Diagnosing crime: The failures of rehabilitation in the justice system

EL PASO, Texas — “When you’re through changing, that’s when you’re through” reads a motivational poster hanging in the main hall of the Education Building of the Rogelio Sanchez State Prison, El Paso’s largest state correctional facility. It is a sinister wink at the failing system of reform that classes taught in that building aim to provide. Crime rehabilitation has proven to be a failed objective of justice systems in America, experts say. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice lists “To provide for confinement, supervision, rehabilitation, and reintegration of adult felons” as one of its goals in its Annual Review. Like most government documents published for public viewing, it is carefully worded: They aim to provide for rehabilitation, not for the success of rehabilitation.