NCJ Number
105987
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 77 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1986) Pages: 1023-1068
Date Published
1986
Length
46 pages
Annotation
Rehabilitation will be fully realized only when it is recognized as a right of the offender, independent of utilitarian considerations and of transient penal strategies.
Abstract
A constitutional right to rehabilitation has been included in the bill of rights of various countries and is a basic principle of customary international law. Although American courts have not acknowledged a constitutional Federal right to rehabilitation, they have recognized it in a negative way as the right to counteract the deteriorating effects of imprisonment. The courts have also granted inmates a limited right to psychiatric and psychological treatment. Arguments based on the 14th and 8th amendments and the application of customary international law reveal an implicit right to rehabilitation in the U.S. Constitution. Viewed as the culmination of a continuum of offenders' rights, rehabilitation can no longer be a pretext for discretionary abuse by sentencing and correctional authorities. A right to rehabilitation reinforces the legal status of the sentenced offender and requires sentencing and correctional policies compatible with rehabilitative prison conditions. Full recognition of this rehabilitative mandate reinforces existing provisions in State constitutions and statutes. 272 footnotes.