Justice: At Whose Expense?

There is also the extremely realistic chance that the humiliation the prisoners endure may cause severe anger and hostility towards society, which may result in them attempting to "punish" society upon their release. Then there is there is the violent subculture of prisons, that one must embrace if he is to survive even one night in this world. He must learn to strike first, seek strength in gangs, .
             -3-.
             sometimes even commit sexual assault, as the gang members from which he seeks protection may force him to do this or other crimes, and so by attempting to punish this person for his crimes against society, however small or large they may be, we may in fact be cutting off our collective nose to spite our face, as we are simply educating these sometimes relatively non-dangerous individuals in the ability to commit further criminal activity. Many prison workers are corrupt as well. Between 1989 and 1994, 50 prison workers were convicted of serious crime, and another eighteen of smuggling drugs into the prison. This just further contributes to the already criminal society in our prisons. Of course, we all want justice to be served and reparations paid by the criminals for whatever crime they had committed. However, one must consider whether or not it is truly in our best interest to frustrate prisoners and at the same time ensure that they are more fluent in their criminal ways before returning them to the streets. After reading the grim facts about the effects of prison, one might wonder what we could to help the situation. Obviously, locking criminals away with other criminals may not be the answer America is so desperately searching for in our war against crime. Maybe we should explore the possibility or rehabilitation for our criminals, particularly the juveniles. We need to ask ourselves one very important question; do we want to continue in our seemingly ineffective ways and simply punish offenders, or do we want to change them, their way of thinking, their situations which led them to commit a crime in the first place? What will benefit the people of .