Criminal Rehabilitation: Is It Possible?
When we ask the question “Do we think that criminals can be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society?”, the resounding and unanimous response is usually “NO!”. ‘Criminal’ is an incredibly blanket term which assembles the likes of drug offenders, thieves, murderers and child rapists into the same category. But surely there is a spectrum to criminality that we should consider before condemning these individuals indefinitely?
Prisons, detention facilities and psychiatric institutes for the criminally insane are often segregated in some manner, whether that be by ward or uniform colour. This allows correctional officers to identify inmates and patient’s dependant on the severity of their crime - whether the individual has committed a violent act, or if they are prone to unruly behaviour. It is about safety and monitoring higher risk individuals.
Taking this into consideration, let’s break the initial question down a little further: “Do we think that those charged of theft can be rehabilitated and integrated into society?” Yes. The act of stealing is usually physiologically triggered by desperation, jealousy, rebellion, peer-pressure, lack of self-esteem or compulsive disorders such as kleptomania. I myself, like many others (whether you confess to this or not!) have stolen as a child or teenager. At 5 years old I remember bringing home a couple of miniature animals from the farm set at school because I didn’t want anyone else to play with them: jealousy.
As a young teen I would steal my sisters make-up because I was being bullied for the way I looked and I didn’t have any of my own; desperation, self-esteem. It’s just that many of us have stolen on a much smaller scale, within our immediate circles, or without getting caught. As a self-sufficient adult with (somewhat) financial stability now, I have not had to resort to theft. And when I’ve been dealt monetary hardships, I have had friends and family to lean on and lend a hand (or a tenner!). That is a privilege, and not one that all of us share. We treat mental illness which affect our self-esteem every day with cognitive behavioural therapy, and so those same resources should be implemented in the rehabilitation of individuals convicted of theft.
Now let’s try another one: “Do we think that those charged with the possession or dealing of drugs can be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society?” Yes. I’m positive that a large quantity of readers will have lived in student halls, holidayed with friends and drank until 4:00am in grotty nightclubs. As such, a significant percentage of you will have likely experimented with drugs and known who to call to purchase them. They were probably your friends. Unfortunately for some, experimentation leads to craving, which ultimately leads to reliance, and in 2019, resulted in 106,862 drug law offences being committed in the UK alone.
We have all battled with addiction of some sort; food, cigarettes, binging TV shows. They are all detrimental to our health and wellbeing to differing degrees. The reason that drug and substance abuse rank so highly on the offenders list however is due to how the effects can potentially endanger the public. It is my belief that drug offenders should be housed in rehabilitation centres as opposed to prisons, with access to significant care and support from charity and privately funded organisations. I do not believe however that one rule should be for all, and individuals should be analysed on a case by case basis, with prior criminal convictions and acts of violence taken into consideration during assessment.
Winding up, let us deliberate one last question: “Do we think that those charged with sexual assault, murder or paedophilia can be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society?” Controversial, I know. It makes you shudder to think about, doesn’t it? Now consider this; the murderer killed a man that was a serial rapist, knowingly. The rapist suffered with several learning and behavioural difficulties and could not comprehend the notion of consent. The paedophile was sexually abused as a child and suffered developmental issues as a result. Should we consider these individuals differently to the rest of the inmates serving time for the same convictions because of their individual circumstances? This is where the risk factor needs to be assessed, and our morale conscious regarded. Can society forgive these crimes on an individual basis? I, like many others, think not for the entirety of sexual based crimes. We will revisit the instance of murder later.
In the event of sexual offences resulting from childhood trauma and previous abuse, I do not believe that this is enough to allow for preferential treatment when being convicted of these crimes. An education should be provided for these individuals in order to encourage mental development and criminal understanding within their facilities. Perhaps a consideration of high security psychiatric care should be considered as opposed to a prison sentence. But in order to implement successful preventative measures to reduce the number of future, similar crimes, previous and current contributors should not remain active within our society. In my opinion. I know that a portion of you will disagree with this statement, claiming that mental health disorders and behavioural difficulties should be considered, with some alluding to the fact that paedophilia could be considered a sexual preference. In regard to that, I will say that conversion therapy has been statistically unsuccessful within the LGBTQIA+ community, and as a member myself, I will not entertain the notion of paedophilia being categorised as a sexuality any further.
In some countries, it is legal to use lethal force (murder) to prevent a serious crime from happening, or whilst it is happening. Such as rape. Some might argue “an eye for an eye” whilst others might protest that murder is murder, and that we should not hold the power and rights to take the life of another under ‘acceptable’ circumstances. I stand somewhere in the middle of these two mind frames, though predominantly with the former. Whilst I sympathise that we as civilians should not deem ourselves responsible for policing our neighbours without the correct institutional support and knowledge, and that this could encourage wrongful force, prejudice and bigotry, I would not be able to place the hypothetical individual that raped and killed my friend under the same umbrella as the one that murdered her attacker. Crime is not linear, and ‘criminal’ should not be used as a blanket statement.
To conclude; yes, I do believe that criminals can be rehabilitated. But I do not believe that all criminals are susceptible to rehabilitation, nor should they be trusted with the resources to manipulate their way back into society. And I know that some of you reading this might just plainly argue the fact that “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”.
Written anonymously