Deterrence Vs Rehabilitation Essay

Prisons are like parents; they know when to help, encourage, and punish when their children do wrong. Prisons were first introduced in the United States in the early 1700s and the first jail was built in the Virginia colony of James City. Imprisonment today is a common method used to punish criminals in the United States. Prisons have been around for a long time and used for the same functions: deterrence, prevention, and rehabilitation. One of the most common use of prisons is to deter criminals to commit a crime or reoffend. Deterrence is split up into two categories; specific and general deterrence. Specific deterrence is preventing the offender to act out in the future. Prior to the twentieth century, specific deterrence was intended for severe torture and punishment that inflicted pain to criminals. Today in American society, they no longer use such cruel and unusual punishment instead rely on incarceration as their main form of punishment. Meanwhile, general deterrence is the same idea, but “…using the offender as an example to discourage others from turning to …show more content…
Most prisons implement some type of treatment to help in inmate rehabilitation. Chapman explains rehabilitation as “reforming the criminal so that when he returns to society, he will be inclined to obey the laws and able to make an honest living”. Rehabilitation comes in different forms such as counseling and a variety of programs. For instance, counseling programs help inmates physically and mentally by teaching them to interact with others and to control their emotions. Different programs include, faith-based, drug treatment, educational and professional. The most common program is the drug treatment, which is designed to assist inmates who suffer from alcohol and substance abuse. Recent studies show about 30 percent of all inmates implement some kind drug treatment while in