"If he can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange-meaning that he has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil or State"(Burgess ix).

Burgess expresses the idea that man can not be completely good or evil and must have both in order to create a moral choice. The book deals upon reforming a criminal with only good morals and conditioning an automated response to "evil." Burgess enforces the idea of the medical model of corrections, in terms of rehabilitating an offender, which is up to the individual. That one should determine the cause and then find an exclusive treatment to resolve that individual's case, then apply it. This is the case with the character Alex, a juvenile delinquent introduced into prisonization then conditioned by governmental moral standards. This lack of personal moral choice imposed upon Alex creates conflicting situations in which h

e has no control over. This is apparent when trying to readjust into society. As conflicts arise within the spectrum of criminal justice the main focus is revolved around the corrections aspect of reforming the criminal element.

"The government cannot be concerned any longer with out moded penalogical theories. Cram criminals together and see what happens. You get concentrated criminality, crime in the midst of punishment . . . Kill the criminal reflex, that's all"(Burgess 105,106).

"Is it going to be in and out of institutions like this, though more in than out for most of you, or are you going to attend to the Divine Word and realize the punishment that await the unrepentant sinner in the next world, as well as in this?"(Burgess 90)

Some common words found in the essay are:
Devil StateBurgess, Divine Word, GF Handel, Anthony Burgess, Clockwork Orange, alex finally, reforming criminal, juvenile delinquent, moral choice, evil create, criminal element, music treatment, classical music, clockwork orange, introduced prisonization,
Approximate Word count = 1710
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)