The Criminal Justice System In Cecelia Ahern's Flawed

637 Words3 Pages

When a crime is committed, the offender must receive some sort of punishment, whether it be jail time, a fine, or something else. Subsequently, they should be able to get back to their life once they complete it. However, this generally isn’t the case. In Cecelia Ahern’s book, Flawed,” society is built on the idea that if a person does something considered “wrong,” whether illegal or not, they should be branded as “Flawed” and forced to live under separate rules from the rest of society, despite not receiving legal punishment. This treatment of “Flawed” people is akin to the treatments of people who are labelled “accused” and “felons” today.
Both people labelled as “accused” and the “flawed” are seen in a negative light. Once accused, they …show more content…

For both groups, once they have made amends for their mistake, their life doesn’t go back to normal. Instead, these labels follow them, making it hard to get a job or get back into society. As said in the Washington Post article “Our criminal justice system is making it really hard to people to find jobs,” “…our criminal justice system makes it harder for those who have made mistakes to fully atone for their deeds and rejoin the productive segment of society” (Blanks 2). Once people get out of jail, they are still not free from punishment. It is harder to get a job, especially a good one, if someone was an ex-offender. Without a job, it is much harder to live a good life; money is a necessity. Like the “flawed,” this label follows them for their entire lives. In Flawed, lives of the “Flawed” are described: “[Flawed] will have job restrictions, curfews, travel restrictions…they’re just missing being physically behind bars” (Ahern 38) Once someone is declared “flawed” they must live by separate rules than everyone else. They’re practically prisoners. Just like felons, the “Flawed” are still being punished, just not officially. This is how the “flawed” and “felon” labels are the same. There will always be stigma around them. Once they’ve received these labels, life will never be the same