Should criminals be punished with lengthy jail terms or re-educated and rehabilitated, using community service programs for instance, before being reintroduced to society?
Crime is on the rise in most countries. No country is happily free of it. Laws are made to define criminal acts and determine proper punishment. Different crimes deserve different penalties, ranging from a fine to death penalty. But by and large, we should aim at reintroducing those inmates to the society upon release.
We need to make sure that criminals no longer pose threat to the society. Although there is no guarantee what an individual will do when he is out of prison, there are ways to minimize the risk. Death penalty would seem the safest way to protect the public, but it is cruel and should be the last resort. Life imprisonment should be meted out to those incorrigible felons unlikely to forgo criminal acts. But for the majority of the convicts, jail time is not the best option.
Lengthy time behind bars is not the best way to ensure public safety because most of the criminals will be released one day or another. Our goal to punish wrongdoers is not to seek revenge, which the victims' families and friends would certainly like, but to prevent further damage. There is no real revenge in the world; what is done cannot be undone; the perished loved one is gone forever whatever we do to the killer. Revenge is an emotional approach, not a sensible one. To be truly noble you must 'love thy enemy'. We need to do something to prevent similar tragedies from occuring. And re-education is our best bet.
We only increase criminals' bitterness and criminal inclination by locking them up or maltreating them. Most inmates can be re-educated through the right approach. By showing them the damages they have caused, the forgiveness from the victims and a totally different life they otherwise could have lead, many would repent their past. After all, given the alternative, no one would coluntarily seek a life of crime. Whenever possible they should be given a second chance. To err is human; to forgive divine. They may once again become law-abiding citizens.
Of course, it is never easy to transform a fallen soul. It might be easier to just lock them up. But it is in our society's interest to re-educate the criminals.
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