From Punishment to Rehabilitation: Can India Implement Norway’s Prison Model?

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X231172639
• Author: Sapna Negi,Snehasish Tripathy
• Date: 01 October 2023
• Subject Matter: Commentary

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X231172639

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2023, Vol. 67(13-14) 1447 –1449

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X231172639

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Commentary

From Punishment to

Rehabilitation:

Can India Implement

Norway’s Prison Model?

Dear Editor,

The prison system is intended to serve both punitive and rehabilitation purposes.

While the former is concerned with punishing the offender to dissuade others from

committing an offense. Later, one is established with the intention of modifying the

behavior and preparing them for re-entry into society (Wormith et al., 2007). Prisons

built upon punishments “markedly restrict offenders’ ability to move freely and

deprive them of much of their privacy.” Additionally, it frequently entails denial of

necessities, isolation, and revocation of visitation rights. Contrarily, prisons built

toward rehabilitation help inmates better comprehend the effects of crime on victims

and take ownership of their actions through a variety of approaches like mediation,

conferencing, and peacekeeping groups. Additionally, it offers the sentenced offender

the aid they need to return back to the society (ijar & Sahni, 2020).

The recidivism rate is an effective way to see how these two completely different

systems affect convicts. Recidivism, or the propensity for those who have been let out

of jail to commit new crimes and go back behind bars, is a serious issue in many

nations. According to studies, a nation’s recidivism rate is a reflection of a person’s

pre-incarceration circumstance, social context, and community, as well as events that

occurred while they were incarcerated. The capacity to integrate into society is unques-

tionably the most crucial factor of all, since many recently released ex-offenders strug-

gle to obtain employment, re-establish connections with dear ones, and resume their

normal lives. Furthermore, the discrimination and prejudice associated with criminal

records makes it challenging for them to reintegrate into society (Yukhnenko et al.,

2019). Societies with high rates of recidivism frequently have greater jail populations

as a result, which increases the community’s tax liability. Recidivism rates vary widely

over the world, but some estimates put them as high as 50%, and they don’t appear to

have fallen lately (Recidivism Rates by Country 2023, n.d.). Nigeria, UK, India,

Bangladesh is reported to have the high recidivism rates. Norway, meanwhile, has

recorded the lowest recidivism rate at 20% (Recidivism Rates by Country 2023, n.d.).

The Norwegian jail is regarded as one of the most innovative and humane jails

worldwide and serves as an example for efforts to reform jails and engage in prisoner

rehabilitation. The “normalization” theory, which strives to make the prison environ-

ment as comparable to life outside of prison as is humanly possible, serves as the

1172639IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X231172639International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyEditorial

editorial2023