcting the "correctional" component of the corrections officer role: How offender custodians can contribute to rehabilitation and reintegration." Corrections 3.1 (2018): 38-55. <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23774657.2017.1304811>.

Tonseth, Christin and Ragnhild Bergsland. "Prison education in Norway -The Importance for work and life after release." Cogent Education 6.1 (2019): 1628408. <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/2331186X.2019.1628408>.