Modern Day Punishment
The philosopher Plato once said, "The Law, like a good archer, should aim at the right measure of punishment". In society today, crime and injustice rule the modern world. Because of this, prisons have become a permanent part of America's criminal justice system. Throughout history, modern societies have felt compelled to incriminate those men and women who violate what is thought to be acceptable behavior. Most "sophisticated" members of society would vote to throw all criminals in jail, regardless of their reasons or means for violating social mores. But we, the voting citizens of the United States, should not automatically sentence every criminal offender to an elongated jail term. We must treat every case and offense individually so that we may rehabilitate, instead of casting social violators off into a modern day dungeon to rot. But for some socially abiding citizens of America, rotting, is exactly what these offenders should do. These people would argue that the best way to stop crime is to lock the offenders away from society. With the criminals in jail, the law-abiding citizens are free to live without fear. For too long we have worried about the "well-being" of the criminal offenders, when the concern should
The key to success is finding the proper balance between who belongs in jail, and who does not. All criminals do not deserve to spend years of their lives in prisons, and it will take cooperation from all forms of government and society to achieve the proper balance for peace in America. Training the criminals of America to become law-abiding citizens is not an easy task. be on the protection of our society. As the saying goes, "Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time." Criminal offenders must be held responsible for their actions. Too often in America the criminal is viewed as the victim, with society providing the excuses and means for criminal activity. G.K. Chesterton brings up an important point on the fallacy brought forth by these excuses that crime is a disease, stating that "evil is a matter of active choice, whereas disease is not." For many Americans, the honest citizen should not be punished for the active choices of a select few. The punishment for the violators should be prison, where society would be protected from the criminal behavior of the socially unstable. This is not an argument that offenders should not be punished, in some cases long prison terms are what a person needs to keep them from crime. But for most criminals in society, there is a better way to keep the streets of America safe. Selective imprisonment, a method that uses experts to determine which criminal
Some common words found in the essay are:
GK Chesterton, Plato Law, Angeles Alameda, Free Oakland, prison terms, commit crimes, , people argue, proper balance, criminals america, opportunities rehabilitation, law-abiding citizens, criminals jail, prison system, criminal offenders,
Approximate Word count = 956
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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