The Legal Justice: Combating Crime in the Modern Era (Essay Sample)

COMBATING CRIME IN THE MODERN ERA
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Throughout their existence, human societies have had in place mechanisms for controlling and deterring undesirable human behaviors. Ancient civilizations, such as the Greeks, banished offenders of capital crimes like murder from the community. A notable example is that of Oedipus, who the citizens of Thebes expelled from the city for killing their king. The way ancient societies dealt with serious crimes shows that the goal was to prevent future similar acts by casting out offenders. Modern societies have developed alternative mechanisms for dealing with crime, such as jails, correctional and rehabilitation programs- facilities that were lacking in earlier civilizations. The big issue, however, is determining how to use these systems efficiently to combat crime- whether to commit offenders to longer prison sentences or to send them to rehab and correctional facilities.[James Stobaugh and Stobaugh James, World Literature Student (New York: New Leaf Publishing Group, 2012) 135.]
Proponents of longer prison sentences base their argument on the idea that some crimes are so evil that offenders should undergo incarceration for as long as possible. Longer incarcerations should serve both as punishment for the crime and as a lesson to the offenders and would-be offenders. This reasoning is flawed, however, when one critically considers the purpose of punishment. Punishment is not an end, but a means for correcting deviant human behavior. Longer prison sentences fail in this regard since they focus on making offenders suffer for their crimes instead of helping them become good citizens.[Larry Siegel and John Worrall, Introduction to Criminal Justice (New York: Cengage Learning, 2015) 425.]
Critics of longer prison sentences argue that the best way to deal with crime is not to make offenders suffer more, but to change their behavior- especially among juveniles. Towards this end, court rulings should focus on placing offenders in correctional facilities where they will be not only excluded from the rest of society – the purpose of jails- but will also have the opportunity to unlearn their deviant behaviors.[Franklin Zimring, American Juvenile Justice (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) 31.]
In my opinion, lon...