Crimes within a society are actually part of a very complex phenomenon. It is not only the individual behavior, thinking and decisions that are responsible for the crimes. Though they are committed through the individuals, they are nourished through a whole process that involves the overall social lives of the criminals and the systems that they live in. And, that is the reason that the crimes in the modern societies are linked to the overall social setup and particularly the justice and law and order systems. Henry Thomas Buckle had rightly said, “Society prepares crime and criminal commits it.”
Though individual decisions are important in the crimes, they are highly influenced by the circumstances. This fact can be easily observed by the circumstances in different societies. The societies that are developed and have stable socio-economic setup have relatively lesser number of crimes. On the other hand, the less-developed or under-developed societies have relatively higher crime rate. It is because prevailing conditions provide opportunities for the crimes to multiply and criminals to thrive.
The law and order and criminal justice system that value efficiency, justice and fair-play are bound to decrease the number of crimes and criminals. There are three aspects of such a system; first, the justice system that is prevailing within the society and deals with the daily matters of the society. Second, the system that prevents or hinders the crimes from being committed and the third one is the punishment and prison that are meant to amend the criminals and turn them into positive members of the society. Throughout all these phases efficiency, justice and fair-play are really important. A society that maintains justice in the first place rarely faces criminal cases; while the justice that is served quickly and on-time disheartens the criminals and crimes. Meanwhile, the justice system that does not favor anyone because of social position and class can control crimes effectively. Otherwise, if it just favors the strong and powerful and become the slave of the influential people, it would generate more criminals.
Apart from being efficient, just and unbiased, it is also important that the system must be humane and strive to deal with the criminals in an affectionate manner. It should also be kept in mind that every human being can commit mistakes, and therefore, he should be provided an opportunity to amend himself. Moreover, the prison system should be based on modern concepts and studies. In order to make the prison system useful, it is really vital to develop it as per the modern thinking. The basic purpose of the prison must not only be to confine the criminals and punish them but to transform them into better human beings.
However, it can be noticed that in most of the prisons, human beings are tortured frequently, they are disgraced and kept in the most unfavorable conditions. What they learn from all these experiences is nothing except further violence and revenge. Their revenge takes the form of further violence and crime within the society.
Unfortunately, our country Afghanistan is one of the countries where the prison and punishment system is in a pathetic condition. Prisons are the centers where the criminals are further nourished and, in fact, they become more popular and skillful in their activities after they leave the prison. Neither, the facilities provided in the detention centers are satisfactory, nor there are activities that can support the detainees to have better social lives.
Keeping such conditions in mind, can it be said that our detention centers can transform our criminals into better human beings? In fact, they would further deteriorate the situation. Most of the crimes are committed by the criminals because of their social position or the compulsion, conditioning and the pressures of society. If provided with better opportunities and social conditions, the criminals can be less motivated towards crime and thus the chances of crimes are decreased to a large extent.

The detentions centers, therefore, must have a comprehensive strategy and modern techniques of dealing with the criminals. The criminals must start believing that they have committed something wrong and that there are alternative ways of living life, as well. There should be group activities, encouraging the prisoners to become better and useful part of social life. They should be trained in the skills of their choice, so that after coming out they can find some work to support them financially. There should be better health and hygiene facilities for them so that they should not be sick and does not become burdens on society. It should be noted that the way prisoners are treated in the prisons, in the similar fashion they will react to the society after the come out. Therefore, it should be ensured that they have healthy and positive experiences so that they can reflect the same from their attitude in the outside world.