Capstone Project - Assignment Example

Gun Violence Instruction Paper Gun violence in Arkansas Violence is the use of either physical or psychological forces with the intention of hurting, damaging or killing someone or something. Gun violence is, therefore, the use of a firearm with the intention to cause harm or kill. For instance, Arkansas a state in the United States of America, with a total population of 2949132 citizens, has in records an average death rate of 15% per 100,000 people as a result of gun violence. In 1993, gang and juvenile crime significantly increased making the communities of Arkansas come together in solving this problem (Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families, 2002).

After a number of meetings they recommended three very important violence prevention programs which include prevention, intervention and treatment. They also established a new department of community programs to manage them.The first program involved improving and expanding gun violence prevention efforts in schools. This program kicked off in 1993 but was enforced in 1998 in response to the shooting in Jonesboro school. Schools in Arkansas started receiving federal funds to enable them set school based violence resource centers.

According to Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families (2002), these violence resource centers wrote and published guidebooks on violence prevention that are now used in schools. The second program was an initiative of creating a Community threat assessment program. It was enforced in 1994 by the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. The organization published a handbook addressing violence “computer, cellos and call-in radio: violence prevention tools for the 90s”. This book had the steps to follow in confronting violence in the community.

The last one was enhancing service provision and accessibility of mental and behavioral health under the treatment initiative. This program involved the Arkansas Art children’s hospital, school clubs, Art center, city parks and churches (Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families, 2002). In conclusion, the gun violence prevention programs started in Arkansas has greatly contributed to preventing gun violence cases in Arkansas. For instance, currently, there are 15 separate groups and 17 summer youth programs with more than 6,000 members funded by the initiative.

In addition, a community in Arkansas, knows as Little Rock, recorded a 54% drop in juvenile gun violence arrests.Paper 2Rehabilitation versus punishmentAdjudicative practices are procedures that are made to solve disputes in the judiciary. One of these practices is rehabilitation of the federal prisoners. Rehabilitation, in this case, is the release of reformed, nonviolent individual to serve the rest of their imprisonment out of prison under the supervision of community members. On the other hand, punishment involves subjecting an individual to unpleasant condition with the aim of inflicting fear (Larrabee, 2006).

For example, chaining, being convened in a very small cold and dark room, and hanging for serious offenses. According to Larrabee (2006), there have been numerous debates on which method is the most effective between punishment and rehabilitation, especially, on gun violence crimes. Punishment is argued to be either deterrence or general deterrence. Deterrence is where fear is inflicted on the offender so that he or she will never commit crime in future. General deterrence, equally, installs fear but to the whole community on the consequences of a crime.

However, despite punishing offenders records show that 63% of the prisoners had been convicted for a different offense prior the current offense (Larrabee, 2006). This showing that punishment has not worked as anticipated. Others have argued that rehabilitation is a more effective method in fixing gun violence crime and repetitive crimes. Rehabilitating offenders under community supervision will have a more sustaining effect that may discourage them from committing offense in future (Larrabee, 2006).

They instead adapt to the community norms gaining skills, such as, trading and academic. This method also involved therapy to drug addicted individuals, as well as, psychological counseling. Rehabilitation gives an opportunity to the offender to be self supporting without using taxpayer and states funds on imprisonment. In conclusion, from the two arguments, it is clear that, although in both methods there cases of repetitive crime, rehabilitation stand out as best in preventing gun violence.

This is because, rehabilitating a gun violence criminal, will not only, save the individual but also the taxpayers. Rehabilitation, unlike punishment, gives the offender an alternative in life, other than crime, instead of inflicting fear. ReferenceArkansas Advocates for Children & Families (2002).Reducing juvenile violence in communities, a guidebook of what to do and how to begin. Little Rock, LR: Louisiana.Larrabee, A. (2006). Punishment vs. Rehabilitation in the Criminal Justice System.

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