EDITOR’S NOTE: Sometimes, Evening Sun reporters just like to argue. In this feature, sides are chosen arbitrarily and do not necessarily reflect the views of the writer. This week, Tyler Murphy and Jeff Genung debate whether its possible to rehabilitate criminals.

When one commits a crime and is found guilty, there are two things that need to be considered – the punishment for that individual and then the rehabilitation of that person, so upon his release he can be assimilated as a beneficial contributor to a community. Rehabilitation can be achieved for most of the prison population. The factors guiding the outcome of a reformed criminal are: The severity of his punishment, exposure to influences and efforts made to educate them. Those exceptions to rehabilitation are the mentally disabled and those suffering extraordinary psychological damage (i.e. serial killers and the like). These two exceptions make up a small percentage of our prison population.