Polarized Views

Most public figures and politicians have a very middle-of-the road opinion on the issue of rehabilitation vs. punishment in the prison system to reduce recidivism. Most people say that rehabilitation is necessary, there are just various degrees of importance it holds. But there are those who take extreme opinions on the issue. There is one side that views the purpose of the prison system as a device to instill fear in people to keep them from committing crime. The Hard Core Truth which holds these extreme view, believes that fear is the only way to deter crime. On the website it says:

1. Laws are most effective when the consequences of breaking them are Feared.

2. Consequences will be feared only if they involve stringent punishment.
3. The incarceration of today is not a stringent enough punishment to effectively deter crime. If it were we would not have so many new offenders and so many repeat offenders.

The other side of the extreme is the belief that rehabilitation should be the focus and that prisons are not right for all convicted criminals and should only be used when necessary (although “when necessary” is not specifically defined). Organizations that have this view include CURE – Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants. This organization is made up of prisoners, former prisoners, families of prisoners, and other concerned citizens. As stated on the website, there two main goals are:

1. To use prisons only for those who have to be in them

2. and for those who have to be in them, to provide them all the rehabilitative opportunities they need to turn their lives around.

Extreme opinions often rise from personal experiences and biases rather than accurate statistics and research. The member s of CURE are clearly biased because almost all of them have been directly affected by the prison system from the prisoners side. They are looking to advance the rights of prisoners and change the system to make a positive impact on prisoner’s lives rather than a negative one. Those who hold the opinion of The Hard Core Truth are also influenced by personal bias. Some who believe that the prison system should be focused on punishment and fear clearly are looking out for the interests of victims and law-abiding citizens. Maybe they were victims themselves at one time. The simple influence of the news and media which often build fear within the public just by airing stories that they know will be more popular. Sociologists have examined the way the news portrays crime. In the process of creating a news-worthy story, the media exaggerates and dramatizes the crimes they cover. Certain crimes are covered to a much higher proportion than they actually occur. This causes many people to see prisons and extreme punishment as a necessity for the safety of the average citizen.

Both sides of the argument are trying to find a solution to our high rate of recidivism; they are simply taking opposite approaches to reduce it. To minimize extreme and polarized views opinions must be based on the facts.