Punishment and Rehabilitation

What role punishment serve in the criminal justice system? What should be the goal of an effective sentence for a criminal defendant?

Under Ohio Law, the “overriding purposes of felony sentencing are to protect the public from future crime by the offender and others, to punish the offender, and to promote the effective rehabilitation of the offender using the minimum sanctions that the court determines accomplish those purposes without imposing an unnecessary burden on state or local government resources. To achieve those purposes, the sentencing court shall consider the need for incapacitating the offender, deterring the offender and others from future crime, rehabilitating the offender, and making restitution to the victim of the offense, the public, or both.”

Prison can break up families, cause loss of current and future employment, breed further criminal activity, and create additional trauma and hopelessness, all without treating the root causes that brought the criminal there to begin with. If poverty, mental health, substance abuse or poor education play a major part in why offenders commit crime, these problems need to be addressed if we are to deter future criminal acts.

Sentences could prioritize diversion and individual programs of rehabilitation. Prison time in most circumstances could be another option, but it should operate more as additional rehabilitative center.

I would suggest the criminal justice system should be more focused on effectively deterring crime. Mental health and substance abuse treatment, along with education may be a better way to deter future crime than prison.

The system practically speaking seems to generally focus on retribution. Crime is not commonly thought of as a problem that can be treated, but rather a personal failure of character that requires punishment, for its own sake, and for general deterrence.

Creative diversion and treatment programs are a good option but take time and money. With crowded dockets, it would be difficult to pay close attention to each case, and it is much easier to punt to probation, or require a fine and move on.