Do you think restorative justice is effective in reducing crime?
922601
Justice is completely unavailable under the US legal system.
439054
The first step should always focus on rehab. Just desert does not work, it only breeds further bitterness...especially in our youthful offenders. In order for our society to improve, we have to try to fix out issues not lock them away. As humans, we all have the ability to change with the exception of sociopaths. Rehad gives us all a chance to improve upon our spirits and show compassion for our fellow man. Don't get me wrong. I am not for slapping someone on the wrist and letting them off. Punishment is important as well. But, without the rehab part, we are releasing the punished offender back on the streets without any new direction to go in. Punishment for the sake of punishment does no one any good.
445562
Ive done a few research papers on this subject. It would clear out a lot of prison cells yes. Also, it would reduce some crime, regulate it making it safer. You could also tax it and make profits off of it that way. Just for short.
468230
Does this work for you?\n\nhttp://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbnew.html\n\n\nI also came across this tidbi you might find interesting.\n\nSome crime statistics from 19th Century India are particularly illuminating with regard to our thesis. In 1881 the frequency of crime by religion was as follows: one of 274 Christian Europeans committed a crime; one of 799 Christian Indians did so; one of 1,361 Hindus; and one of 3,787 Buddhists. If the Jains had been included in this count, one would have expected an even higher ratio for them. With regard to the native Christian count, an English official made the following observation: "It appears from these figures that while we effect a very marked moral deterioration in the natives by converting them to our creed, their natural standard of morality is so high that, however much we Christianize them, we cannot succeed in making them altogether as bad as ourselves." An 1899 statistical dictionary reported that for every 100,000 people in Western Europe there were from 100-230 prisoners; 190 for England; and 38 for India.\n\nhttp://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/hindfund.htm\n\n\n\nThere may be something here:\nhttp://www.thearda.com/\n\nOr here:\nhttp://www.worldchristiandatabase.org/wcd/
183437
yes i think this is the real path towards evil, whatever happened to forgiveness? justice belongs in a court of law not in the hands of the revengefully !
791118
America's juvenile justice system is responsible for keeping citizens safe and rehabilitating delinquent youth. Meeting these two responsibilities has been the goal of the system since it was first implemented. The dilemma that has faced policymakers and citizens has been deciding which of the two aims should receive the most emphasis, and thus, funding. Should the state build more juvenile penitentiaries and immediately protect its citizens, or should it teach current prisoners life skills that will help them to live in such a way that they will be less likely to recapitulate (reoffend)? Or, in a separate, preventative effort, should the state use its resources to fund parenting, recreational, and mentoring programs that build up youth and enable them to make good decisions early on? In the end, the state must balance effectiveness with urgency. Preventative and rehabilitative measures have been proven time and time again to significantly lower the likelihood of a youth offending (or reoffending). However, the results of prevention and rehabilitation programs do not become apparent until years after they are begun, and few are willing to risk the immediate threat that could befall the community should funding of penitentiaries experience a shortfall while prevention and rehabilitation programs are being established. Citizens do not want to be the guinea pigs through which psychologists measure the effectiveness of their rehabilitative efforts; they want offenders locked up. But most also know a kid, or were a kid, that prevention or rehabilitation measures helped somewhere along the way.The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act called for a "deinstitutionalization" of juvenile delinquents. It required that states holding youth within adult prisons for status offenses remove them within a span of two years (this timeframe was adjusted over time). The act also provided program grants to states, based on their youth populations, and created the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).Through research into which programs have been effective - both at home and abroad - policy makers hope to develop strategies that will drop crime rates in future years. By taking the initiative to build anti-crime programs structured to fit local needs, community leaders have generated a plethora of information on which programs work, where they work, and what it takes to carry them out. Current U.S. policy aims to balance public safety with the effective rehabilitation of youth, and courts seek to individualize recommendations to fit the situations of young offenders.
73973
In my own opinion, psychological treatment is the best way to treat criminals rather than sending them to prisons. I believe that nobody is born to be a criminal. The primary determinant for a person to be such, is being brought up in a not-so-wholesome family/environment. With a proper nurture, a person can grow and mature well. \nSo, with the help of those psychologists and or psychiatrists the bad behaviors of those persons can be cured and remedied.
938357
Many criminals are capable of reform, just not under our current system which does not emphasize it.  Our current system is a punishment system, and we care not enough about rehabilitating them.  In our current system, the crooks go in with a mild understanding of their crime, but come out with master's degrees in being a more effective criminal.
669385
make the punishments more severe so that lesse people do crime so less cases..faster the cases move in court
614424
I see where you are going with this (after re-reading it like five times) \n\nI think that often yes, we do spend an awful lot of time defending laws against things that don't really have a clear victim. But you need to trust that those laws are there to deter worse crimes. Drugs breed violence, think of all the murders that happen over drugs.\n\nI can't answer this question with any authority, perhaps you should take an associate justice class at your local community college. I'm sure they cover all of these issues.
71301
haha, no.  i think the fun in crime is getting away with it.  maybe i would support it for ex-cons or something, but if everytime i J-walked i got a ticket in the mail, i would want to hurt someone.  then i would get another one and that would simply reinforce the anger.
777864
O think we should bring it back - and in fact in the US - a small project has already been set-up which does exactly that!\n\nIn short although people cannot be FORCED to submit to corporal punishment - some criminals can VOLUNTEER to be treated in that way under some conditions - and perhaps get reduced jail time in return.\n\nLots of details here http://www.okplus.com/fedup/index.html...\n\nVery interestingly, they presently have a ZERO recidivism level for people that have been through their system.\n\nDo not be thrown by the site, the program is still running BUT the website is badly in need of some updating (or was when I last looked)\n\nI think one hangup people have about corporal punishment, is the perceived severity of it. The old UK / USA way of flogging across the back in fact left little more than "shaving nicks" - if it cut at all.\n\nAnyone who has seen too many "Mutiny on the bounty" style films and wishes to disagree should try to remember that the make-up department tends to get more than a little carried away.\n\nWet rope is not sharp enough or dense enough to "lay a mans back open to the bone" Something does not need to cut to be felt ;)\n\nThe scheme mentioned above in fact uses low-voltage cable as a cheap disposable lash material. Like the rope, little or no cutting at all - but apparently the welts are quite tender at the time.\n\nI just wish we had a system like this in the UK too, I think it could be a valuable tool to help people stay out of prison and to reduce the prison population. Nanny-state in the UK though at the moment so not much chance for a while yet.
1131892
Punishment has never been effective in the long term. Conversation & understanding will be the only way to find common ways to develop our needs together. At least I wish
635039
Wow, that's tough.  Is your assignment to argue that retribution is socially cohesive, or did you come up with this yourself?\n\nThis is what I can think of:\n\nRetributive justice is based on the idea that criminals should be punished for undermining social "harmony" or "balance."  Therefore, we can't dole out retributive punishment before we first have a definition of what is social harmony or balance.  Social harmony and balance can be defined through laws, custom, or religion.  The PROCESS of defining social harmony and balance is socailly cohesive because, to some extent, we must generally agree on what the definition of social order is.  In other words, the PROCESS of accepting and agreeing on laws/customs/religion is socially cohesive.\n\nThe rehabilitation theory of punishment is probably the most socially cohesive because it is based on rehabiliting the criminal so that he can successfully reenter society.
888621
No, this is not how it is. The problem of our justice system is quite the opposite. The majority of today's prison population consists of the offenders who have been convicted of drug charges. If only about 20 years ago, if you go to a maximum security prison, you will mostly see murderers or robbers there. Today, however, most people there are drug dealers and drug users. For the drug users, I believe is where the system fails: they need to be treated, not sent into a maximum security prison.
309284
Court Justice is more consistent.  Bad people excape street justice often.
543998
If you remove a large number of people from any city or country of COURSE the crime rates will go down!!\n\nNot only are there less criminals around, but there are also less victims - so it's only logical that there has to be less crime - but it doesn't prove a whole lot!\n\nNow, if you segregate all people in one city or country into sealed off areas with just the ONE nationality, making sure that each has an equal proportion of rich, average, and poor ... THEN you can judge the crime rate! And there will never be any question of racist crimes, because the only potential victims will be the same race as the criminals! THAT is how you judge the true amount of respect each race has for their fellow human beings, and THAT tells you which people are more likely to commit crimes in a multi-racial society.