Should prisons be abolished?

Offenders need support to keep from recidivism

Question: Should prisons be abolished?
Position‹3 of 3: Prisons should be reformed
Argument‹2 of 3›: Offenders need support to keep from recidivism

In order to lower crime rates, inmates need help and guidance in order to prevent recidivism and break the cycle of crime.

The argument

Prisons do not provide offenders with the resources they need to be successfully reintegrated into society. Many of the reasons people commit crimes are motivated by poverty, abuse, and mental illness. Rather than simply locking people up and then releasing them to re-offend, we should target the issues that cause them to offend in the first place, thus abolishing the need for prisons and providing more support for our society's citizens. Norway has the most successful prison system in the world, with only twenty percent of inmates reoffending. Their prisons are intended to only remove an inmate's freedom, not to treat people inhumanely. Norweigan prisons offer inmates rehabilitation programs to prepare them for life after released to retain a sense of normality while in incarceration. By offering prisoners so many opportunities and still treating them with dignity, Norway has a tiny incarcerated population and low crime rates. Only punishing inmates will not improve their behavior or quality of life, and will make it more difficult to have a normal life once released. Breaking the cycle of incarceration and recidivism will decrease crime rates and prison populations.

Premises

[P1]Crime is largely driven by underlying issues like poverty, abuse, and mental illness, which punishment alone does not address. [P2] Prison systems that provide rehabilitation and dignity, like Norway's, achieve dramatically lower recidivism and crime rates than purely punitive systems. [P3] Breaking the cycle of recidivism requires supporting offenders' reintegration rather than merely confining them. [C] Therefore, prisons should be reformed to focus on rehabilitation and support rather than punishment.

Counter-arguments

Murderers and rapists have more complicated reasons behind offending. In order to maintain a safe community, the only solution for these people is to lock them up to prevent them from reoffending and hurting others. No matter how much help and guidance they receive, some criminals will never be able to follow the law.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P4] Some violent criminals will never change their behavior.