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Punishment Versus Rehabilitation

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Submitted By ChristinaBailey
Words 1696
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Punishment versus Rehabilitation
AJS/502
March 17, 2012

Punishment versus Rehabilitation For centuries the criminal justice system has struggled with punishment versus rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is the belief in curing a criminal of his or her criminal tendencies. By curing the criminal of his or her tendencies, he or she will one day be cast out back into society and be a contributing member. The idea behind punishment is to deter society while giving the offender his or her just deserts. The criminal justice system is a complex machine that society has designed to rehabilitate the offender while punishing the offender. The question still remains, is punishment or rehabilitation more important, depending on the person will depend on the answer.
Deterrence of Crime Deterrence is one primary objective of criminal law. The goal is to discourage members of society from committing criminal acts out of fear of punishment (Farlex, 2008). Facing the criminal justice system can be a powerful deterrent. If an individual breaks a law he or she will be apprehended, convicted, and punished (Farlex, 2008).
Many researchers have begun to look at personal choice. “An understanding of personal choice is commonly based in a conception of rationality or rational choice” (Keel, 2005, para 1). Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham are early classical theorists who analyzed human behavior concepts. “The central points of this theory are: (1) The human being is a rational actor, (2) Rationality involves an end/means calculation, (3) People (freely) choose all behavior, both conforming and deviant, based on their rational calculations, (4) The central element of calculation involves a cost benefit analysis: Pleasure versus Pain, (5) Choice, with all other conditions equal, will be directed towards the maximization of individual pleasure, (6) Choice can be

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