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Summary Of The Prisoner's Dilemma By Stephen Chapman

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Stephen Chapman’s essay “The Prisoner’s Dilemma,” compares two different cultures and their ideologies with regards to justice and punishment. Chapman’s topic can definitely be seen as controversial as it questions the morality of both foreign and western societies justice systems. If one is not reading and thinking objectively it can strike a mine is better mindset within the reader in the first page of his argument. The viewpoint he takes is not one that is commonly displayed nor talked about. Stephen Chapman’s claim in the essay is essentially that western societies prison system is a more cruel form of punishment than middle eastern practices of physical harm. Chapman brings up several pieces of reasons and evidence to support …show more content…

Western punishment doesn't just involve separation from society and living in a locked cell. This is a strong piece of evidence because it brings into question what really goes on in prisons, something which most would rather not think about. It shows how a society can condemn another’s form of punishment yet not take a step back and analyze its own. Another piece reason brought up is that prisons do not do what they were initially intended to do: retribution, specific deterrence, general deterrence, prevention, and rehabilitation. Instead prisons only seem to do one thing and that is punish. If all prisons do is punish then why does society really need them? Chapman is able to use good logic in constructing this reason as it is something which is commonly talked and argued about. However, all the evidence Chapman brings up is the soaring prison rates in the United States in the past 20 years. It leaves more evidence and statistics to be wanted in order to make this reason more justifiable and credible. A final reason Chapman uses to prove his argument is that middle eastern use of torture and physical harm are more effective and possibly even more humane. To support this reason Chapman brings up how one person can have a quick yet brutal punishment for a crime while

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