CRJ 522 Week 5 Discussion 1

CRJ 522 Week 5 Discussion 1

People break the law for various reasons and to keep it very simple if someone breaks the law for any reason they should be punished accordingly. When a person is sentenced to a determined amount of jail time and have an actual release date I believe that while they are in jail they should be afforded the opportunity to see rehabilitation treatment. In some cases, people who break the law for various reasons may not know another way to provide for themselves or their family and so they only see one way and that is breaking the law. On the other hand, there are people who break the law because they want to and they know the consequences. No matter what the reason is educating the offender is first step that should be offender so they will not make the same mistake again.

When an offender is sentenced in court one strategy that can be included in their sentence is mandatory counseling or a program that is designed specifically for the offense that they committed. This strategy I believe is something that will help the offender face the problem head on and then may reveal some underlying hidden issues. That goal is important because if the offender is in jail for let’s say armed robbery but when in his mandatory counseling session, it is revealed that he enjoys killing small animals then a new problem has been revealed that needs to be addressed. As an offender gets comfortable committing the same crime they escalate to more dangerous levels as their confidence grows. I believe the people who go into fields that help the public such as the medical field or being a police officer are people who want to help their fellow man.

So having offenders seek counseling or some sort of corrective action from them is something they would want to do because their field is something that is a public service to help people. I said this in my discussion last week but I feel it is important to say it again and that a judge can get all the mandatory counseling or put an offender in any treatment program they want to but it all starts with a person wanting to change. I know from experience that for the person to want to change a bad habit sometimes something major has to happen to give them a wakeup call to let them know that something has to change within them.

References

Bartol A., M., & Bartol C., R. (2015). Introduction to Forensic Psychology: Research and Application (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.