Public Opinion

Public opinion strongly supports the increased use of prisons to give criminals their just desserts. The endorsement of punishment is relatively uniform across all groups. More than three-quarters of the public see punishment as the primary justification for sentencing. More than 70% believe that incapacitation is the only sure way to prevent future crimes, and more than three-quarters believe that the courts are too easy on criminals. Three-quarters favor the death penalty for murder.

Still, the public holds out some hope for rehabilitation, too. About 60 % express hope that rehabilitative services like psychological counseling, training and education inside prison will correct personal shortcomings. Such sentiments are more likely to be expressed on behalf of young offenders than adults, and by nonwhite respondents. In a national poll, the Los Angeles Times asked, "Where does government need to make a greater effort these days: in trying to rehabilitate criminals who commit violent crimes or in trying to punish and put away criminals who commit violent crimes?" The largest group, 49 %, answered “punish”, 32 % said “rehabilitate”, 8 % said "both, equally," and the remaining 11 % said they didn't know or offered another solution.

The public's soft spot for rehabilitation cannot be dismissed out of hand. Despite continuing calls for a "better way," what criminals need most is evidence that their crimes do not pay. Punishment works. Among other virtues, it gives the convicted a major incentive to reform. Even career criminals often give up crime because they don't want to go back to prison. The most successful remedy, if it were economical, would impose unpleasantness on offenders every time they harmed others; predatory action invariably would produce bad consequences. The old prescription that punishment be swift, certain and severe is affirmed by modern social science.

When expected punishment plunged during the 1960s and 1970s, crime rose astronomically. When expected punishment began rising in the 1980s and 1990s, crime leveled off and began falling. With the well-publicized success of no-nonsense police tactics in New York City, fewer observers today doubt that the criminal justice system can have a major impact on crime.

Economist Gordon Tullock's stark conclusion remains valid today: "We have an unpleasant method - deterrence - that works, and a pleasant method - rehabilitation - that (at least so far) never has worked. Under the circumstances, we have to opt either for the deterrence method or for a higher crime rate."

V. Write an essay (a page long) on one of the following topics; make extensive use of the vocabulary.

1) Punishment is justice for the unjust.
St. Augustine 354-430

2) The generality of men are naturally apt to be swayed by fear rather than reverence, and to refrain from evil rather because of the punishment that it brings than because of its own foulness.
Aristotle BC 384-322, Greek Philosopher

3) Retaliation is related to nature and instinct, not to law. Law, by definition, cannot obey the same rules as nature.
Albert Camus 1913-1960, French Existential Writer

4) In its function, the power to punish is not essentially different from that of curing or educating.
Michel Foucault 1926-1984, French Essayist, Philosopher

5) The first and greatest punishment of the sinner is the conscience of sin.
Seneca

6) Punishment is the last and the least effective instrument in the hands of the legislator for the prevention of crime.
John Ruskin 1819-1900, British Critic, Social Theorist

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