Rehabilitation ought to be valued above retribution in the United States criminal justice system

It didn't come out until the last round, but Pro's argument for rehabilitation is circular. She has been arguing for rehabilitation by appealing to utilitarian morals. But why does she subscribe to utilitarian morals? In her own words: "By rehabilitating people, we are creating a better society, which is why I chose utilitarianism as my value. " So she chooses utilitarian values because rehabilitating people creates a better society, and she thinks rehabilitation is better than retribution because of her utilitarian values. It is hard to come up with a more clear example of circular reasoning. The only non-circular defense she gives for utilitarianism is its simplicity. But this is no defense. How does it follow that because utilitarianism is simple that it's therefore true? And I would question whether it really is simple. It sounds simple until you actually try to apply it to real world decisions. Then you've got to weigh utilities, which can be highly subjective. That's not to mention the difficulty of predicting the short term and long term consequences of a course of action. Pro's only response to my elderly people counter-example to utilitarianism is that it's "simple-minded" and "unrealistic. " But the fact of the matter is, there are old people who are a drain on society. I'm not saying that I personally would want to kill them. As I said in the first round, that would obviously be wrong. What I'm saying is that it follows from utilitarianism that there are innocent people we ought to kill for the good of society. That's precisely what's wrong with utilitarianism! There are many without close family who we could kill without causing any (or many people) grief, too. They don't need funerals. We can just have them cremated, which is cheaper than paying their medical expenses. Pro is being a bit inconsistent in this debate. In the first round, she defined retribution as "punishment that is justly deserved. " Giving people what they deserve is the very meaning of fairness. Yet she claims that (1) under rehabilitation, people get what they deserve, and (2) retribution is unfair. I agree with her that sometimes people are given punishments that they don't deserve. That is the basis upon which she says retribution is unfair, but that is contrary to how she defined retribution since she defined it as giving people the punishment they deserve. When people get a punishment that goes beyond what they deserve, that isn't retribution. That's going beyond retribution, and I don't think either one of us is advocating that. Pro still seems to misunderstand my argument from fairness. She says, "My opponent continually goes back to the argument that punishment won't be dealt fairly and harsh crimes like rape will be let off easy. " My concern isn't that harsh crimes like rape will be let off easy. My concern is that under rehabilitation, the punishment does not have to fit the crime. I used rape and drug abuse as hypothetical examples to illustrate my point. If the primary focus is on rehabilitation rather than retribution, then the length of imprisonment, punishment, sentence, or whatever is done to the person will depend on the psychology of the person and how long it takes or what measures it takes to rehabilitate the person rather than on what the person deserves. If (emphasis on the 'if) it happens that some severe crime, like rape, is easier to rehabilitate than some lesser crime, like drug abuse, then the person guilty of drug use will suffer more severely than the person who commited rape, which is unfair. Fairness dictates that the punishment fit the crime. And that is precisely the purpose of the 8th amendment. A cruel and unusual punishment is a punishment that does not fit the crime but rather goes beyond it. I misunderstood what Pro meant by "cards. " Apparently, she was just quoting what she had originally quoted in the first round in support of rehabilitation. My objection stands. The quote says nothing about rehabilitation. Pro emphasizes the use of the word "results," but the benefits it mentions are not the rehabilitation of the person, but redemption of America's image abroad, restoration of communities who regard prison as a rite of passage (whatever that means), and the enablement of offenders to pay restitution to their victims. Even if this quote mentioned retribution, it's just an opinion piece. It doesn't offer an argument. Sending dangerous criminals to prison is not rehabilitation; it's protection. Pro seems to be all for that. She said, "Again I will say, criminals such as murderers and sexual offenders will be put in prison as a safety precaution. " She apparently only advocates rehabilitation for lesser crimes, like drug abuse and traffic offenses. But remember the resolution of the debate: "Rehabilitation ought to be valued above retribution in the United States criminal justice system. " That resolution is more general and sweeping than, "Rehabilitation ought to be valued above retribution in cases of miner crimes, like drug abuse and traffic violations. "Pro was unable to defend her second contention. After I pointed out that her quote only showed a correlation between parents going to prison and their kids dropping out of school, and even offering an alternate explanation than one causing the other, her only response is to use the words "clear" and "pretty clear" in regard to causation. That's not an argument. That's only an expression of Pro's conviction. The quote she offered as evidence did not show causation, and neither did Pro. They only showed correlation and asserted causation. Adding the word "clearly" to what you already said before doesn't advance your argument. Pro claims that she is "very anti-retribution," but then turns around in the next paragraph and says under rehabilitation, people will "get what they deserve. " This is an inconsistency since giving people what they deserve is how she defined retribution in the first round. If she is all for people getting what they deserve, then she is all for retribution since that's what retribution means. If she is not all for people getting what they deserve, then she has not adequately responded to my fairness objection. Either way, Pro has not carried her burden of proof in this debate. I said at the beginning of this debate that I'd concede if Pro convinced me, but she hasn't. Thank you for coming to tonight's debate. Thank you for reading it.