What are the merits and demerits of a crime control strategy based on treatments and rehabilitation?

These days, with a high proportion of offenders returning to crime and prison almost immediately upon release, the prison gate is all too often seen as acting as a revolving door. (Browne, 2004) Typically, the priority of governments' policies has been to focus on incarceration and punishment as society 'demands justice', but recently a shift towards rehabilitation and treatment programmes has emerged, as rising, unsustainable prison numbers appear to indicate that in fact 'prison doesn't work'. …

…does work after all" in The Observer, 5 May 2002 Owers, A. (2002) cited in Rose, D. "Its Official - Prison does work after all" in The Observer, 5 May 2002 Rose, D. "Its Official - Prison does work after all" in The Observer, 5 May 2002 Travis, A. (2002) "Tough on crime, tougher on jails" in The Guardian, 13 July 2002 Von Hirsch, (1976) "Positivist Criminologies" in Crime Control, Theory Guide 2, edited by McLaughlin, E. Muncie, J & Hughes, G, Westmarland, L. (2003) Sage Publications