Chapter 1 - Introduction to Corrections
ESSENTIALS OF CORRECTIONS
INTRODUCTION
How do you depict contemporary corrections?
As
seen in movies
Chain gangs, orange jumpsuits along roadways, etc.
At the end of 2010 there were 7.1 million under
some form of correctional supervision.
Probation, Parole, Prison, Jail are all critical
components of corrections in the 21st century
In this textbook, Corrections refers to all
government actions intended to manage adults
who have been accused or convicted of
criminal offenses and juveniles who have been
charged with or found guilty of delinquency or a
status offense.
From 1980 to 2010 the nations correctional
system has grown from 2 million to 7.1 million,
an increase of 170,000 per year average.
CURRENT TRENDS
One in three black
males, one in six
Hispanic males, and
one in 17 white males
are expected to go to
prison during their
lifetime (Bonczar 2003)
The unequal
representation of blacks
and Hispanics is often
referred to as
disproportionate minority
contact (DMC)
Female s in prison
increased 21% between
2000 and 2010, males
were 13,4% in same
period.
PHILOSOPHIES OF PUNISHMENT
Retribution is the belief that punishment must
avenge for harm done to another.
One of the oldest correctional philosophies.
CODE OF HAMMURABI
LEX TALIONIS
“If a man destroy the eye of
another man, they shall destroy
his eye. If he break a man’s
bone, they shall break his bone.
If a man knock out a tooth of a
man of his own rank, they shall
knock out his tooth.”
The law of retaliation or
revenge, a legal principle that
requires a response in kind for
crimes committed (Encarta
World Dictionary 2009)
Penal Harm is the philosophy in that the belief
that punishment, particularly incarceration,
should be uncomfortable. This idea came in the
1990s from critics of the correctional system that
retributive justice philosophy had evolved.
Deterrence, this philosophy assumes that certain
and severe punishment can discourage future
crime by the offender and by others.” (US
Department of Justice 1988, 90)
Specific Deterrence, the assumption that
punishment dissuades the offender from
repeating the same offense or committing a new
one
In contemporary corrections, another form of
deterrence is known as General Deterrence. With
specific deterrence being about deterring the
offender from committing another offense,
general deterrence would punish the individual to
prevent others in society from committing the
same or similar crimes.
The most prominent correctional philosophy,
between the 1950s and 1970s, in the United
States for many years was Rehabilitation. This
was the belief that by “providing psychological or
educational assistance or job training to
offenders” would make them less likely to
commit crime again. This basis was brought
about by the idea that people can change,
regardless of their crime or age.
No treatment program
works with every
possible offender
Some programs may not
work with any offenders
Some programs have a
high degree of efficacy;
that is, they work with a
broad range of offenders
Unfortunately, some
offenders cannot be
rehabilitated
Isolation has served two purposes throughout
recorded history. First, isolation as punishment:
offenders were placed in dungeons or towers to
separate them from human contact. Second, is
the rotten apple response to criminal offenders:
offenders were isolated to protect the rest of
society from “spoiling”
Incapacitation is the
“separating offenders from
the community to reduce
the opportunity for further
crime while they are
incarcerated.”
Selective Incapacitation is
the assumption that career
criminals can be identified
early on, as preteens or
teens. Policymakers use
selective incapacitation to
ensure that career criminals
are caught, convicted, and
sentenced to a significant
period of incarceration.
Reintegration recognizes the fact that a high
percentage of offenders in prison – probably more
than 90 percent – eventually get out. Once they get
out, many of these offenders have a difficult time
making a transition back into society. They must
readjust to their families, to work, and to the label of
ex-con.
Restitution – having the offender repay the victim or
the community in money or services.
Restoration is the most
recent philosophy to gain
followers in the field of
corrections.
Restorative justice, or
balanced approach, has
been applied to juvenile and
adult offenders.
According to Gordon
Bazemore (1992) the
approach is based on three
key elements.
Accountability requires offenders
to repay or restore victims’
losses, much like restitution.
Community protection weighs
both public safety and the least
costly, least restrictive
correctional alternative.
Competency development
emphasizes remediation for
offenders’ social, educational, or
other deficiencies when they
enter the correctional system.
OUTLOOKS ON CORRECTIONS
The Public and policymakers feel that leniency
contributes to criminality and that the only
response to increased criminality is tougher
punishment.
When people believe that crime is on the rise, they
turn to policymakers for solutions. That is what
happened in the late 1970s and early 1990s.
Politicians responded with get-tough-on-crime
laws, key among them mandatory senences for
drug-related and other crimes,
In the last two decades of the twentieth
century, the incarceration rate rose from 138 to
461 per capita; between 1980 and 2010, the
number of people in state and federal prisons
went up over fourfold, from 329,821 to
1,509,475. By the end of the twentieth
century, the united States was incarcerating
people at the highest rate of any nation, a
characterization that held through the first
decade of the twenty-first century.
Our prisons and jails are critically crowded.
Local, state, and national governments have all
increased their inmate capacity, but it is clear
that we cannot build ourselves out of the
crowding crisis.
THE ROLE OF CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES
The scientific study of crime and criminals if often
dated back to the late 18th century is known as
Criminology. It stems from attempts to apply what
we now call deterrence theory to crime.
Criminal behavior is the result of Biological
Determinism. Criminals are genetic misfits or
biological throwbacks to earlier, primitive, and more
violent beings.
Psychological determinists believe that defects of
the mind cause all misbehavior, including crime.
Freudian psychoanalysts link human misbehavior
to developmental issues originating with the
following parts of the human psyche: the id (the
unconscious source of primitive and hedonistic
urges), the ego (that part of the mind influenced
by parental training and the like), and the
superego (that part of the mind that is concerned
with moral values).
Behavior Modification starts with the premise
that all behavior is a result of learned responses
to various stimuli (Skinner 1974)
The role of behavior modification in corrections
has two forms.
The first, reality therapy (RT), holds the offender
accountable for his or her actions.
The second, is built around a token economy.
Good behavior earns the client rewards.
Why are some so called “perfect” prison
inmates that rarely complain about prison life
or cause any trouble for prison authorities –
make poor candidates for release back into the
community. One answer could be the Arousal
Theory, a theory that recognizes that some
criminals have no conscience. Psychopaths (or
sociopaths) commit crimes with no thought of
conventional morality or of the consequences
of their actions.
Differential association theory – Criminal values
and behaviors are learned through social
interactions. These values and behaviors were
called definitions, and they suggested that those
who become criminals
are exposed to more
definitions that support
complying with the law.
Social learning theory –
Learning occurs through two
mechanisms: Imitation,
which involves modeling
behavior after that observed
in others; and differential
reinforcement, the operant
conditioning principle that
people retain and repeat
rewarded behavior and
extinguish behavior that is
punished.
Therapeutic communities are
another application of the
social learning theory.
Residential programs in
which offenders work
together to change the
attitudes and behaviors of all
group members.
CORRECTIONAL PROGRAMS
The United States has 51 correctional systems,
a system in each state, and a national system.
If we add the District of Columbia and local
systems in metropolitan areas like Los Angeles
County and New York City, the number is even
higher.
Community Based
Programs – traditional
programs of probation and
parole are examples of
community based
corrections efforts. These
programs treat offenders
in the community, under
supervision and
restrictions, rather than in
an institution.
Community based
programs can also include
residential placement in a
group home or halfway
house. These provide
shelter, structure, and more
constant surveillance than
traditional probation and
parole.
Intermediate – sanction programs these are
among the fastest-growing programs in
contemporary corrections. These programs fall
somewhere between traditional probation and
incarceration on the corrections continuum. Split
sentences and intermittent confinement are two
forms of intermediate sanctions: both require
individuals convicted of crimes to serve brief
periods of confinement in a local, state, or
federal facility, followed by a period of community
supervision.
MINIMUM SECURITY FACILITY
Inmates are relatively free to move about the
facility. They often sleep in open bay dormitories
such as this one.
MEDIUM SECURITY FACILITY
Some freedom of movement throughout the
institution. You can now see the increase in razor
wire along the fence.
MAXIMUM SECURITY FACILITY
Few if any opportunities for movement
throughout the institution. Large difference in
the amount of razor wire on the fences.
ESSENTIALS OF
CORRECTIONS
Chapter 2 – History of Punishments &
Corrections
INTRODUCTION
How have societies dealt with offenders
through the ages?
This depends on which era you are
referring to. Generally punishments
throughout history tended to make the
flesh suffer for the acts of the criminal,
protect those in power, and exploit the
labor of law-breakers.
• Ancient Greeks favored stoning and disemboweling offenders,
but also crucified, garroted, and drowned criminals when they
felt appropriate.
• In ancient Rome, the state beheaded certain enemies of the
Republic with ceremony. Garden variety criminals in ancient
Rome were often stoned or buried alive.
• Medieval English and French monarchs had their enemies
disemboweled. In the Middle Ages, English and French monarchs
began to cut the heads of traitors.
• In the Renaissance, the favor was to the gallows as capital
punishment.
• By the late eighteenth century a more humane method of
execution was found. A machine that would shear the heads
from bodies. Dr. Guillotin
• Late nineteenth early twentieth century offenders were being
sent to penal colonies, to punish offenders.
EARLY
HISTORY
If someone violated a minor rule, the
punishment was usually mild, and carried
out immediately by the entire community.
A thief whole stole a bowl of fruit, for
example, might be required to supply the
victimized family with fruit over prescribed
period.
Reconciliation – Is restoring balance; in the
tribal context, it meant restoring the
balance among victim, perpetrator, and
the larger group.
• Of the 282 clauses of the Code of Hammurabi, about 50 reveal
Babylonian responses were common; so was the lex talions,
the principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
• The inclusion of the lex talionis in the Law of Moses is not
surprising: “Your eye shall not pity; it shall be life for life, eye
for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot!”
• Draco a 17th century politician was known for his harsh
punishments. He claims that he set the punishment of death
for most offences because they deserved it, and he had not
great punishment for more important ones.
• Draco’s legacy of codified laws were publicly displayed for all
to see and interpreted only by the courts – cannot be denied.
ROMAN LAW
• Evolved slowly over the centuries
• Two legal systems emerged
– jus civile, relationships with
Romans
– jus gentium, laws for
foreigners
• Later they enacted jus honorarium,
allowed decisions of magistrates to
supplement and correct existing
law
• This basically was the basis for case
law j
• Canon Law, the law that governs
churches, especially the Roman
Catholic Church
• Legal customs of ancient Germanic
tribes were called lex salica
• Set out a schedule of monetary
compensation for wrongdoing
called botes
• This was basically restitution that
was paid to avoid a blood feud
• Lex salica and lex talionis were
different as every offense had a
monetary value
• Violations of the king’s peace –
crimes committed in the king’s
presence or against one of his
officers – often resulted in fines 10
times the normal amount or death
• In London’s royal prison, inmates paid jailers fees for food, fuel,
and bedding; these fees were regulated by public law. This
practice continued throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries and eventually brought to American colonies
• Punishments that were popular in England:
– Stocks – were timbers with holes cut for feet and hands.
The person in the stocks was seated on the ground or on a
small stool.
• Pillory – consisted of wood timbers set on a post with
restraining holes for head and hands cut into the timbers.
• Public Whipping – may be the oldest and most widely used
form of corporal punishment in the world.
• Pressing – was a particularly gruesome form of corporal
punishment; it was used to convince suspected offenders to
confess.
• In 1557, Bridewell opened, an English Workhouse. This became a
national model and every country on England was ordered to
build a Birdwell-style workhouse. The guiding principle here
was that by forcing people to work at difficult and unpleasant
tasks, they would reform.
• A highly structured form of exile or banishment, known as
transportation was added to the death penalty as a method for
removing offenders from society.
• In 1718, Parliament modified the law allowing all convicts
sentenced to 3 or more years imprisonment could choose
transportation as indentured servants instead.
THE AGE OF
ENLIGHTENMENT,
THE STATE, AND
CRIMINAL
SANCTIONS
• Natural Law – a system od rules and
principles growing out of and
conforming to human nature that can
be discovered through reason without
knowledge of or reference to society's
artificial law.
• This became to be known as the Age of
Enlightenment formed by a group of
philosophers in a nationalist movement
Charles Montesquieu
produced what is widely
known as his greatest work, The
Sprit of Laws (1748), he compared
republican, despotic, and
monarchical governments. He
advocated the balance of power
among judicial, executive, and
legislative branches. The separation
of powers, he believed would insure
individual freedom.
Cesare Beccaria
believed that punishment
can deter crime, but only if it is
certain, swift, and severe. He also
espoused many ideas – for example,
the segregation of inmates by age,
gender, and offense – that were
radical in his day. His ideas were so
radical in the day that he published
them under an alias. Proposing
humane and just treatment for
prisoners – convicted or otherwise –
was unpopular in the eighteenth
century as it has been in recent
times.
PRISON REFORM
AND
PENITENTIARIES
• Penitentiary Act of 1779 created a new
class of institution that largely
incorporated John Howard’s concerns
about humane treatment, productive
labor, and sanitary living conditions.
• Those opposed to higher spending for
prison inmates in the 18th and 19th
centuries, were not that different from
those today. Operating a humane prison
costs too much money and prisoners
deserve the lowest standard of living
capable of sustaining life.
• Benjamin Rush often spoke out against a
series of changes in Pennsylvania’s penal
law. Two concerns were that punishment
should not be public and that offenders’
reformation could be achieved through
punishment that encouraged penance.
PENNSYLVANIA
SYSTEM
VERSUS THE
AUBURN
SYSTEM
• Historians agree that throughout most of
the first half of the nineteenth century,
two prison systems vied for the attention
of penal reformers in the nation and the
world, the Pennsylvania system and the
Auburn (New York) system.
• The Pennsylvania system was an
imprisonment method in which offenders
were kept in solitary confinement. The
prisons looked like a stone wheel turned
on its side, extending outward like spokes
from a central rotunda.
• Few states adopted this system of solitary
confinement by architectural design; even
Pennsylvania abandoned the system in
1913.
• The Auburn system came about after the American Revolution.
This system would compete and eventually replace the
Pennsylvania system. In 1796, the New York State legislature ,
abolished capital punishment for all offenses except first degree
murder and treason.
• The initial design of the Auburn Prison, includes two man cell
wings: the prison’s south cell wing had both two person cells and
congregate cells housing large groups of inmates; prisoners in
the north cell wing were isolated in single-person cells.
• After a riot in 1821, William Brittin, the prison’s first warden,
rebuilt the north cell wing with solitary cells, each 7 feet long, 3
feet wide, and 7 feet high, set back to back and arranged in five
tiers of 40 cells each.
• Guards at Auburn prison strictly enforced a rigid silent system:
inmates marched, worked, and ate in complete silence. Other
innovations, such as the infamous lockstep shuffle, lasted well
into the twentieth century.
• The black and white stripped uniform also originated at Auburn
prison, a dress code that survived well into the 1950s in some
state prisons.
• Hard work, social isolation, strict regimentation, the silent
system, and corporal punishment are chrematistics of a
correctional philosophy that , along with its unique
architectural design, we know as the Auburn system. Was this
system a success? When you look at how many other state
prisons adopted these traits then you would have to sya it was
a success. Elements of the Auburn system were used well into
the twentieth century.
• The legacy of the Auburn system is hard
to deny. Modern prisons continue to
rely on strict regimentation by security
staff to maintain control in prison
environments. The big house layout is
another legacy, one and two person
cells stacked in tiers and enclosed by
high stone walls and guard towers.
Another element was the classification
system on inmates by security-risk
levels.
PRISON
REFORM IN
THE
NINETEENTH
CENTURY
• Penal colonies were isolated areas used
for confinement of convicted offenders;
in most, geography or topography
provided the means of confinement and
control.
• Captain Alexander Maconochie was a
retired naval officer and he was chosen
to be the superintendent of a penal
colony at Van Diemen’s Land.
• He began humanizing the facility when
he arrived so the offenders would be
better suited when they went back into
society and not back into a life of crime.
• Maconochie created a system of
rewards – or marks of
commendation – that were given
to inmates for good behavior. If an
inmate had a high enough number
of marks he was then able to move
freely about the colony or even a
ticket to leave, early release.
Misbehavior earned the offender a
loss of marks, instead of the whip.
• Penal Servitude Act of 1853 was
part of the reorganization of the
English penal system. Key part of
the act was parole – the early
release of prisoners to the
supervisor of local law
enforcement.
• The Irish Prison System created the
Irish ticket-of-leave system,
consisted of four stages.
• 1st 3 months of solitary
confinement, reduced rations, and
no work.
• 2nd Working with other inmates on
the island earned marks to move to
the third stage.
• 3rd Inmates now worked in a open
prison, few restrictions and reduced
security presence.
• 4th Inmates given a conditional
release from prison
• Only inmates serving 3 or more
years were eligible for the Irish
system
• The most famous French penal colony, part of which was
located on Devil’s Island in French Guiana.
• In 1870, the National Prison Association ( later the American
Correctional Association), under the leadership of its first
president, Rutherford B. Hayes, who later became US president,
held its first National Congress on Penitentiary and Reformatory
Discipline in Cincinnati. More than 130 delegates representing 24
states, Canada, and South America attended the congress. The
graduated release systems developed by Maconochie and
Crofton were the centerpiece of the discussion.
• The Medical Model of corrections was the dominant approach
to prisoner management in the early twentieth century. They
used group therapy and behavior modification as their
treatments of choice. They would add education and vocational
training in hopes of giving the offender a better chance to make
it in society.
• Rehabilitation – the process of returning offenders to orderly or
acceptable behaviors, became the primary goal of the nations
corrections systems.
• Reintegration – a popular concept in the 1970s, provided a
bridge between institution and community. Reintegration
advocates understood the importance of minimizing the
problems inmates encountered as they moved from a restrictive
lifestyle to a free one.
• A punishment model in which
offenders take responsibility for
their own actions was known as
the Justice Model. It rests on the
assumption that individuals have
free will: they choose to violate
laws and so deserve to be
punished. In this model
rehabilitation should not be a
primary goal.
• In the mid to late 1980s, long
term incarceration became a
necessity for many so called
career criminals, to limit their
ability to commit new crimes.
State and Federal Legislators
began to limit the early release of
offenders from prison and passed
habitual-offender statutes that
would send them to prison for
life.
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