The American crim justice system ought 2 place a higher priority on retribution than rehabilitation

Retribution appeals to victims and their families, yes, but justice is not about making people happy. It is not about satisfying victims and their families. It is about serving justice and providing protection. It is about being fair and equal. If being fair and equal in turn makes the victim/families happy, then so be it, but that is not why one should believe in retribution. A legit value for rehabilitation is safety. Retribution alone provides no guaranteed safety. More than 95% of state prisoners return to society eventually. For the years that a criminal is locked up, we are safe, but what about when they get out? Almost 70% of state inmates commit a serious crime within three years of release, according to the largest recidivism study ever conducted. With extensive rehabilitation during and after incarceration, the recidivism rate could be greatly lowered. The results are overwhelming. In a two-part rehabilitation program in Delaware, called the Key-Crest program, the results were overwhelming. 30% of those who didn't participate in the program were arrested 18 months after prison, versus 71% of those who participated in the program. Other programs included putting inmates to work in offices for the same amount of time as taxpayers spend working. It helped inmates build a resume. In rehabilitation programs in Brooklyn and Indiana rehabilitation programs were also a success; however, I won't give you the stats because that would require me looking them up again and I'm sleepy. My opponent also brings up the implications of the resolution; "Prioritizing retribution over rehabilitation doesn't mean not trying to rehabilitate, it means doing so in a way that is still recognizably punishment." That's rather contradictory, as rehabilitation isn't really about punishment at all, and I don't see how you can make rehabilitation, the restoration of someone to a useful place in society, "recognizably punishment." Also, if we are looking at retribution in the U.S., we are mainly looking at prison systems and perhaps fines, and there is no rehabilitation in disguise as punishment. How you would make rehabilitation "recognizably punishment?" Am I really missing the point? However, he makes a good point when he talks about the prioritizing of the two concepts. As the current U.S. justice system as a whole places no emphasis on rehabilitation and is into the whole "tough on crime" notion it could be argued that by implicating more rehabilitation programs that would in turn be prioritizing rehabilitation over retribution. Prioritizing rehabilitation over retribution would provide us with truly justly deserved penalties; it would just also keep us safe when inmates get out of prison. For example, recently, in CA, a man was given a life sentence for stealing videotapes such as "Free Willy" and "Cinderella." He burglarized two homes back in the 1980s, and under the "three strikes law," was able to be sent to prison for life. He had no weapon in the burglaries, nor when he shoplifted a few videotapes. He will be 87 when he is up for parole, or he could be dead. Obviously, this man is not a model citizen, but he does not deserve to be in jail for the rest of his life. There is no reason not to believe that rehabilitation could have helped him keep things he didn't pay for on the shelves. However now we'll never know, because of this twisted justice system that is locking-people-up happy. My opponent has stated that the government is supposed to be avenging us. My opponent has stated that the government is supposed to seeking revenge. I ask you, does "revenge" belong in our society? We spend billions on our prison system. We spend billions locking up offenders, and almost 70% of those have already been in prison one time around. We have the highest incarceration rate in the world. Are a majority of our citizens really criminals, or is it a select few that keep reoffending because they don't get the help they need? Retribution over rehabilitation, as it is now = spending billions locking people up, then billions more putting them in prison again. Rehabilitation over retribution = significantly lowering the recidivism rate and providing long-term safety