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6.4. Discuss in groups.

1. Punishment is not an end in itself, but a means of restoring social justice. It’s a tool for re-education.

2. The stricter the punishment, the lesser the crime rate, or is it?

3. The reformatory function of imprisonment is little more than fiction.

4. People who served in prison or penitentiary come out morally improved and incapable of committing a crime.

5. Capital punishment may lower crime rates.

8. Should we disobey the law which is contrary to our own beliefs?

Before the beginning of the discussion read the following selections carefully and extract the necessary information:

– Law cannot, and must not take revenge: punishment is not an end in itself, but a means of restoring social justice. It’s a tool for re-education.

– One of the best ways to reduce crime is to reform or rehabilitate habitual criminals. The fundamental problem is not the first time offender or the petty thief but the repeated offender who commits increasingly serious crimes. Many require the aid of physicians, psychiatrists or psychologists. Others respond well to educational or vocational training. Teach a criminal how to use a computer or work on a car! It will just make him better when he gets out. It will allow him to leave the prison better trained and thus, allow him to find his place in society better prepared and ready to enter the work force…

– The reformatory function of jail is little more than fiction. Even in an ideal penitentiary – if such could be imagined – serving one’s time causes serious problems. A cooped-up individual loses friends, family, profession, familiar environment. Imprisonment, particularly if it is prolonged, undermines one’s capacity to make decisions, to control oneself. Set free after long years in jail, one is unfit for freedom, normal life seems incomprehensible and unbearable. One might be unconsciously drawn to the habitual way of life. Around 30 per cent of former inmates are brought back behind bars after new offences, and half of them during their first year at large.

– The legal profession and sociologists know that the arrest itself, the curtailing of personal freedom, is increasingly perceived as the greatest shock by the offender. It is a traumatic, shameful psychological experience.

– At the present time, our prison system is not turning out good citizens. If convicts were treated with dignity and respect, the case might be different. Prisoners who have been treated brutally and without humanity return to the community as aggressors. Meanwhile, the man who ends up in prison is often not only a criminal, but a person who has not learned to live and work with people. He needs help, not punishment…

– Convicts have committed a crime. They should be punished rather than helped. A severe regime of compulsory work, bad food and bad treatment would be more appropriate for prisoners. Educational and vocational programmes are just a waste of taxpayers’ money. They should train honest people, not criminals…

– An extensive prison-building programme should be launched. Prisons don’t deter criminals from committing crimes, but they do lock up criminals so they can’t commit crimes while in prison. Therefore more prisons should be built to lock up more criminals, and for longer sentences…