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Punishment Versus Rehabilitation

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Punishment Versus Rehabilitation
Punishment vs. Rehabilitation
Brenda A. Dove
AJS/502 Version I
September 10, 2012
John V. Baiamonte, Jr. Ph.D.

Punishment vs. Rehabilitation Punishment versus Rehabilitation, there has been many debates on the effectiveness of punishment compared to the effectiveness of rehabilitation of convicted offenders in prison and under community supervision. If an individual commits a crime serious enough to warrant incarceration, then the individual is sent to prison as a form of punishment.
While incarcerated the individual may have the opportunity to receive rehabilitation. Does it mean that the individual will be rehabilitated? One can only imagine. This is a debatable issue. Is punishment or rehabilitation more effective in combating crime? These findings will be discussed in this paper in more depth.
According to DeLuca, Miller, and Wiedemann (1991), “Some prison facilities use punishment as the main approach, such as Texas. Massachusetts and Connecticut stress rehabilitation, and some facilities use punishment and rehabilitation, such as Michigan. There is currently no prison facility that focuses on incarceration as a short period of punishment followed by a long period of community-based rehabilitation and strict supervision” (para.6).
Rehabilitation wants to educate individuals about the wrong choices that they have made and help encourage these individuals to make better choices in the future. Rehabilitation recognizes that offenders may be victims of social economic conditions, and wants to help offenders learn from their mistakes, with the intention of not committing crimes when they get released.
According to Logan, and Gaes (1993), “Meta-analysis is the study of other studies, and in this case, the studies test the effectiveness of various programs of correctional treatment. Advocates of rehabilitation believe that meta-analysis can be used to supply deposits of prior research, to reveal hidden veins of effective treatment not necessarily revealed by



References: Bureau of Justice Assistance. (n.d.). “Nothing Works”, Retrieved on September 10, 2012, from, https://www.bja.gov/Publications/APPA_PSN.pdf Department of Corrections. (n.d.). Historical Background: The “What Works?” Debate, Retrieved on September 10, 2012, from, http://www.corrections.govt.nz/research/the-effectiveness-of-correctional-treatment/historical-background.html Federal Bureau of Prisons. (1993). Meta-Analysis Rehabilitation of Punishment, Retrieved on September 10, 2012, from, http://www.bop.gov/news/research_projects/published_reports/cond_envir/oreprlogangaes.pdf National Criminal Justice Reference Service. (1991). Punishment vs. Rehabilitation: A proposal for revising sentencing practices, Retrieved on September 10, 2012, from, https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=133881 | | |

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