Resolved: Rehabilitation ought to be valued above retribution in the United States criminal justice system.
Several things about this topic:
1. First, it's important to think about the OVERALL impact of rehab vs. retaliation. Clearly in drug related cases (possession, use, etc.) it's easy to argue rehab vs. retribution. But what about other types of crimes - crimes that aren't victimless crimes? Robbery, rape, murder? These are clearly crimes that involve a victim and the question of how the criminal justice system should approach these criminals becomes more complicated.
2. What is justice? Is the goal of justice to right wrongs or ensure a safer society? The easy answer is both and that righting wrongs by imprisonment (retribution) does make things safer. But can the criminal justice system be an effective deterrent against crime if it's more focused on rehab than retaliation? Is the criminal justice system which right now prioritizes retribution (hence the wording of the resolution) being undermined by that position?
3. Look at the recidivism rate (the rate at which criminals released from prison commit crimes and return - they become career criminals). Is retribution really the best way to address that? This goes back to the deterrence issue. If the focus was to rehabilitate these criminals (and rehab entails helping these folks obtain jobs and become functional members of society so that a life of crime becomes less lucrative) would the recidivism rate be reduced?
These are just a few questions to be parsed before jumping into value/value criterion pairings. This is a great topic and should spur some good debates. Good luck!
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