Feb. 4-10

Do you think rehabilitation of criminals works, or do you think punishments the way to go? Would a combination of both work? I am sad to say that neither of them seem to really work.  If one of them worked then we would not have so many people committing crimes in the first place or committing the same crimes over and over again. Guessing from what I can see a combination of both is probably best.  From what I see in school when some kids break rules the punishment seems to work and keeps them from doing it again but often they just become sneakier and still break the same rules.  Rehabilitation is kind of like teaching someone what they are doing wrong and helping them make changes so they don't continue doing it.  For some people this works but that is a lot of expense and work if they don't change and many don't seem to change.  It is impossible to make someone change who doesn't really want to change. Of course punishment involving prison costs a lot also.  The best we can do is try everything to make them change or feel the punishment is not worth the risk.  It does seem that rehabilitation makes it so some people don't fear punishment and then can fool those doing rehabilitation so they can get out of the punishment.  In the end if it doesn't work and they still make the world unsafe all we can do is keep them locked up in prison.