Rehab or Punishment?

Resolution: Rehabilitation ought to take precedence over punishment in the U.S. criminal justice system.
In order to be able to completely and fully take a stance on this resolution, you must know the definitions of the words that encompass the resolution: rehabilitation, precedence, punishment, and justice. The definition of rehabilitation is, “the restoration of someone to a useful place in society.” The overall goal of rehab is to get people to a place where they can be of use to society, so that they can take part in and perhaps further the society in which they have been restored to.
“To cause to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer disciplinary action” is one definition of punishment. This is the definition that we all associate to the word, punishment. But another one is “to dumb down severely or to the point of uselessness or near-uselessness.” Punishment causes people to feel dumb and useless, emotions which, if left to brood in a person, can easily turn to anger and hate. These feeling of hate and anger are then turned outwards, towards those that inflicted the punishment, which often is society. Punishment causes people to turn against their society, rather than help them ease back in and be of help to the society.
So why should something that can cause anger and hate take precedence, or priority, over something that is meant to make people feel good about themselves, and feel useful again? Justice? Lady justice may be portrayed as blind, but she is not blind to everything. Justice is derived from the word “just” which is defined as “fair to all parties as dictated by reason and conscience.” To be just, is to be fair to all parties, even those that committed the crime. Justice cannot be blind to the help that they may need. Their crimes are cries for help.