Write 500 words on this topic: “Is restitution to victims better for society than jail sentences for criminals? Explain.”
I believe that restitution can be beneficial. Restitution to victims is better for society than jail sentences. This is because it helps victims recover losses, holds criminals personally responsible, and reduces the cost and size of government prisons.
I think that the justice system should focus on the victim and not on the government. I look at it this way: does the prison/criminal repay any stolen goods or damaged property? Criminals going to jail rarely face payments for what they have done. They almost never pay for stolen goods or damaged property. Restitution forces a criminal to directly repair or pay back the harm they caused. A great way of looking at this is if someone stole your car tomorrow, the criminal or the government/prison will not buy you a new car. Does that seem fair? You bought it; you worked hard for it, and now you have to do it all over again. By using restitution, it allows the victim to not lose what they worked for.
Restitution also allows for lower taxes and a smaller government. I don’t think anyone can complain about this side of it. Prisons often cause taxpayers to pay huge amounts of money every year, and society will save money when fewer people are in prison. Taxpayers usually pay for everything in a prison, like food, the buildings themselves, healthcare, the guards, and much more. Restitution will shift costs onto the criminal instead of the victim.
Another thing restitution would help with is making the lives of the criminals not quite as bad. Prison often makes things worse; prisons expose people to gangs, former prisoners often struggle to get jobs after, and repeat crime rates stay very high. A criminal who keeps his job and repays the victim through restitution will reintegrate into society better than someone who’s been locked away.
But I don’t think this applies to everyone. If you look at murderers, rapists, terrorists, kidnappers, and more. They should definitely go to prison to suffer. They cannot pay back what they have done, and they should definitely pay the price of their life. The only way to get at some of these people is to take away time from their life. I think that restitution works best for nonviolent crimes like theft, fraud, vandalism, breaking and entering, and property damage.
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