Michael Cotton (edison) punishment for crime

Did you know that 80% to 90% of criminal offenders released from confinement are rearrested for new lawbreaking activity within five years of being set free.  Why do these people keep committing crime after crime.  Is it because punishments for criminal are rarely applied to the majority of offenders.  Statistics show that few lawbreakers are ever arrested and that of those who are, fewer still are convicted of the crimes with which they have been charged.  Most offenders are just released, fined, or placed on probation.  Only a few are sent to prison, which besides capital punishment, is the most severe type of punishment we have today.  Sources from the Bureau of Justice Statistics have shown that fewer than 1% of criminal law violators in America can be expected to spend time in prison as punishment for their crimes.  The few people who do go to prison most likely ever serve anything close to the sentences that have been given them.  Many inmates serve only a small fraction of their sentences due to early release made possible by time off for good behavior, mandated reentry training, and prison overcrowding.  So what is this telling us?  If we are not handing out proper punishments and have criminals not serve their whole puishment then what are criminals going to be afraid of.  If all we do is give them a slap in the wrist then they are just going to keep on doing it over and over.

This entry was posted on 22. April 2009 at 23:54 and is filed under Social Problems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.