Should prison be used as a deterrent or a place for rehabilitation?

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Reply 60

University of Hertfordshire

Official Rep

Hi all,

Please see the closing statement from @University of Hertfordshire Guest Lecturer -

There were very interesting perspectives provided on whether ‘should prison be used as a deterrent or a place for rehabilitation? Prison does have some impact on the individual, both psychologically and physically. Crime is a functional aspect of society, however; we need to curb its occurrences. It should be minimum. Some of the factors to consider arguably would be to provide a tailored approach to the offender rehabilitation process. Noting that, there are various underlying or push factors influencing criminal conduct.
Perhaps, this would require an effective collaborative working with state and non-state institutions to deal and prevent recidivism. This may, perhaps, involve adopting special measures, such as the Norwegian prison system. Which has proven that it works – it does have a positive impact on at least, prisoners’ social characteristics. This is against the background that the violent environment would reap violent behaviour – which would influence re-offending behaviour.
Nonetheless, a very educative and intuitive debate. Thank you all for taking part in this debate – an interesting topic!

Many thanks.

University of Hertfordshire

Hatfield

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