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"Juvenile delinquents broke into an old woman's house, burgled it, and then, bestially tortured the defenceless victim. Her mutilated body was left on the floor." Having read another report of this kind, one pities the victim but finds comfort in the thought that the wrong-doers have been caught and imprisoned. However, there is little hope that those criminals will be stacked away forever. Soon, they will be paroled for good behavior and will set on the evil quest again. By no means does the outdated prison system of punishment help eradicate the crime factor from modern societies. Thus, civilized societies should seek other ways of dealing with criminals; rather than incarcerate them, they should rehabilitate them .
Many people are drawn to breach the accepted rules because of shortcomings or deficiencies in their system of moral values. What's deeply immoral for the bulk of the society, they perceive as natural for the inability to distinguish good from evil. Others, capable of recognizing this distinction consider it irrelevant. Such was the case in the movie <R> where the two protagonists set out on a killing quest across America. They knew that what they were doing was evil and immoral, but they were not troubled by their conscience. The undeniable thrill, excitement and pleasure made them continue of their path. They are also people who break the law because their wretched living conditions stripped them of all hope. Modern societies should realize that these perpetrators cannot be responsible for their shortcomings because they cannot control them. Thus, separating criminals from the rest of the society will not change their psyche. The time and the money will be squandered on this purposeless effort. It is doubtful that these criminals will have any qualms for crimes they have perpetrated .
Being confined to a leper asylum never cured anyone of the disease. Quite contrary, having come in contact with other infected the disease progressed even faster eating away the person's flesh and bones and finally resulting in death. Similarly, prisons turn into crime universities. Those, convicted of lighter misdemeanors quickly learn how to go about organizing serious crimes. Instead of leaving the prison walls repentant and willing to make up for their wrong-doing, they leave predisposed and trained to become hardened recidivists. The prison life and contact with ruthless incorrigible offenders eats away their soul and conscience finally resulting in innocent people's deaths. If they had never been put to prison they wouldn't have absorbed the infectious microbe of evil. Had, instead, an effort been made to educate them to become valuable citizens, they would reenter the society equipped in necessary qualities to make their lives meaningful and successful .
However, intimidated law-abiding citizens would rather see their oppressors behind the prison bars. Little do they realize that they do not really secure safety for themselves. The overcrowded prisons are far from housing every offender. Moreover, paroles and temporary releases are issued freely to make place for new arrivals. Thus, criminals have the opportunity to try out new knowledge and commit further crimes. If the so called "lomiarz", the man who attacked women by hitting them with a crow-bar, hadn't been issued those releases five Warsaw women would still be alive. The perpetrator allegedly took advantage of his temporary prison releases to attack women .
The prison system of punishment proves greatly ineffective. Rather than help the society to do away with crime, it encourages felons to lightheartedly oppress innocent people. If the societies recognized crime as a kind of disease and treated criminals accordingly, not only would the prisons be empty but societies would gain new valuable members as well .
