Dilemma Case

"We inflict our cruelties away from public view, while nations like Pakistan stage them in front of 10,000 onlookers" (Chapman, 573). In the essay, "The Prisoner's Dilemma," Stephen Chapman addressed the various mechanisms of punishment and imprisonment between the Eastern Islamic culture and the Western society. As stated by Chapman's sarcastic introduction, barbaric and inhumane rituals is something that countries like Pakistan have become accustomed to, it's the norm. The act of publicly demeaning civilians will establish a trademark that can prohibit future crimes from occurring. Nevertheless, torturing criminals in Pakistan doesn't cease criminal offenses that's considered minor in the Western culture. In regards to the methods of punishment, both cultures have the same impact on psychologically and physically deteriorating a person's worth, self-esteem, dignity, and reputation. The different methods of implementing justice in both cultures reveal our cultural and moral values and how sadistic we are as a society, as we suppress the natural and fundamental rights of criminals-freedom in the Western culture and the loss of freedom in the Eastern society.

Why is it that crimes committed in the Western culture tend to be private and solved behind closed doors, while crimes in the Islamic culture under the Koranic law are public and meant for thousands to witness the horrific brutality? Though neither forms of punishments are effective, both equally have severe influences on the offender. I say this in the sense that in America convicts become imprisoned when there has been sufficient evidence provided. However, are convicts just sent to prison? The answer is no, criminals are instead sentenced to institutions in which their freedoms are diminished in an overcrowded and inhumane setting. As a society, we're blinded by how we punish offenders because sentencing a person in reality is the act of taking away their freedom and natural rights as a human. Being sent to prison alone brings out gruesome and grotesque acts of violence by inmates which includes rape, extortion, beating and even sexually transmitted diseases to name a few. There have been many incidents of inmates convicted of drug-related charges being sent to live with five other psychopaths who're charged with heinous crimes in a 6 feet by 8 feet cell. Imagine living in such conditions where you're exposed to torture and abuse on a regular basis continuously. Imprisoning criminals doesn't do much to rehabilitate convicts into society in the American culture. Confining convicts in prisons for various years impose a restriction on their freedom. Establishing programs within the state prison systems in America can increase the likelihood of convicts contributing to society rather than causing more offenses that are criminal. For instance, alternative treatments such as vocational training,