Essay about Therapy, Not Punishment - 843 Words

Therapy, Not Punishment Problems with crime have always been a concern to society. There are many different ideas about what causes it and even more ideas about how to stop it. Dr. Karl Menninger believes that our current prison system is not adequately addressing the motivation behind crime. In his article Therapy, Not Punishment, Menninger says of the old prison system, In its place should go a quiet, dignified, therapeutic programÉ (544). He sets forth the claim of policy that criminals need to be treated with professional therapy. I dont think an introduction could be more clear than this. Menningers ideas are directed toward a wide audience of generally law-abiding citizens. This article first appeared in Harpers†¦show more content†¦The prison sentence is carried out for a specified number of years, and then the criminal is returned to society whether a change has been made or not. By showing the failure of our prison system to deter crime, Menninger opens the reader to his suggestions on how the system should be changed.This paragraph incorporates adequate detail to demonstrate Cedrics understanding of the text, but does not get overly lengthy nor does he begin summarizing. Menningers vision for the penal system is that all convicted criminals would be treated as legally insane. Instead of a fixed prison sentence, psychiatrists would treat criminals until they no longer posed any threat to society. To support this claim, he mentions two separate reports from 1917 and 1933. The first is the Wickersham report of the New York State Prison Survey Committee which recommended the abolition of jails, the institution of diagnostic clearing houses or classification centers, the development of a diversified institutional system and treatment program, and the use of indeterminate sentencing (539). The American Psychiatric Association, the American Bar Association, and the American Medical Association also recommended psychiatric treatment of criminals. These reports serve to show that Menningers ideas are not brand new and add credibility to his arguments. Menninger draws further support from scientific methods of treating psychiatric patients, criminal or not. He states, IfShow MoreRelatedCompare and Contrast the Main Principles in Any Two of the Following Psychological Therapies: Psychoanalysis, Behaviour Therapy, Cognitive Therapy or Humanistic Therapy.1526 Words   |  7 Pagesthrough two main ways: Medication therapy and Psychological therapies. The ratio is 2:1 preference psychological therapy and medication therapy, when people seeking treatment for common psychological health problems. It can be seen that people are more willing to choose psychological therapies to treat their problems. 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