Should Criminals be Punished with Lengthy Jail Terms? (Essay Sample)

Different people have different opinions on how criminals should receive punishment. Some people say that criminals should have a lengthy jail time depending on the kind of criminal activity. On the other hand, some other people say that they should subject them to re-education in a rehabilitation center. Criminals should get punishments according to their crimes. Criminals should be handles like human beings and not like animals, and therefore the government should be flexible to them and treat them according to their offense. They should have a second chance to become better by allowing them to join rehabilitation centers (Horgan & Braddock, 2010).
There are a number of cases where criminals have been transformed to be good people through rehabs. It is then crucial for the government to consider some offenders with small crimes to go back to the community and go through a rehabilitation process to change them. On the other hand, it is not all criminals that should be allowed to go back. Some crimes deserve life punishment, this kind of culprits should never be allowed to go back to the community instead give them an agonizing sentence for their transgression in society. The bottom line of this is that every criminal should get punishment depending on the level of crime committed (Dalgaard-Nielsen, 2013).
In conclusion, it is vital that the government come up with re-education programs that will help to educate criminals with petty crimes. These programs will help to avoid the culprits from repeating the same crimes in the future. Although this might be difficult to implement in other countries, it is so that at least every nation tries it out. Both lengthy jail terms and re-educated or rehabilitated are punishments, but it is essential to consider who gets which kind of punishment.