March/April 2013 Ld Aff
Resolved: Rehabilitation ought to be valued above retribution in the United States criminal justice system...
To clarify, I will provide the following definitions
"ought" is a moral obligation.
“retribution” is “Punishment that is considered to be morally right and fully deserved.”
“rehabilitation” is “The restoration of someone to a useful place in society.”
Since “ought” is defined as a moral obligation, the obvious value to look towards is morality. We need to value morality first because it allows people to judge whether something is right or wrong. Without morality, the world would be chaotic because people could to anything, and nobody could determine if the action was morally correct or not.
Therefore, my value criterion is Public Safety. IT SHOULD BE THE CORE VALUE IN THE AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.
Adrienne Lee Benson, (Dir., The Constitution Project), SMART ON CRIME, 2011 Writes
“The goal of the criminal justice system is to protect the public and punish blameworthy activity. Therefore, to ensure an effective system, policymakers should evaluate any proposed recommendation to determine that [the system] increases public safety and regulates conduct that truly rises to a level that justifies its criminalization.”
Cliff Roberson, (Prof., Criminal Justice, Washburn U.), PROCEDURES IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM, 2010. (Retrieved Dec. 15, 2012 from www.besmartoncrime.org/pdf/Complete.pdf.) Writes
“Most experts agree the basic goal of the system is to protect society from crime -- beyond that, there is little agreement.”
Therefore, the side that reduces crime rates the most will win this round.
Just for clarification, the resolution says we have to value either rehabilitation or retribution over one another, not totally remove one from the prison system. Therefore, the affirmative will specifically rehabilitate all criminals, except the ones who have failed rehabilitative trials, or have a life-long sentences or are on death row. I will
To clarify, I will provide the following definitions
"ought" is a moral obligation.
“retribution” is “Punishment that is considered to be morally right and fully deserved.”
“rehabilitation” is “The restoration of someone to a useful place in society.”
Since “ought” is defined as a moral obligation, the obvious value to look towards is morality. We need to value morality first because it allows people to judge whether something is right or wrong. Without morality, the world would be chaotic because people could to anything, and nobody could determine if the action was morally correct or not.
Therefore, my value criterion is Public Safety. IT SHOULD BE THE CORE VALUE IN THE AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.
Adrienne Lee Benson, (Dir., The Constitution Project), SMART ON CRIME, 2011 Writes
“The goal of the criminal justice system is to protect the public and punish blameworthy activity. Therefore, to ensure an effective system, policymakers should evaluate any proposed recommendation to determine that [the system] increases public safety and regulates conduct that truly rises to a level that justifies its criminalization.”
Cliff Roberson, (Prof., Criminal Justice, Washburn U.), PROCEDURES IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM, 2010. (Retrieved Dec. 15, 2012 from www.besmartoncrime.org/pdf/Complete.pdf.) Writes
“Most experts agree the basic goal of the system is to protect society from crime -- beyond that, there is little agreement.”
Therefore, the side that reduces crime rates the most will win this round.
Just for clarification, the resolution says we have to value either rehabilitation or retribution over one another, not totally remove one from the prison system. Therefore, the affirmative will specifically rehabilitate all criminals, except the ones who have failed rehabilitative trials, or have a life-long sentences or are on death row. I will