Similar to the current debate about the Death Penalty but a wider question:
What do you believe should be done to criminals after they have been found guilty for committing a crime?
Take into account the different 'levels' of crime as I think we can all agree the consequences of swearing at a police officer should be different from the consequences of stabbing someone in the shoulder.
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I'm not going to go into petty crime as fines or community service seems to be a fairly sensible punishment. However I've always believed that prison is the best way forward for dealing with serious crime. I don't always agree with how prisons are run and I believe a new scheme to rehabilitate people who are finally coming out of prison is needed (although, saying that, I don't know much about what currently happens to them). But I strongly stand by the idea of giving everyone a second chance. I don't mean forgiving them for stabbing your grandmother and sending them straight back out into the world, I mean they should have do to the time in prison to make them understand that what they have done is unacceptable. After that, though, we need to teach them how to live a normal life again.
Anyway, if we carry on treating someone as a criminal after they've done their time, why should we expect them to stop acting like one?