Assignment Title
An Independent organization called Crime and Justice Revisited has been established to promote public and governmental awareness of fresh, imaginative and appealing ways of thinking about how society should respond to offending behaviour. Following a consultation exercise with a variety of experts and policy-makers, it has been impressed by two viewpoints:
A. Offending is more often than not a symptom of some underlying illness, rather then an evil choice. Offenders should therefore receive treatment rather than punishment.
B. Crime harms people and relationships. When society responds to crime, its priority should be to repair the harm the crime has caused.
To further its work, Crime mid Justice Revisited has commissioned you to prepare a report. Your task is to take ONE of these viewpoints and write a report which:
A. Explains the basic ideas underlying the viewpoint;
B. Indicates how society’s response to crime would change in practice if it decided to base its response upon these ideas;
C. Explains the merits (if any) which a response to crime based on the viewpoint would have;
D. Explains the problems and shortcomings (if any) of a response to crime based on the viewpoint;
E. Concludes with a firm answer to the question, Should the public and the govemment take this viewpoint seriously?
You have been instructed that your report should be well supported by evidentiary sources and scholarly references, placed in footnotes and a bibliography. However, and crucially, your report is prepared for a general readership. Its purpose is to inform public discussion and general modem should be able to follow it.
