Do We Really Know?

Bryan Stevenson’s bestseller, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, is a study of the malfeasance and inhumanity that blights America’s criminal justice system and an attempt to shed light on prison conditions, mass incarceration, racial bias and excessive punishment (Stevenson 293). After Jimmy Dill’s death, a man wrongfully sentenced to death and executed, Stevenson articulates his feelings, and finds comfort even after his perceived failure: ‘I understood that even as we are caught in a web of hurt and brokenness, we’re also in a web of healing and mercy.’ (Stevenson 294) Just as hurt and healing are a concatenation, mercy, and brokenness are linked together.

Johnathan Wayne Nobles was 25 when he was convicted in September 1986 for the death of Mitzi Johnson-Nally, age 21 and Kelly Farquhar, age 24. According to Murderpedia, Nobles had been under the influence of drugs and alcohol when he broke into the house of Mitzi Johnson and stabbed her and Kelly Farquhar with a knife(Blanco). Mitzi date 30 year old Ronald Ross was also injured in the attack. Nobles was on parole at the time of the murders for theft of property, which he served a three year sentence. Nobles was sentenced to death by lethal injection on October 7, 1998. Before Nobles was executed he claimed that he was a different man then he was the night he took two young women 's life 's.

Nobles was appreciative of the people who were there to witness his death, despite doing the awful things to them. At his death, he repeatedly apologized to the victims, Kurland and Ross saying ““I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I wish I could bring her back to you. And Ron …. I took so much from you. I’m sorry. I know you probably don’t want my love, but you have it.”” He knew what he had done was wrong and he couldn’t take it back but he knew he could change and become a better person. Before his execution, he made amends with Mitzis mother and gave her

| Shows no emotion to the murders and crimes that he committed. A heartless selfish man.

The way the criminal justice system should handle crimes has always been a debated subject. For over the last forty years, ever since the war on drugs, there are more policies made to be “tough on crime”. From then, correctional systems have grown and as people are doing more crimes, there are plenty of punishments for them. In the mid 1970’s, rehabilitation was the main concern for the criminal justice system. It was common that when someone was convicted of a crime, they would be sentenced to prison but there would also be diagnosed treatments to help them as well. Most likely, they would have committed a crime due to psychological problems. When they receive treatment in prison, they can be healed and would not go back to their wrong lifestyle they had lived before. As years have gone by, people thought that it was better to take a more punitive stance in the criminal justice system. As a result of the turnaround of this more punitive criminal justice system, the United States now has more than 2 million people in prisons or jails--the equivalent of one in every 142 U.S. residents--and another four to five million people on probation or parole. The U.S. has a higher percentage of the

Incapacitation involves imprisonment for offenders who commit crimes to prevent the possibilities of future offenses. (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2009, pg# 74) Incapacitation has reduced the crime rate considerably. Some offenders get out on bail or bond, serve the minimum of the sentence and out on parole or probation. Offenders realize that is getting more and more expensive to cover up their crime. Therefore, they are expecting to be caught. Rehabilitation or reformation is another form of sentencing. Rehabilitation is a process of treatment for offenders to get them back on track. It gets to the core of why the offender acted this way. Restoration is a process that makes the victim, offender and society go back to their original conditions. Victims will be

There are many people who are critical of the US‘s prison sysetm; the idea of locking up those who commit crimes against a society simply to keep them from doing harm. Many say that more rehabilatation is necessary to improve these individuals and, therefore, society as a whole. What are some ways of doing this? Do you agree/disagree with this view and why? Is the prison system currently in place the best option for society? 2 pages, double spaced, 12pt. font.

Jon Wayne Nobles couldn't rehabilitate cause he didn't want to. Jon Wayne Nobles Simple learned how to get certain privileges while he was in prison. Jon Wayne became very manipulative while he was on death row. Jon Wayne Nobles always wanted to be respected, Jon Wayne Nobles tried his whole life to gain respect from others and never got it until he joined the community watch team and later in prison when he became a Catholic priest. Jon Wayne Nobles Figured out ways to gain respect and gain other privileges by manipulating the guards and prisoners. Jon Wayne became a priest so he could freely roam and talk to other inmates and guards. Jon Wayne never wanted to rehabilitate he simply wanted to basically get his way and be able to do what he wanted and push his privileges to the maximum limits. Jon Wayne Nobles was so manipulative he was even involved in a baptism. Jon Wayne Nobles had it good for being in prison. Jon Wayne Nobles was smart enough to do certain things and act a certain way to get what he wanted, He tried to avoid death by lethal injection by asking for alternatives such as donating his organs to the state of Texas. Jon Wayne Nobles did everything in his power to avoid doing certain things while he was in prison. He even did what was ever in his power to have some respect and power when he was outside of prison by joining the watch team in his community. Jon Wayne Nobles couldn't rehabilitate cause he never wanted to he simply wanted to make the best of his time while he was in prison before he died. Jon Wayne Nobles was smart enough to figure how to get certain luxuries while he was on Death

He was not truly rehabilitated, he was scared to die and that is why he “changed” over the years before he died on death row. Nobles was playing everyone to make it out that he was a better person, he changed himself only to gain more freedom, and he did not deserve a second chance outside of prison. Nobles seemed to be very

The definition of rehabilitation according to professor Mona Lynch, is “any discourse or practices that speak transforming or normalizing the criminal into a socially defined non-deviant citizen, including psychological programs, drug treatment programs, educational and work-training programs, work and housing placement assistance, and halfway houses.” This definition of rehabilitation is unique because it focuses on outcomes, encompasses an array of inmate services, and is more multidimensional than any of the preceding works. I believe that prisoners should be treated with exactly the same degree of respect and kindness as we would hope they would show to others after they return to society. People learn by example. The Timelist program showed that offenders hearing from ex-offenders who are on the outside and are doing well is very powerful. These rehabilitation programs; The Timelist, Edovo, and the GreenHouse Program all provide evidence to support the Prison Rehabilitation Act of 1965, which devoted full attention exclusively to the crime problem in the U.S. and the high numbers of population in our prisons, by providing more flexible rehabilitation programs. It would be beneficial to every man, women, and child in America, if we were to continue providing resources for existing rehabilitation

  After Earl Shriner was released from Prison in 1987, he raped and strangled a seven-year-old boy, then cut off his penis and left him to die (Leo). Reginald Muldrew, who is linked to more than 200 sexual attacks, served sixteen years and was released from prison, only to create trouble again in Indiana (Leo). Did these individuals receive the right punishment or rehabilitation for their imprisonment crime?

That declaration expresses just enough regret that he seems more moral than his wife, the murderer – but the tone is not the true horror one would expect upon hearing of the premediated assassination of an innocent girl, but resignation. He indirectly passes

While incarcerated the individual may have the opportunity to receive rehabilitation. Does it mean that the individual will be rehabilitated? One can only imagine. This is a debatable issue. Is punishment or rehabilitation more effective in combating crime?

Cullen and Gendreau (2000). give us some history on the restorative incarceration. The original theory of restorative justice was based on simple human behavior regulated by incentive instead of punishment, which instituted the concept of parole as a means of reward for a prisoner for rehabilitation. Further studies in criminology proved that this idea was too simplistic and married it to the positivist theory of criminology and instituted individual assessment and treatment for each prisoner based on their specific needs for reformation.

In theory, rehabilitation works, unfortunately as there are objectors to punishment of the corporal kind as there are objectors to the practice of rehabilitation. Most would side on the idea of rehabilitating prisoners, as there is no denying its success in the past, however the question of abandoning or greatly reducing corporal punishment or long term incarceration stands as a highly heated debate. With prison overcrowding and solutions being sought after, rehabilitation does offer a way to braid the inmates back into a successful life inside our communities, but just as corporal punishment does not have a 100% success rate, its friend rehabilitation lacks it as well. As a society we have to find ways to lower the costs of prisons on our fellow man and to be able to have inmates return to society in a productive manner. Rehabilitation seems to be the most modern weapon of choice for our modern and more