There are a assortment of offenses committed in the United States daily. Felonies and misdemeanours are illustrations of offenses committed. “Felonies. such as slaying and armed robbery. are punishable by decease or prison footings longer than one twelvemonth. Misdemeanors are lesser discourtesies. such as excessively many unpaid parking tickets. and are punishable by mulcts. gaol footings of less than a twelvemonth. and/or community service” ( Blue/Naden. 2001. p. 13 ) . When people commit offenses. they are labeled felons. If caught perpetrating a offense. the felon is placed in prison.
The length of clip the condemnable spends in prison depends on the type of offense committed and the badness of the offense. The argument over the figure of prisons. the length of prison footings and even the demand for prison has become a hot subject in the past few old ages. Yet. no affair the issues confronting prisons and captives today. puting felons in prison benefits society as a whole. Puting felons in prison Teachs personal duty. Each individual is responsible for any actions committed on their portion.
Persons who commit offenses and so pay for those offenses learn that there is a monetary value to pay for non following the regulations set by society. “…the whole governmental construction of force and menace – constabulary. Judgess. and prisons – is a cardinal agencies by which society restrains aggression and crime” ( Bender/ Leone. 1995. p. 71 ) . Society Torahs are in topographic point for the protection of all people populating in that society. Paying for offenses committed by traveling to prison leads to a personal realisation that no 1 is above the jurisprudence.
Of class. most people are born with personal duty. “…it is the internal suppression that society physiques into each person’s character. the interior voice ( name it ground. scruples. superego. what you will ) that makes the societal contract an built-in portion of our deepest selves…” ( Bender/Leone. 1995. p. 71 ) . When persons lose that internal suppression is when topographic points. like prison. go necessary. Some critics have called prison “government sanctioned oppression” ( Bender/Leone. 1995 p. 69 ) .
Prisons are used against those who exercise their rights as members of a democratic society. They are used to penalize the less desirable members of society. learning persons who do non conform to repent determinations based on the freedoms of this state. In other words. people should be able to make whatever they want to whomever they choose with no effects. When personal duty is non present the consequence is anarchy. A democratic society can non be without some balance and some Torahs to regulate behaviour.
“Crime is ever a challenge to the predominating normative order and a trial of the values and committednesss of observant people” ( Blue/Naden. 2001. p. 8 ) Puting felons in prison benefits society by doing communities safer. Depending on the community. the sum and type of offense differs. Poor countries experience more offenses. statistically. but no community is safe from felons. No affair where the offense occurs the people populating in that community are affected. To cognize that where you live and raise your kids is non safe. affects every portion of day-to-day life.
Victims of offenses are affected emotionally and in some instances physically. Knowing that the felon is behind bars makes the victims. households. friends and the community feel safer. They can walk through their vicinities and slumber in their places without fright of some alien assailing them. A safer community peers overall peace and repose. The lone manner communities can remain safe is to set felons behind bars. It has been proven that prisons make a difference for one importance ground: piece in prison. felons are non perpetrating offenses.
“The best manner to cut down offense is to place. prosecute. and incarcerate hard-core felons. Survey after survey shows that a comparatively little part of the population is responsible for the lion’s portion of condemnable force in this state. For illustration. one California survey found that 3. 8 per centum of a group of more than 236. 000 work forces born in 1956 were responsible for 55. 5 per centum of all serious felonies committed by the survey group” ( Bender/Leone. 1995. p. 100 ) . Captivity or prison is the reply to safer communities and a safer state.
It has been argued that felons are born in hapless and violent communities. Peoples commit offenses because they have no other feasible picks. They break Torahs to feed themselves and their households ; they break Torahs because they have been taught that they are worthless. Criminals have argued that they had no pick. This statement is non rational. The figure of jurisprudence staying citizens populating in hapless and violent communities outweigh those who commit offenses. Criminals use their environment as an alibi to make what they want to make when they want to make it.
Persons blame society for their offenses and/or the victim so they can indulge their caprices and seek farther chances to perpetrate offenses ( Bender/Leone. 1995. p. 44 ) . There is no alibi for interrupting the jurisprudence. Criminals choose to interrupt the jurisprudence and take to fault their state of affairss on others because of their picks. Another benefit of prison is the prison work plans. The prison work plan gives occupations to captives and supports the economic system. Prisons can assist pay for their upkeep through their work plans. therefore taking some of the load of prison cost from taxpayers ( Wagner. 2001. P.
28 ) . Working will give captives something hardworking to make and will act upon good behaviour. There must be a concentrated attempt on the portion of prisons and those outside prison walls to do prison work plans more effectual. The attempt will ensue in productive captives and more manageable captives who gain accomplishments necessary for life after prison ( Wagner. 2001. p. 29 ) . Prison work plans have non been efficaciously established because of the negative images of captives. Prisoners are felons who have committed offenses and are non fit to populate in society.
Peoples outside prison walls do desire to utilize prison made merchandises and/or don’t believe captives deserve to make points for mass usage. Yet. the cost to run prisons is increasing and the figure of prisons being built around the United States is increasing annually. In order to run into the demand and do prisons productive. work plans are a practical option. “If one in four captives could be put to work for private enterprise…taxpayer costs would fall by $ 2. 4 billon per year” ( Wagner. 2001. p. 28 ) . The economic system and citizens would profit from a prison system that has limited self-support.
The prison rehabilitation plan is another benefit of puting felons behind bars. Unfortunately. there is ever traveling to be person who feels they can populate outside the bounds of the jurisprudence. For this ground. prisons will ever be in usage. The rehabilitation plan Teachs captives accomplishments and gives them other options alternatively of offense. “People in the United States were optimistic that rehabilitation would be the reply to the lifting offense rate. Work plans. in-jail therapy Sessionss. indeterminate sentences and halfway houses eased the return to a observant life” ( Blue/Naden. 2001. P.
20 ) . Once released from prison. the felon has an chance to go a productive member of society and happen a occupation. The ability to back up ego and household will transfuse a sense of dignity. The end of prison rehabilitation is to advance a alteration in captives and transfuse a desire to go a productive member of society. Since a crime-free society is a thing of dreams. world must affect solutions to the offense job. Critics of rehabilitation plans have caused the support of such plans to diminish but it has been proven that rehabilitation plants ( Blue/Naden. 2001. P.
39 ) . Every felon is different. their personal history and state of affairs is different and the circumstance environing their offense is different but with the right inducement. the right support and the right rehabilitation. success is possible. The most of import benefit of puting felons in prison is justness for the victim. When a individual is a victim of a offense. they are violated. It doesn’t affair if the offense falls into the class of a felony or a misdemeanour. victims have been dishonored. Once justness has been served. victims are vindicated.
They know that the felon is paying a monetary value for the injury done to them and that has been set right. Victims deserve to hold their instance heard and so hear a finding of fact that is just and right. giving them a opportunity to lift above what has been done to them. Justice does non wipe out the offense but it makes populating with the consequences a batch easier. Prisons are necessary and good to the U. S. Prisons are needed in a society where offense is lifting and thoughtless Acts of the Apostless of force are going 2nd nature.
Persons who commit offenses can non go on to populate in society. running amuck and destructing lives of observant citizens. Prisons benefit society as a whole by transfusing personal duty in felons. doing communities safe. impacting the economic system favourably. making a work ethic through the prison work and rehabilitation plans and supplying justness for the victims. Prison were created to house jurisprudence surfs but in bend. felons can larn to better themselves. alter their lives for the better and do a permanent difference for themselves and their households while society is protected.
Prisons are here to the advantage of observant citizens and jurisprudence surfs. Overall. both sides benefit in a win-win state of affairs. REFERENCES Bender. David and Leone. Bruno. Editors. ( 1995 ) . Crime and Criminals: Opposing Point of views. California: Greenhaven Press. Inc. Blue. Rose and Naden. Corrine J. ( 2001 ) . Punishment and Rehabilitation. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers. Wagner. Michele. Editor. ( 2001 ) . How Should Prisons Treat Inmates. California: Greenhaven Press. Inc.
