Resolved: In the United States, Minor Jail Time Ought to be Replaced with Significant Rehabilitation

Good afternoon ladies and gentleman. In today's case, I shall prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that Minor US Jail time ought to be replaced with significant rehabilitation. Although I'm well aware that this is an LD resolution, I simply don't care for the practices involved in value debate as much as I used to. Thus, I hope you managed to bare with me in my attempts to keep this as a general debate. So without further ado, let us proceed: I'm going to run this case in stylized form of Problem/Solution. Thus, I will first tell you why the status quo is a problem, and then I will inform you as to how significant rehabilitation is the solution. Observation: In terms of minor jail time, we shall consider 30 days to 10 years as being "minor time" in this debate. This is because this duration is a relatively small portion of one's average life span ( http://en.wikipedia.org... ) . ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTION 1 PROBLEM: US Prisons hardly possess the incentive necessary for released criminals to abide by the law. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is quite apparent. Observe the following evidence that concerns recidivism rates in the United States: http://ojp.usdoj.gov... (in case there is doubt, here is a more recent study: http://www.infoplease.com... ). And here are some interesting factoids to note from the study: - Released prisoners with the highest rearrest rates were robbers (70.2%), burglars (74.0%), larcenists (74.6%), motor vehicle thieves (78.8%), those in prison for possessing or selling stolen property (77.4%), and those in prison for possessing, using, or selling illegal weapons (70.2%). -Within 3 years, 2.5% of released rapists were arrested for another rape, and 1.2% of those who had served time for homicide were arrested for homicide. - The 272,111 offenders discharged in 1994 had accumulated 4.1 million arrest charges before their most recent imprisonment and another 744,000 charges within 3 years of release. As you can observe from this empirical study, roughly 2/3 of prisoners got rearrested within 3 years of their previous convictions. Yes, merely 3 fragging years. It is no doubt that our US prisons don't provide the proper incentive for it's prisoners not to respect and uphold the law. At any rate, we can conclude that prisons simply aren't doing their job, and that a resolution is necessary. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTION 2: SOLUTION: Significant REHAB is the effective solution which ought to replace minor jail time ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Since it is apparent that prison is not a sufficient means of lowering the recidivism rate, it is rather apparent that signficant REHAB must be the method which is employed at least when we take minor jail time into consideration. Just imagine: If criminals are significantly rehabilitated, the purpose which prison attempts will be carried out. Criminals will become uncriminalized (sic), will be functioning members of society, and if they reproduce, their children will likely be placed in a non-criminalized atmosphere and will grow up to be as uncriminal as their parents. Thus, with significant rehabilitation, the benefits work both short and long term. Now being aware of the general tactics employed, my opponent will probably say something along the lines of "Well hey, significant rehabilitation sounds nice and all, but wouldn't it cost too much for the United States to handle?" Ladies and gentleman, the idea that significant rehabiltation replacing minor jail time will somehow being difficult maintain financially is simply propoganda and nothing more. I don't mean to be "argument-stealing", but I cannot help but reveal to you the TRUTH (which is most important) proposed in "JustCallMeTarzan's plan ( http://www.debate.org... ). As he points out, significant REHAB would save tax dollars. Furthermore, "criminals" could be mandated the burden of paying for their rehabilitation. And when criminals are unable to afford payment, they could be sponsored by the state in the same way the state provides the right for legal counsel. Plus, when we take into account just how "rough" jail is (PRISON rapes, pimping, and daily beat downs), significant rehabilition is simply far better from a humanitarian approach. Thus, I believe I've uphold my side of the resolution so far. I now await my opponent's first rebuttal.