Eric LeBaron 1
Eric LeBaron
Professor Gary Cox
Criminal Justice 1010
April 24, 2013
Once a Criminal, Always a Criminal?
Since the very existence of man there has always been some kind of punishment for those
who have committed crimes or have broken rules against their society or tribe that they affiliated
with. Throughout history, the ways in which punishments were carried out have changed
dramatically. In The Middle Ages, people were severely punished for even the most trivial
crimes, their punishment ranged anywhere from torture to severed limbs to being whipped and
even put to death (Nash). But as man has evolved and become more civilized so has their ideas
about punishment for criminal behavior. In the last century, “rehabilitation has been seen as the
most ‘humane’ goal of punishment (Gaines/Miller 360).” But do the effects of incarceration
really rehabilitate individuals, does it really work?
That has been the question that many people have
asked. Because the goal should not be to simply lock
people up and make them sit for the length of their
sentence and just rote. That just doesn’t work, and
that lesson was learned when the United States started
building its first real prisons and jails back in the 17th
and 18th centuries.
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The goal of sentencing and incarceration should be to help these criminals to change in a
way that they learn how to make the right choice, to be able to return back to society one day and
fit back in to help them become model citizens. Criminals that are finally released from jail seem
to return back to society with a big bright label stamped on their heads that reads “Watch out I
have a criminal past.” They are set apart as bad people that will never change, and at times one
doesn’t know, just by looking at them, that they are an ex-convict, but a future employer will ot
anyone else that looks at their records. But it is known that all convicts aren’t like that, we just
choose to remember the bad ones and assume all ex-convicts are like that, “once a criminal
always a criminal” some say. But this is entirely untrue, and in fact, criminal institutions spend
thousands of dollars on each individual inmate to help them rehabilitate and become better. To
help them choose and walk a different path.
According to the Encyclopedia of Criminal Justice at the University of New Hampshire
rehabilitation means a “punishment intended to reform a convict so that he or she can lead a
productive life free of crime (Smith),” so the whole goal of a correctional institution, such as the
state prison or jail, is to change each convict so that when they are released, they no longer
commit crime and return back to prison. So to be able to understand these effects of incarceration
on criminal rehabilitation we need to first understand the purpose of sentencing and why
individual in the justice system are sentenced. Individuals that are caught committing crime are
sentenced; a sentence is supposedly designed to help the individual to learn from what they had
done, to help them to either not commit the same crime again or more crimes in the future. Also,
the purpose of sentencing is to pull criminals off the street so that they are way from outside
influences. There are four basic philosophical reasons for sentencing—retribution, deterrence,
incapacitation, and rehabilitation (Gains/Miller 357). These are all effects of incarceration. If
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someone is sentenced to pay for a crime that individual as part of his sentence will have to
experience at least one if not all of these philosophical reasons for sentencing.
Retribution, retribution follows the ideal “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
(Gains/Miller 358).” The punishment has to fit
the crime; the punishment has to be different for
the young man that steals a candy bar from the
store, then for the husband that murders his
entire family in cold blood. It would not be fair
to punish each of them with the same sentence
because of the broad differences in severity of the two crimes. Like in the case of Andrew Gallo
in Santa Ana, California who was sentenced to fifty-one years in prison for killing three people
in a drunk driving accident (Gains/Miller 360). The punishment would not have fit this tragic
crime if they would have just sentenced him to community service or to just write an apology
letter saying I am sorry for being an idiot. The punishment has to fit the crime.
The idea of deterrence is to not only punish the person that’s being charged, but to send a
message to other crimes that this certain criminal action will not be tolerated or looked passed in
the slightest degree. The idea is to strike fear in individuals so that when the time comes their
decision is outweighed by the thought of getting caught and prosecuted for the crime
(Gains/Miller 358). So the idea is, by prosecuting and sentencing each person that commits the
crime or giving them harsher sentences, discourages the future crime from happening in some
cases. Threat of receiving punishment is a big motivator for most, as a child the thought of
getting caught or in trouble with your parents would motivate you to think twice about the
decision that you are about to make.
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Another form of sentencing or goal is incapacitation, the theory of incapacitation is “a
strategy for preventing crime by detaining wrongdoers in prison, thereby separating them from
the community and reducing criminal opportunities (Gaines/Miller 359).” So the goal of
incapacitation is to protect the community from
individuals that are deemed unsafe, such as those who
may have committed murders, violent crimes, sexual
crimes, and or even repeat offenders, etc. The idea is to
protect and or prevent crimes from happening by
removing and keeping offenders away from society, at
least for the length of their prison term. Some of them
individuals are sentenced with many years in prison, other
sentenced to life in prison without the ability of parole, or back to back life sentences, and so on.
In some cases this works, for example back in the day rulers would have the criminals hands cut
off so that he was no longer able to commit that crime that he was charged with, or any other
crime that may require his hands. So yes, in some case incapacitation does help our communities
to be safer and more enjoyable.
Now the final basic philosophical reason for sentencing is rehabilitation. As was stated
before, rehabilitation is seen as the most humane way of sentencing. “By removing wrongdoers
from their environment and intervening to change their values and personalities, the
rehabilitative model suggests, criminals can be ‘treated’ and even possibly cured of their
proclivities toward crime (Gaines/Miller 360).” Most prisons have taken this a step farther by
creating support groups and programs that encourage this type of change. A gentlemen on Yahoo
Answers shared that his county had started a program called the “Victim Impact Panel” for drunk
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driving offenders to meet with families and individuals that have been victimized by drunk
driving. The goal of the program is to scare or teach these individuals to never making this
choice again. The goal of the program is to help them make the change to never drive under the
influence again (“Yahoo! Answers”). For some of the individuals that attended this group session
were most likely effected by what was said, but not all of them. Rehabilitation takes more than a
scare or shock treatment, it takes time, it takes a true desire to change and become different.
“The U.S. justice system has two main goals in dealing with its convicted criminals:
incarceration and rehabilitation. When all works according to plan, these two methods of dealing
with lawbreakers work together. As they are incarcerated, prison inmates receive rehabilitative
services from job training to counseling. The
goal is to keep society safe from dangerous
criminals through incarceration, and then to
rehabilitate criminals so that when they
complete their sentences, they can lead
productive lives outside the prison walls
(Rafner).” For this reason many prisons have
set up programs to help rehabilitate inmates to make better use out of their conviction time. They
have programs like boot camps where individuals are forced to do military style drills and
workouts to help them rehabilitate and change. There are also educational courses like job
training, high school/GED classes, trade training, vocational training, etc. “A study done by the
U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons found: ‘The more educational programs successfully completed
for each six months confined, the lower the recidivism rate (“List Verse”).” There are also faith
building programs that are sponsored by churches and religions to help inmates to hopefully
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change and choose a better path for their lives by follow Christ. To help prisoners to rehabilitate
some prions even have exercise classes such as cardio, spin, yoga, and meditation classes. They
also offer drug treatment classes and counseling for those who have more severe addictions, such
as drug and alcohol. Some correctional institutions have “Honor Programs” where each inmate is
given his space to serve his time in peace because of good behavior and honesty that they have
portrayed since they arrived at the prison. But once that trust is gone it I extremely difficult to
gain that trust back, so this helps keep the inmates with this privilege under control and doing
what they are supposed to. Prisoners who want this privilege have to apply for the program and
promise to abstain from drugs, gangs, and violence. In the first year of operation in California,
there was an 88% decrease in incidents involving weapons and an 85% decrease in violent
incidents overall, the Honor Program saved the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation over $200,000 during the first year alone in costs related to the management of
violent and disruptive behavior. In its six years of operation, it has saved the California taxpayer
hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars (“List Verse”).”
But with these programs at hand there seems to be a miss conception of prison life; most
people seem to believe that life un prison is nothing more than facilities where criminals are
incarcerated and deprived of their freedoms
while serving sentences. This is true, but the
concept of imprisonment is also supposed to
have a rehabilitative effect on the inmates.
The idea of rehabilitation through
incarceration is that a person who has been incarcerated will never want to go back to prison
after they have been released. It is hoped that an inmate's experiences while locked up will leave
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a lasting impression that the prisoner will do what it takes to avoid going back. Unfortunately,
research shows that time spent in prison does not help to rehabilitate most convicts, and it seems
that most return to crime almost immediately after being released. Almost 2/3 of state prisoners
are re-arrested within 3 years and 52% of those who return because of new crimes or parole
violations ("Justice Center"). This is partly due to many factors, such the likelihood of finding a
job and employers not wanting to hire a convict, past substance abuse problems, how they may
have been raised in the past, social groups from inside and outside the prison, etc. “Many argue
that most prisoners will actually learn new and better ways to commit crimes while they are
locked up with their fellow convicts. They can also make connections and become more deeply
involved in the criminal world ("Crime Museum").” Dr. Stanton E. Samenow, PhD. a Psychologist
that wrote the book “Inside the Criminal Mind” went on to say “I have interviewed numerous
offenders in different institutions about
whether prison truly makes a person
worse. Their answers may be surprising!
Inmates emphasize that choices are
continually made about how time is
served. Some aspire to be prison kingpins.
Confinement is just one more arena in which to conduct criminal operations. Others, however,
have an entirely different view and make choices in an entirely different decision. They adhere to
the prison rules and policies while remaining out of the ‘action’ (Samenow, Ph.D)”. Dr. Samenow
basically was trying to say that yes incarceration can make worse criminals, but the decision is
up to the individual. But those who choose to become involved in criminal underground of the
prison are often trying to preform criminal activity in the prison itself or planning with others
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about what crimes they want to commit when they get out. This type of activity allows inmates
to learn new tricks and better ways to do things. They learn how to manipulate the prison system
for their benefit, to get what they want, so when they are released back in to society they feel like
they can do the same thing out here. That they can rule and have what they want because they
want it. Dr. Samenow described the prison as a “school of crime,” a place where they can learn
the “tricks of the trade.”
But not all inmates came out bad, like he said it’s a decision that one has to make, for
those that choose to follow the rules, they are often doing this because they are looking for a
change in their lives. It seems that most criminals stay as criminals because that’s all they know
or all that they think they know. But the inmates can’t be forced to change, that is something that
has to come from inside them, which is part of rehabilitation. They have to make the difficult
decision to change and then act upon it.
So does the effect of incarceration really rehabilitate individuals? The answer is yes, and
the answer is no. The first problem is that the system isn’t perfect. But that doesn’t mean that
what is currently being implemented isn’t working. Because it is to some degree, obviously it has
help some people to change and become model citizens, it has help inmates to change their
values and ways of thinking, it has helped them find jobs and start new lives. The correctional
system does need to be updated to meet the standards of today such as trying to keep ex-convicts
from returning to prison and helping them get back on their feet after being released, which we
need a solution for. Not all inmates are bad and everyone counts and there should be a bigger
push to help these individuals, to save their lives from going to waste and ending up back in
prison.
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Work Cited
"Rehabilitative Effects of Imprisonment." Crime Museum. (2008): n. page. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.crimemuseum.org/library/imprisonment/rehabilitativeEffects.html>
Nash, Tim. "Criminal Punishment In the Middle Ages." Finer Times. n. page. Web. 17 Apr.
2013. <http://www.thefinertimes.com/Ancient-History/crime-and-punishment-in-the
middle-ages.html>.
Gaines/Miller, . Criminal Justice, Produced For Salt Lake Community College. Wadsworth:
Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.
"Retribution, Incapacitation, Deterrence, Rehabilitation, and Restoration?." Yahoo! Answers. (2010): n.
page. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. <Retribution, Incapacitation, Deterrence, Rehabilitation, and
Restoration?>.
Rafner, Don. "Goals of Incarceration & Rehabilitation."eHow. n. page. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.ehow.com/list_6462823_goals-incarceration-rehabilitation.html>.
Samenow, Ph.D, Dr. Stanton E. . "Do Prisons Really Make Offenders Worse?." Psychologist. (2011): n.
page. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/inside-the-criminalmind/201104/do-prisons-really-make-offenders-worse>.
Smith , Nick. Encyclopedia of Criminal Justice. University of New Hampshire of Philosophy,
eBook. <http://pubpages.unh.edu/~nicks/pdf/Rehabilitation.pdf>.
"The Problem." Justice Center. n. page. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.reentrypolicy.org/the_problem>.
"Top Ten Modern Prison Programs." List Verse. (2008): n. page. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.
<http://listverse.com/2008/08/14/top-10-modern-prison-programs/>.
Pictures Cited
“Criminal Justice” Microsoft Office 2010. Clip Art.
“Education” Web. Image. Via Google.com, www.wesleying.org
“Go to Jail” Web. Image Via Gooogle.com, www.tumblr.com
“Hands on Bars” Web. Image. Via Google.com, www.buzzle.com
“Robot in Court” Web. Image. Via Google.com, www.cartoonstock.com