‘the Purpose of Prison Is to Reform Criminals’. (12 Marks)
‘The purpose of prison is to reform criminals’. (12 marks)
This statement suggests that the intention of putting an offender into prison is to give him or her and change to change their ways in order to lead a better life.
Most Christians would agree that the purpose of prison is to reform criminals. They would look to the teaching of Jesus which are of love and forgiveness. Jesus teaches that we should ‘love our enemies’. From this, he means that you should show no hate towards anyone who has wronged you or committed a crime, you should look past it and help them regain their place in society, where they should not be subjected to extra punishments and their human rights should be protected.
Another key reason they would give to support their viewpoint is that prison is a place where offender have a chance to learn from their wrong doings. This idea is portrayed in Matthew 5 when Jesus speaks out against the laws of retaliation and says ‘if anyone strikes you on the right check, turn to him the other also.’ This implies that if someone wrongs, you should allow them to see what they have done wrong whilst in prison, where they will learn how to stop their bad ways.
The final reason they might give is that prison allows them to learn skills in which theyb will be able to gradually make their way back into society without being discriminated for their actions. This is seen in one of Jesus’ parables when he says that is someone has wronged, you must forgive them ‘not seven times, but seventy-seven times’. This means that you should not think that forgiving a criminal once is enough; you should forgive him many times so that he is able to feel comfortable about making his way back into society.
Other people might disagree and claim that the main purpose of prison is not to reform criminals. The key reason they would give to support their view is that if the criminal has wronged, they should be punished for what they have done by being put into prison. In the Old
This statement suggests that the intention of putting an offender into prison is to give him or her and change to change their ways in order to lead a better life.
Most Christians would agree that the purpose of prison is to reform criminals. They would look to the teaching of Jesus which are of love and forgiveness. Jesus teaches that we should ‘love our enemies’. From this, he means that you should show no hate towards anyone who has wronged you or committed a crime, you should look past it and help them regain their place in society, where they should not be subjected to extra punishments and their human rights should be protected.
Another key reason they would give to support their viewpoint is that prison is a place where offender have a chance to learn from their wrong doings. This idea is portrayed in Matthew 5 when Jesus speaks out against the laws of retaliation and says ‘if anyone strikes you on the right check, turn to him the other also.’ This implies that if someone wrongs, you should allow them to see what they have done wrong whilst in prison, where they will learn how to stop their bad ways.
The final reason they might give is that prison allows them to learn skills in which theyb will be able to gradually make their way back into society without being discriminated for their actions. This is seen in one of Jesus’ parables when he says that is someone has wronged, you must forgive them ‘not seven times, but seventy-seven times’. This means that you should not think that forgiving a criminal once is enough; you should forgive him many times so that he is able to feel comfortable about making his way back into society.
Other people might disagree and claim that the main purpose of prison is not to reform criminals. The key reason they would give to support their view is that if the criminal has wronged, they should be punished for what they have done by being put into prison. In the Old