Research Essay Example on Prison Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation was introduced in the year 1951 by a man that goes by Dr. Rusk. Dr. Rusk created the first rehabilitation center by New York University and is now known as Howard A. Rusk institute of rehabilitation medicine. Now there are just shy of 30000 rehabilitation centers in the United States alone costing an average price of 20000 United States dollars. The success rate of these centers only average about 70 percent success rate. “ Rehabilitating an offender back to society is a hard and almost impossible job because of their criminal status. There's no way to deny the fact that people are very judgmental, so it denies the opportunity of reforming the wrongdoer”(Disadvantages of rehabilitation state prison. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4,2022,from https://www.ipl.org/essay/Disadvantages-Of-Rehabilitation-State-Prison-FJYDJNGAWG). This quote shows how the behavior of a person in human nature is unable to forgive someone who does a crime because of our natural human nature of judgment. Prison Rehabilitation will never be able to work because of judgment by people. 

Due to human nature, people will only see murders and other offenders as murders and offenders. The way that people will view these prisoners once they find out their crime will be a very negative reaction. Even if the prisoner changed for the better, people will still see this for what their crime was. “Our mind makes us hesitant towards change — modifying prior beliefs or behaviors. ... These rule-based processes often prevent us from assessing new evidence or beliefs. As a result, heuristics often hinder the progression of our ideas and beliefs. Often, this might go against our best interests” Spichak, S. (2021, January 20). Why is changing your mind so hard? Medium. Retrieved February 5, 2022, from https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/why-is-changing-your-mind-so-hard-cb48286d1ac3”. This quote is evidence that our brains don't allow people  to have new beliefs if it might go against our best interest. Human brain also hinders ideas if it could come back and harm or negatively affect them. This as well shows that our brain will not allow us to become less judgemental of a person once they find out what this criminal did, the brain will only allow them to see them for their crime. According to prison legal news, “Public opinion research shows that Americans are in a more pragmatic, less ideological frame of mind when it comes to criminal justice. They believe more strongly than in the past that it is important to address the underlying social and economic causes of crime, and that crime prevention is key” (An overview of public opinion and discourse on criminals ... (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2022, from https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/media/publications/The%20Opportunity%20Agenda%20-%20An%20Overview%20of%20Public%20Opinion%20and%20Discourse%20on%20Criminal%20Justice%20Issues.pdf). This quote proves  Human nature is to prevent crimes from happening twice, so once a person finds out what someone did they are going to become cautious making sure it does not happen to them nor anyone else making them only see the criminal as a criminal. 

Prisoners will never be able to fully change due to how people view them. People's reaction will always be negative towards these released inmates leading to the prisoners never fully being able to get back into society. “Former inmates face numerous psychological challenges when released from prison, including stigma, discrimination, isolation, and instability. This can lead to devastating outcomes, like failed relationships, homelessness, substance misuse, recidivism, overdose, and suicide” (Sheppard, S. (2021, August 29). What are the mental health effects of leaving prison? Verywell Mind. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://www.verywellmind.com/mental-health-effects-facing-former-inmates-5195312).​​ This quote shows how released inmates have to deal with discriminatrion from the outside world on a everyday basis, how after prison most inmates don't always have somewhere to go or people to live with leading to depprerssion and loneliness and due to there record they could have trouble finding a stable job which could lead to homelessness and worst case scenario they commit another crime or suicide. Jobs are also a trouble finding since there criminal record is asked on all job interviews. “

In prison, a convict misses out on developments in technology and other changes. After release, he often has to settle for a lower-paying, lower-ranking job for which he's overqualified, making it even harder for him to push the boundary of his career skills” (Contributor, C. (2021, July 26). Why is it hard for parolees to find jobs? Work. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://work.chron.com/hard-parolees-jobs-20156.html). There are however individuals who believe that prison rehabilitation will work.

On the other hand there are people who believe that prison rehabilitation is a necessary part of prisons. These arguments believe that having these in prisons would make the person able to adapt to the lifestyle outside of prison. “Rehabilitation has different programs such as drug addict rehab programs, violent behavior rehab program and so on. ... This brings us to the point that rehabilitation is a much better option than punishment because it would help an offender become a peaceful citizen and live a normal life” (Admin. (2020, November 4). Punishment vs rehabilitation in the Criminal Justice System Pros & Cons. CJ US JOBS. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://cjusjobs.com/punishment-vs-rehabilitation-in-the-criminal-justice-system/). This quote explains how instead of focusing on punishment in prison we should be focusing on making the person learn from their mistakes and really learn how to become a better person who can fit in with society. However due to the fact that there is about a 40 percent of the U.S population who fear that they will be a victim of a violent crime, criminals who did these and have changed will still only be seen as violent criminals. “A sample of 1,047 was drawn from a random digit dial sample of all telephones in the continental United States. The initial sample was weighted for gender and income in order more closely to approximate the 1979 population. The study reveals that 4 out of 10 Americans are highly fearful that they will become victims of violent crime (murder, rape, robbery, assault); 4 of 10 also feel unsafe in their everyday environments due to fear of crime. ( Corporate Author Research and Forecasts. (n.d.). Figgie Report on fear of Crime - America Afraid, part One - the general public. Figgie Report on Fear of Crime - America Afraid, Part One - The General Public | Office of Justice Programs. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/figgie-report-fear-crime-america-afraid-part-one-general-public). This quote shows that Americans are even feeling unsafe on a everyday basis and are far more likely to be scared or cautious if they know a criminal who they have to see at work or see on a day to day basis is near.

Prison Rehabilitation will never be able to work because of judgment by people. This is due to the fact that  people fear crime and more importantly they fear the people who do the crime. Rehabilitation wont work because murders and other criminals will only ever be seen as criminals, thius could be in the workplace or the gym. Naturally people are going to be more worried and less likely to want to be with them. This can lead to loneliness and depression where the outcome can be negative such as sucicide or committing another crime. Although these prisoners might be able to better themselves, to the public eye there are always going to be prisoners.