Let's Practice the Principles of Change With Criminals

   Of all ways we could make our nation better, we do not give this one enough attention: Rehabilitating the prisoner. We are not doing the basic things that rehabilitate criminals. We should know the principles of treatment, but apparently, we don't, because we don't follow the script very well.
   And, that means if we did, maybe we would have less recidivism. Maybe we would have less crime.
   This is a little like a basketball team that won't drive to the basket when the lane is open, or won't box out to get rebounds, or won't stay in front of the person they are defending to stop him from scoring. 
   We aren't even doing the basics.
   Long ago, someone somewhere suggested that nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care. Meaning, you have got to love the prisoner. Long ago, they did studies showing babies need nurturing, they need love, and that they respond by developing better when they get it. I would not be surprised if studies have also shown the same for adults, but, even if such studies have not been conducted on adults, it seems surely obvious that everyone responds better if they are shown love than if they are not.
   Love should not be left to chance in a prison. It should be planned. It should be taught to the guards. It should be part of the rehabilitation. 
   So, love is one of the things we overlook. What are others?
   One, is encouraging the criminal to repent. We slap him in prison, that is all. That, we hope, will cause him remorse, but I do wonder if there are better ways. I wonder, if we had him serve the victim, if it would not help engender more remorse. If we taught him about the victim, would he not be more inclined to feel an empathy for the victim, a love for the victim, and feel a remorse that he had hurt the victim? I think so. Serving the victim is also a way of providing restitution. 
   So, serving the victim is something that would bring the prisoner to the steps of repentance. Why, then, not use it?
   And, there is another thing we should do. We should take the opportunity to retrain the criminal in how to conduct himself. I am not talking just about the crime, about teaching him not to do such things as commit crimes. I'm talking about teaching him to be courteous, and kind and respectful of others. I'm talking about how we train up a child. The rules for raising children have been practiced, I would imagine, since the first child came upon the earth. Things like rebuking them for treating their brothers and sisters rudely. So, let's bring the prisoner's family in to see him, and supervise each visit. Let them play games together, or do work together or whatever, and let's watch them. And, when they treat their family wrong, let's correct them, and punish them by taking away privileges or whatever.
   We cannot retrain the person normally. Once they are grown, we cannot normally take them back to a setting where we correct them and punish them like we do children. Prison, though, provides us that rare opportunity. The person is once again under the direction of another person. If the principles of raising children work, let's use them. Let's use the opportunity of the prisoner being in prison to retrain him.
   Well, there are a few other things we should do -- obvious principles we should follow. We should remove negative influences. If TV has too much violence and sex, take it away. Going to prison means losing some rights and privileges and among them should be taking away the right to watch things that are bad influences upon them. Same goes for the Internet. If they are to have television and Internet, then only for educational purposes.
   Finally, let them work. Why train them to be idle? Give them something to do, if it is only studying. If they don't want to study, give them something else to do. And, I'm not talking just working out. Let them work out, exercise and play basketball, but those things should not be the core of how they spend their time. Those things often serve only themselves, and the prisoner needs to learn to do things that are not just for his own fun and pleasure.
   So, if we would correct the criminal, if we would rehabilitate him, let us do the things that rehabilitate people, that lead them to change. Let's start with love, and then include the other things we, as a society, have learned about how to bring about change in people.