ʀᴇʜᴀʙɪʟɪᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ᴄʀɪᴍɪɴᴀʟs ᴅᴏᴇsɴ'ᴛ ɢᴜᴀʀᴀɴᴛᴇᴇ ᴀ ᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇ ᴏғ ᴀᴛᴛɪᴛᴜᴅᴇ.

The psychological structure of humans is complex and highly unpredictable, every action taken by a human is a projection of our thoughts which means we humans tends to act in the pattern in which we think. The primary purpose of rehabilitation is to restructure a human mind in order to shy away from any attitude considered to be a ill behaviour by the society. You might wonder why I said "considered to be a ill behaviour by the society", A human committing all sort of crimes and atrocities always find a justification for their actions, a reason to believe they have no choice but to do what they are doing. They create some sort of false reality that makes them believe what they are doing is the right thing no matter what anyone had to say about it, I mean have you ever wondered criminal choose to form their own gang/communities?

It gets worse when humans begin to derive pleasure from the atrocities they are committing. There are two major thing usually considered why dealing with an offender which is the intention, what motivates such a person to commit a crime. Regardless of the intention the other thing that needs to be considered what does the person derive from committing such a crime, this usually what differentiates a hardened criminal from a first offender. For a hardened criminal From the few knowledge I have gathered I have realised that to them committing crimes is pleasurable be it murder, rape, drugs e.t.c it is just a means to have fun.

For a first offender probably they stand a higher chances of changing their attitude through rehabilitation since addiction has not really set in but it changes when they find the crimes they commit pleasurable. For example, the most committed crime in where I'm from is fraud which has become even worse as technology keeps creating more method and tools for fraudsters to map out their victims. First thing you need to ask is, are fraudsters not aware of other legal ways of earning income? but regardless they chose to defraud people because to them it is way easier, To an extent they believe they are also working.

I once watched a video of a fraudster that was scammed by another fraudster, he kept lamenting about how painful it was to be scammed. I can't help but think, how does it feel to have a taste of your own medicine? From his reaction it shows he had no remorse for the crimes he has committed, Now imagine such a person going through rehabilitation, what are the chances of him coming out a changed man?

During my time in camp, I joined WADA {War against drug abuse} group which is a sub division of NDLEA {National Drug Law Enforcement Agency} for corp members. During one of our in-camp lectures that centered on rehabilitation of drug addicts/users. The NDLEA officer in charge of the lectures openly said it is a 50/50 chance and the chances gets smaller depending on how exposed the person is to drugs and how long he/she has been using it and what factors motivates he or she to make use of drugs. He said over the years they have had cases of rehabilitated drug users relapsing and going through rehabilitation again and it is just keeps going on and on.

What is the best way to ensure offenders don't commit the same crime again?

Now this is where its gets interesting, I wouldn't say rehabilitation is not effective to an extent it has been able to correct the actions of a lot of individuals who were once considered criminals. Ironically A prison is said to be a correctional center but then it seems to be bringing the worst out of criminals. I would suggest that the privilege of rehabilitation should only be given to first offenders, A form of second chance to ensure they correct their ways but if they choose to jeopardise the opportunity of rehabilitation they were offered and go back to committing crimes again, then adequate measures should be taken to ensure they get the punishment they deserve.

This might sound cold but I can't imagine someone being a victim of a rapist and then watch the rapist being released after rehabilitation but yet he/she still chose to continue being a rapist, wouldn't that be an insult to the victims of the rapist knowing that the government intentionally released such a criminal back to the society. In order to ensure the society is safe and livable for humans there is need to make it clear that chances are limited and rehabilitation should be that second chance not the third, forth or fifth, what will be the point of that if not a waste of national resources.

_{This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Do you believe in rehab" in hive learners community.}

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