Prisons are a big part of the crime in the law, criminology and modern studies course, talking about their roles and if they are effective or ineffective. If you are needing help on studying, just doing some research then this is the correct source for you!
Purpose of Scottish Prison Services!
One purpose of prisons is to help people learn to cope with life outside through rehabilitation. This means to address the reasons why someone committed a crime and make them less likely to reoffend again. Prison does this by giving counselling, providing an education and helping prisoners gain skills for the world of work.
One purpose of prisons is that they deprive someone of their freedom. This is effective because it is a form of justice for the victims of crimes who are left to deal with the consequences. This is important as it can help the victim to achieve closure if they feel that the prison is a fair punishment.
Effectiveness of Scottish prisons!
One reason that prison can be effective is that it can help people learn to cope with life outside through rehabilitation. This means to address the reasons why someone committed a crime and make them less likely to reoffend again. For example, prison does this by giving counselling, providing an education and helping prisoners gain skills for the world of work.
One reason that prison can be effective is that depriving someone of their freedom is a good form of punishment. This is effective because it is a form of justice for the victims of crimes who are left to deal with the consequences. This is important as it can help the victim to achieve closure if they feel that the prison is a fair punishment. For example, the family of Julie Reilly have spoken about feeling they have justice now that the murderers have been put in prison with life sentences.
A final argument that the prisons are effective is because they keep the public safe. By locking up dangerous criminal’s prison helps to keep people off the streets who might otherwise commit horrific crimes. For example, by locking up Aaron Campbell, the murderer of Alesha MacPhail, the police have stopped this potential psychopath from harming others.
Unaffectivness of Scottish prisons!
One argument that prison may not be effective is because the rate of reoffending is quite high. A lot of time and money is wasted in convicting criminals and housing prisoners the first time let alone the second. The fact that so many reoffend suggests that prison is ineffective. For example, the Scottish government has had to ban short sentences of less than 12 months as reoffending rates were as high as 30%.
One argument that prison may not be effective is because of the cost. It costs a lot of money to keep someone in prison that could be put to better use by being spent on health care, education and that criminal might then end up on benefits costing us more. For example, according to the Scottish Government it costs around £35,000 a year to keep someone in prison in 2019.
One argument that prison may not be effective is because of overcrowding. This places a strain on provision within prisons and makes it hard to rehabilitate prisoners. If they don’t feel cared for by society and are treated so poorly then it isn’t surprising that they might commit more crimes in future. For example, if there are too many prisoners in a prison, there may not be enough staff to provide them with education in order for them to achieve qualifications which will help them to build a life upon their release.
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