Criminal Justice Rehabilitation and Moralities
Introduction
The institution of punishment in criminal justice is among the critical institutions currently. At the same time, this institution is raising many questions regarding criminal justice rehabilitation and the moralities involved. There are different ways in which people are being rehabilitated, which includes education, drug treatment programs, and work-training (Maibom, 2014). Rehabilitating the prisoners is one of the main things the criminal justice is doing; this is meant to help the offenders change their ways in that they can avoid and refrain from getting involved in crimes in the future. The rehabilitation the criminal justice expects is not changing their behavior like the case in reformation but rather being able to be compliant with the law and function better in the society (Bülow, 2014).
The controversial issues surrounding the criminal justice rehabilitation range from misuse of punishment among the offenders and also the policies and programs implemented. The sentence of people with a moral foundation is a significant issue in the criminal justice system (Ecker, 2006). Some people believe that when someone commits a crime, they should be punished in the harshest way possible, that no consideration of rehabilitation should be made. There are others, on the other hand, who believe that even with the punishments, criminal justice should focus more on rehabilitating criminals.
Literature Review
According to Foucault 1991, there are two types of punishment within the criminal justice system in modern society one includes deprivation of liberty, and another is based on helping people change and become better. From the beginning of the 19th-century, prisons have functioned to cover both the deprivation of freedom and the correctional of the offender’s task. There is some author who has thought otherwise, for example, Lippke (2007) states that the main agenda of prisons should be developing the offender’s moral personalities and improving their behaviors. However, the current criminal justice, even with the rehabilitation programs, ensures the deprivation of liberty to a great extent.
The basic idea of punishment should not be to inflict pain and suffering to the offenders but rather to ensure that people are aware of the moral orders that govern society. Townsend (2005) emphasizes that there is a direct relationship between justice, the right relationships, and ensuring the people’s wellbeing. The department of corrections Coloradoans guides the current era that we are in the prisons. The prisoners are no longer in jail just for the sake of punishment but for the desire of the criminal justice system to reform the criminal into good citizens (Maibom, 2014). Colorado, for instance, provides the offenders with an Alcoholic “Anonymous meeting” for the alcoholic and other drug abusers, for the unskilled people they are offered vocational training, seminars are organized to encourage the unmotivated people and also prescription medications for the people with mental illness.
The emphasis of rehabilitation come into existence, although that’s not what prisons are most popular for as the pictures that we see are those of limited prison education and also other rehabilitating programs. Not long ago, mental illness was not recognized in the system, and people never received any medications; parole, a form of rehabilitation, was also very minimal (Swisher & Royeen, 2019). Also, there were no drug prevention programs that we see now; by all means, rehabilitation has been embraced in this era as an element of incarceration, which has replaced the ignorant criminal justice system previously. Although recovery has evolved, issues are surrounding it, making it a long way to go.
The aspect of rehabilitation as a moral reform for the criminals has changed over the years in that it has shifted from the social causation model. Currently, a majority of the criminal is not viewed as morally inferior people from the rehabilitation perspective. Media platforms reporting on the rehabilitation matter do not publicize the programs, nor do they speak about the moral progress taking place in the prisons; they focus on other social conditions that result in incarceration. Prisoners are viewed as people with a type of weakness that cannot be reversed; however, with the right rehabilitation and support, these people can reform. There are rehabilitation programs that focus on changing the offenders themselves (a total reform); others are meant to help the prisoners manage their anger issues and also develop their skills, such as learning how to secure employment, among other skills (Day, 2010). There are education programs that are intended to not only provide regular schooling but also to improve the offender’s character and help in the moral growth of the inmates.
According to UNODC 2012, a common characteristic of inmates is their distorted cognition (self-blame, deficient of moral reasoning, among other cognitive issues). Having cognitive behavioral therapy can help address these cognitive issues and challenges by developing the inmate’s thinking process, which is associated with the criminal’s behavior. Through such programs, offenders can control their thinking and identify and correct their actions and their deficient thinking patterns. These programs include cognitive skill training, anger management, plus other techniques that are related to the development of social skills and interpersonal maturity, moral development, and relapse prevention.
Such a program has an essential impact on reducing the rate of recidivism (UNODC, 2012). Also, inmates are enrolled in work opportunities, which allows them to gain new skills and other working habits, which are beneficial. Any other rehabilitation intervention which focuses on the competency enhancement is essential to them and the community as a whole. Training the inmates in their cognitive and decision-making skills can be offered to address the particular problem which the offender is going through, which might be interfering with their ability to make the right decisions about their behaviors. The basic idea is to improve on the moral reasoning, anger management, and anger management of the offender by using different techniques that allow them to learn in the process.
Data Collection and Resources
During this research, I intend to collect my data using secondary resources. By this, I mean using data that was previously obtained by other people from the primary support. Among the sources, I intend to use are the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), National Centre for the Juvenile Justice (NCJJ), National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). The databases of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) will also be helpful as it is the primary statistical agency of the department of justice. These resources will help provide any statistical and demographic data, which will be according to my population sample, age, and gender. I will also utilize the program evaluation where I will research
These organizations have data related to criminal justice, which can be accessed from the internet. A majority of these data from the data resources were collected from federally granted operations. Also, from their websites, I can get access to beneficial information, although some of it is restricted according to the university setting. After gathering the relevant information, I will interpret my data using both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the data. This will allow me to understand the relevance of the data to my research. Once I analyze and interpret the data, I will use the information to inform the current criminal justice policies and practice as well.
There are different implications of the policy in this research in that, in the morality policy-making in regarding punishment, ideology stances are required to ensure that the decision making process is well reasoned and ethical at the same time. Policies should be implemented to cause more good than harm in the criminal justice system. This is because when policies are made rationally, they create more damage than mending, which results in more recidivism rates and other economic disadvantages. It’s through continuous research and planning that we can come to a better understanding of the criminal inmates.
In societies where people are just incarcerated that can be considered as a disservice to the offenders, such a system creates a revolving cycle in the criminal justice system (Ecker, 2006). Rehabilitation is vital to the inmates for them to impact society with positivity. It essential to note that incarceration is only a mask to the real problem, for, with research and planning, we can hopefully reduce and hopefully eliminate the nation’s current criminal problem. Also, the public policy should not be driven by vindication and revenge against the criminals. They should treat the inmate according to ethics and morality because they are both critical for the inmate’s rehabilitation process. When the criminal justice system creates a culture of being grounded on ethics and morals, the offenders stand a better chance of being embraced in society. These positive practices are important in the community as they prevent offenders from repeating the same mistakes.
References
Bülow, W. (2014). Ethics of Imprisonment. Stockholm: Royal Institute of Technology.
Day, A. (2010). Offender Rehabilitation: Current Problems and Ethically Informed Approaches to Intervention. Ethics and Social Welfare, 348-360.
Ecker, R. T. (2006, September 27). The morality of Punishment: Shaping Criminal Justice Policy. Retrieved from Community Policing: http://www.communitypolicing.com/morality-of-punishment-shaping-criminal-justice-policy/
Lippke, R. L. (2007). Rethinking Imprisonment. Oxford: Oxford Publishers.
Maibom, H. L. (2014). Empathy and Morality. New York: Oxford University Press.
Swisher, L. L., & Royeen, C. B. (2019). Rehabilitation Ethics for Interprofessional Practice. New York: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
UNODC. (2012). Introductory Handbook on the Prevention of Recidivism and the Social Reintegration of Offenders. New York: United Nations.