Current Situation Regarding Prisons and Punishment

Although it may not be at the forefront of our minds, the current situation regarding prisons and punishment is worth discussing. On the matter of this often overlooked topic, Pope John Paul II said â€Å"Not to promote the interest of prisoners would be to make imprisonment a mere act of vengeance of the part of society, provoking only hatred in the prisoners themselves.† (July, 2000) The prison system is a global issue that affects the human potential, free will and innate goodness in man. (Lyons, 2003) The issue is in regard to how offenders are punished when incarcerated and debates what theory of punishment offenders should serve their sentence under. There are many forms of punishment adopted by institutions in order effectively punish prisoners. These methods of punishment are diverse in both procedures and outcomes; however they all maintain the same objective – to successfully punish offenders. While Catholics endorse a combination between reforming and rehabilitating both offenders and victims, Islam prefers a harsh deterrent and retributive approach using fear of punishment as an incentive to not engage in criminal activity and from a completely secular perspective both protective punishment and deterrent punishment can be deemed appropriate. But conflict of theories from different points of views raise the ethical question of how do we effectively punish offenders without crossing moral and ethical boundaries? When dealing with the punishment of Prisoners,Show MoreRelatedThe Strike Law Is A Real Problem756 Words   |  4 Pageskeep looking the other way instead of dealing with the problem, over population, excessive punishment, over spending, all factors that deteriorate our correctional system as well it creates more deficit that impacts the economy of the tax payers. The idea of our correctional system is to protect, punish and rehabilitate, not burry current issues in a cell. Important information regarding this troublesome situation will be presented to support the argument that the three strike law does not work in anyRead MoreJeff Jacoby’s Bring Flogging Back1018 Words   |  5 Pageshe discusses whether flogging is the more humane punishment compared to prison. Jacoby uses clear and compelling evidence to describe why prisons are a terrible punishment, but he lacks detail and information on why flogging is better. In the essay he explains how crime has gotten out of hand ov er the past few decades, which has lead to the government building more prisons to lock up more criminals. His effort to prove that current criminal punishment is not perfect or even effective is nicely doneRead MoreCapital Punishment And Its Effect On Society1535 Words   |  7 PagesCapital Punishment Does capital punishment have a role in civilized society? No I don t think it does for two reasons for firstly because if you regard the taking of a human life by somebody the crime of murder is so serious as it is the idea that you can kill somebody yourself I think that is just completely wrong. Due to that we will strive to make the criminal justice system as accurate as possible to make sure that the person who is convicted pulse is really the guilty person on time sometimesRead MorePunishment Is The Punishment An Individual948 Words   |  4 Pagesdescribed with these two words: Deserved Punishment. Retribution is the punishment an individual receives contingent upon the severity of their wrong doings. They must â€Å"pay their debts†. The authors of the text â€Å"Criminal Justice in America† mentions that if the government fails to sentence the individual to an appropriate amount of punishment, society will take the situation into their own hands (Cole, Smith an d DeJong 277). 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Sources: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/files/DeterrenceStudy2009.pdf Part 2: Retribution While working on this critical thinking paper, I have read conflicting ideas (both with valid points) regarding the subject of retribution via the death penaltyRead MoreMass Incarceration And Its Effects On The United States Essay1264 Words   |  6 Pagesemphasize more punishment and creating new policies such as; three strikes law, truth-in sentencing laws, mandatory sentencing, and determinate sentencing, our prisons and jails have become overcrowded. The three strikes law increases the prison sentence of an offender convicted of three felonies or serious crime. Usually the punishment ranges from a minimum of 25 years to life in prison. 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