There needs to be an element of both punishment and rehabilitation.
Often I feel that both are sorely lacking in the UK (sentences being too paltry, rehabilitation and security at prisons left very wanting etc) because the services are under such enormous financial pressure of budget cuts etc. We need more of pretty much everything (more prisons, more guards, better cells, better security, better facilities, better healthcare, longer sentences, etc!), and because almost everything is lacking, people are being failed on pretty much every level of society too (the general public being put at risk, victims families failing to see true justice handed out, criminals often coming out of prison with more problems than what they went in with and being so poorly prepared/equipped for life outside of prison, that many are practiced forced to return to re-offending just to survive...Etc!).
But with such a myriad of problems, I feel that the rising angst among everyone in society often ends up being directed at all the wrong people (the general public and victims hating judges for handing out poor sentences and the police for failing to crack down on numerous crimes adequately, the prisoners hating the guards for acting like tyrants etc) when in reality what the angst really needs to be directed at, are the politicians!!
We vote these politicians in to solve our countries problems and manage its affairs in democratically agreeable and practical ways etc, but where is our country at now?
All our services are under severe financial strain and yet we're caught up in a battle of finger pointing (with very few politicians being held accountable for almost anything). How did we get into this mess?
Its too simple-minded to simply blame the criminals. Often, many of these criminal people are themselves the result of numerous (and repeated!) failings in a whole host of public services in the countries systems.
Lessons are recorded & cataloged (but rarely ever proactively learned from).
And it's too simple-minded to argue that a simple movement in government (Left or Right) will solve the issues (for these societal issues have festered and worsened under successive different political party governments from all sorts of backgrounds for generations now).
The problems are complex, and really (ultimately), we need to cut the bureaucracy and we need a great deal more funding to our justice system.
But where is the money to come from?
Is the general public really that committed to sorting out crime- to what financial cost? And do any of us really have any real trust and belief in our political parties anymore to solve these problems- are we not just handing over more & more money towards an increasingly incompetent & corrupt system?
All this political bickering between parties, where are even any viable solutions being offered amid all the character bashing back-and-forth fights between the people's supposed to be leading this country?
Etc.
[End Justice system/political rant]