The Issue Of Rehabilitation Or Punishment in American Justice System

When it comes to the American justice system, it’s not in the slightest perfect. Whether it’s the faulty reasoning for an arrest or the small drug charge or what used to be unpaid child support, When it comes to our prison system, is it just another quota, is it just another punishment? Our justice system doesn’t rehabilitate; it leaves people with more scars them anyone could have in their life.

When other countries come into view comparing their justice system to our justice system pales in comparison to other countries. Their prison systems vs our major differences come into the light. With the differences in how prisoners are being treated. Whether it’s the housing, the meals or simple jobs or the grouping and safety inside the prisons. American prison systems aren’t at the level they should be. It’s said that jail is to rehabilitate the ones who have committed crimes but in truth, we shove people into nine by five by twelve cells with no privacy.

In America, we have 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 942 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,283 local jails, and 79 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, and prisons in the U.S., Leading us to be the heaviest weighted country when it comes to prisons and jails. With the heaviest weighed prison population.

“Every country has a unique prison system that differs from others in some ways. Every culture has its own way of punishing criminals. In America, we put people in prison which are unfit to live in. The United States is 5% of the world’s population but 25% of its prisoners (Lichtenberg, 2016). Some people might think that since someone committed a crime the conditions in the prison don’t matter. However, these people are still human and not all of them are violent offenders. Some people haven’t even been convicted yet, some are innocent, and others are put there because of racial bias. America’s prison system is inhumane, ineffective, and overall flawed.” (Penn State blog)

When it comes to the country I’m going to use as an example, Iceland has only five prisons and has a max capacity of 200 people. Although they haven’t reached the capacity that they’ve been given or build any new jails in recent years. The Iceland prison system has a goal of rehabilitating its prisoners and having a decreased rate of prisoners returning back to jail. “Iceland has five prisons, with places for 138 inmates. In 1997 and 1998, the daily average number of prisoners was approximately 110. The 1999 average was about 100. The largest, and newest, the prison has a capacity of 87 prisoners. The four other institutions, located in the southern, western and northern parts of the country, have places for 916 prisoners. It is usual that in each of these prisons, 614 prisoners are serving sentences. Thus, inmates and staff are close in these small prisons. It is easy for the prisoners to contact the prison director and anyone else in the prison administration. However, the prisoners and their guards should not be regarded as a large family; far from it. There is nothing that could be called a good prison. At least not if prisons are thought to rehabilitate the inmates.” (Baldursson) With the above information, you can see where the difference is with the American prison systems just from what you hear on the news or what you see on the internet. “Before analyzing the way in which prison sentences are served in Iceland, a few terms that are used in Icelandic with respect to prisoners and prisons should be explained. These terms and their usage reveal a lot about the way in which this society regards prisoners and prisons.”(Baldursson)

When you take the above information into consideration and look at the decisions we have made as a government when it comes to the way we handle our prison system there are very drastic differences with how to handle this with punishment “In both Sweden and Denmark also, there are administrative decisions that replace imprisonment by 100%. Under the law on drunken drivers in Denmark the offender is pardoned if he or she undergoes an accepted treatment program, and in Sweden, if he or she undergoes electronic monitoring. There are, admittedly, conflicting opinions about the last-named sanction, but what is positive about it is that the offender has a choice and that the alternative always replaces prison.” (Baldursson, E. Prisoners,)

Although the developments that occurred arent at the fault of our hands but the changing government and the changing society as itself, we continue to let it happen. The punishment of small crimes with heavy punishments, with such large groups not allowing the proper rehabilitation, the large groups give punishment. When it comes to our prison system, is it just another quota. Our justice system doesn’t rehabilitate; it leaves people with more scars them anyone could have in their life.