Treatment of Offenders

Under the general topic of criminality, there are several important questions that emerge for discussion. One of the central questions in contemporary criminological thought surrounds the treatment of the offender. Within modern society, there are a myriad of attitudes and opinions about the way a convicted criminal should be treated within the legal and societal systems in the United States.

The social context for the treatment of the offender has particular contemporary relevance because of the rise of criminal activity throughout the demographical spectrum. For instance,

Faced with rising crime rates, fiscal limitations, and a conservative political movement, public officials increasingly long for a simply, encompassing policy that would permit them to deal quickly and effectively with criminals. They have also deemphasized rehabilitation in favor of longer prison sentences as a means of reducing crime. Unfortunately, an important truth has almost disappeared during these developments: There are many kinds of criminals, and to fix on any single punitive solution to the problem of crime is simplistic, unjust, and inefficient (Chaiken and Chaiken, 1982, p. 1).

What the new conservativism fails to account for, however, is that there are quantifiable differences between types and efficacy of criminal behavior. This paper will offer an analysis of the treatment of the offender through the readings by Chaiken and Chaiken prepared for the Rand Corporation. I

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in criminal behavior. . . (Martinson, 1974, p. 27). Other findings show that social programs and therapeutic assessments have not been very effective in reducing violent or severe crime, particularly with repeat offenders. However, at least one research study posits the notion that even if the quantifiable numbers indicate that social programs are relatively ineffective, . . . the finding that these services did not have the desired criminological effect does not mean that they should not be undertaken, continued, or expanded for the population studied. Every effort should be made, for legal, logical, and ethical reasons, to assure that the provision of such benefits is not linked to whether the recipient is a criminal. Society is obliged to provide such services on the basis of need to criminal and noncriminal alike in prison or out of it (Martinson and Wilks, 1975, p. 73). There are also those who delineate the issues by focusing on home environments, school problems, and the like. Others, perhaps in a more pragmatic vein, look more toward the economic and demographic indicators in order to predict and define criminal activity. It goes without saying that crime is economically expensive for society. E

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