Ethos: I feel like i struggled a little with in-text citations more than anything else. I was confused on the different kind of citations and when it is appropriate to use certain ones.

I tried my best looking for sources that ended in .edu or .org, .gov and so on. My sources all had matching information when talking about percentages, rates, data and so on.

I appealed to at least one opposing view which was the cost.

I believe my essay has a few flaws with grammer, since i struggle the most with that, but i did the best i could and took my peers suggestions.

I feel my essay is both a lot of research and a lot of my summaries of what i read about. I implemented both as much as i was able to .

Logos: With every statement i had, i had a quote or a piece of data supporting my claim.

I do provide evidence that my solution can work because i use Norway as an example to show how successful Norway prisons are even with the programs and humane treatment they use. Something the U.S. lacks on.

My paper is organized nicely because i first introduced what can be done, and then in order, i go in depth about each of the programs and once i do that, i acknowledge the opposing view and then i follow with a conclusion and explain how and why the bad outweighs the good.

I avoid fallacies as much as possible, but i feel like its harder to catch your own fallacies on your own paper so i might have included some fallacies.

Pathos: I don’t think i added too much pathos, but i did include ones i can. I feel like its harder to be sentimental when speaking about prisoners because people’s brains automatically think criminals and dehumanize them .

I didn’t include any exaggeration. I feel like I mainly stuck with the facts and data that i had read about.

I didnt include personal things because a lot of times, people may think the only reason i support my statement is because it effects me personally, but it doesnt. I dont want people thinking i am biased .

My call to action was just to be able to implement and enforce more of these programs with prisoners and give them a chance for rehabilitation.

I feel like i chose this topic because a lot of times, people forget about prisons/prisoners since their mindset usually tends to be “they are criminals and locked up as they should be.” These same people often times forget those same criminals who are just being locked up will eventually return to their community. So instead, we need to think about their return and how we can help them help us. When prisoners are released, they can do a lot for their community and have a positive impact whne taight correctly.

1. Dogmatism
2. Dogmatism
3. Hasty Generalization
4. Equivocation
5. Ad Hominem Arguments
6. Scare tactic
7. Dogmatism /Appeals to False Authority
9. Faulty Causality
11. Non Sequitur
12. Straw Man
13. Faulty Casualty
14. Appeals to False Authority
15. Protecting the Hypothesis
16. Slippery Slope
17. Hasty Generalization
18. Faulty Casualty
19. Non Sequitur
20. Ad Hominem Arguments
21. Faulty Casualty
22. Appeals to False Authority

Original: Vermont senator and presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, writes an article posted on The Washington Post, which argues why college should be free

Corrected: Vermont senator and presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, writes an article posted on The Washington Post, which argues why college should be free

Rule: Article tittles, websites should be capitalized and italicized

Original: Sanders, starts off his article by stating “Hayes, a Republican, didn’t worry that some poor kid might benefit from access to ‘free stuff’ nor did he believe that the children of wealthy elites should be excluded from the universal nature of the program.

Corrected: Sanders, starts off his article by stating, “Hayes, a Republican, didn’t worry that some poor kid might benefit from access to ‘free stuff’ nor did he believe that the children of wealthy elites should be excluded from the universal nature of the program.

Rule: Comma separates a quote and the authors writing

Kesiah Olvera

Janel Spencer

Writing 101S

 December 2019

Torture Doesn’t Teach.

Prisons around the United States have four major purposes. These purposes include retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation. To look more in depth, the goal of these purposes is to ultimately prevent the inmates from committing future crimes, which subsequently leads to reincarceration. According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the U.S. only makes up 5% of the world’s population but holds 25% of the world’s prison population. Over 75% of discharged inmates are re-incarcerated within 5 years. With this statistic, it cannot be denied that prisons are not fulfilling their purposes. Prisons focus on torture and punishment and forget all about rehabilitation, which explains this high re-offending rate. I argue that prisons around the U.S. needs to be a place where prisoners are able to rehabilitate, get the help needed and given a second chance. All while they are still being valued as a human and nothing less. 

How are we able to change our prison system to make it effective? To start off, we need to recognize the difference between restraint and punishment. When people are a danger to themselves or others, we restrain the individual for our safety and theirs. But this is completely different from inflicting unnecessary pain on the inmate as revenge or to “teach them a lesson.” Generations of research has proved that people, both children and adults, learn by example. Therefore, the only lesson being taught is to inflict pain on others. Instead of restraining and causing pain to these inmates, prisons should still restrain those who are possible harm to self or others and also help them change the only behaviors they know to turn to in troubled scenarios. This way, when they are released, they have knowledge on how to help themselves the right way and less likely to return. After all, that is America’s ultimate goal— to better our citizens and improve our country no matter the circumstance.

Providing rehabilitation for inmates not only offers countless benefits to themselves, but also the community in which the inmate will be released to. There are numerous options for rehabilitation, all which depend on facility, sentence length and offense. One being, providing education programs. Having an education program has proved time and time again to give inmates a second chance. In fact, those who enrolled in the education program were 43% less likely to commit a crime and be reincarcerated within three years then those who didn’t( ). Most of the inmates have not yet received the lowest form of education. When they are able to achieve obtaining either a GED or high school diploma, that alone, is a major confidence boost and more reason to believe in themselves as well as want better. In addition, the inmate education programs cover functional skills. For example those enrolled, or an advantage even more when attempting to find work. Not only because they have an education, but they are also familiar with technology like updated computers as well as the Internet. 

Opposing view: Why should we have to pay more money for those who have committed crimes just to help them?

Although prison rehabilitation programs initially cost prisons money to implement, studies have shown that these programs decrease the rate of returning inmates which eventually decreases the amount of money put into the prisons since the population is significantly lower.

Claim: Prison should be a place for the inmates to rehabilitate not to be tortured.

Grounds: This way, we will have less returning inmates and also allow them to do better in their community

Warrant: Everyone has human rights “Torture is prohibited under federal law, as are lesser forms of detainee abuse such as cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment”

Backing: Torture is torture wether it is to an innocent or a criminal.

Emotional Fallacy: Scare Tactic

If we don’t give our inmates therapy and resources to be able to live in the real world where the rest of the innocent people are, then when they are released, the whole community is in danger.

Ethical Fallacy: Appeals to False Authorities

Based on my research, it is proven that giving our inmates rehab instead of torture allows them to be successful when released.

Logical Fallacy: Hasty Generalization

Offering therapy, having programs to allow the inmates to be ready when released, and having rehabilitated space has worked in Switzerland so it will work in the US.

In this article, Dora Schriro explains a program called getting ready which was established in 2004 in Arizona. The goal of it is to give the inmate another chance in the real world instead of just locking them up for years and expecting them to know how to act without orders and around their communities. This program beans in the world to eligible inmates and allows them to get ready for release and lowers the chance of return. Getting ready is a step in the right direction, but like anything else, improvement is still to be done.