Rehabilitation Vs Punishment

Public views of punishment for crimes have changed over the centuries. History has shown the differentiation in crime throughout the years, and how they have become more or less brutal. Generally, over time, most societies have moved from the extraction of personal or family justice toward formal systems written by codes of ethics. Societies have also started to move towards the idea of rehabilitation and prevention instead of punishment. Rehabilitation is superior to punishment in a sense that instead of locking someone away spending money on someone doing nothing helpful to the community with their lives, they could become a beneficial and productive part of society.
Many ancient cultures, in the event of a crime being committed, allowed the victim or a member of their family to take the law into their own hands. The offender would usually run to his or her family for protection, and as a result, blood feuds arose in which the victim's family seeked revenge against the offender's family. More than a few times, the offender's family retaliated, and retaliation could continue until the families destroy each other either physically or financially. As societies began to become tribes and villages, communities began to assume the responsibility for …show more content…
If a convict is told while entering prison that they does not stand a chance for release until they can prove that they have been educated to a higher extent and received counseling for all problems that led up to their being locked up, then they will have a reason to work toward self-improvement. When they reach that goal, they will have no excuse for going back to jail. There will always be those who cannot be helped or rehabilitated, but a large percentage can