CRJ 2004 The Correctional System Chapter 1 PART 3 PDF

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chapter 1 the correctional system ...

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Chapter 1 The Corrections System  Learning Objectives  Describe the range of purposes served by the corrections system.  Define the systems framework and explain why it is useful.  Name the various components of the corrections system today and describe their functions.  Identify at least five key issues facing corrections today.  Discuss and Describe what we can learn from the “great experiment of social control.”  Corrections Statistics  In 2008, U.S. imprisonment rate was 506 per 100,000.  Over 3,200 people on death row and 14,000 serving life sentences.  Considering all forms of corrections, more than 3% of all adults under some form of correctional control.  Corrections Statistics  Little relationship between prison population and crime rate.  1 in 6, Male African Americans have been to prison.  Learning Objective 1  Describe the range of purposes served by the corrections system.  Purposes of the Corrections System  Protecting society by punishing people who break society’s rules.  Help define the limits of behavior so everyone understands what is permissible.  Central purpose is to carry out the criminal sentence.  The three basic concepts of offense, guilt, and punishment define the purposes/procedures of criminal justice system.  Purposes of the Corrections System  Learning Objective 2  Define the systems framework and explain why it is useful.  What is a system?  A system is a complex whole consisting of interdependent parts whose operations are directed toward common goals and are influenced by the environment in which they function. o

GOALS - Fair Punishment/Community Protection

o

INTERCONNECTEDNESS - A series of processes that have an effect on the rest of the system

o

ENVIRONMENT - Relationship with the outside community

o

FEEDBACK - System’s learn & grow according to outside feedback

o

COMPLEXITY - As the system grows and matures it becomes more complex

 Goals of the System  Goals: o

PUNISHMENT

o

PROTECTION

 When these two functions do not correspond, corrections faces goal conflict.  Correctional activities make sense when prisoners are punished fairly.  Conflicts between the goals of punishment and protection can cause problems in the way the system operates.  Discussion questions  What goal of the corrections systems does the program in the video address?  Is it possible that the program addresses both goals? How?  How the Correction System Is Interconnected  Interconnectedness: o

Corrections can be viewed as a series of processes:  Sentencing  Classification  Supervision  Programming  Revocation

o

Offenders pass through the system in an assembly line with return loops

 Corrections and the Outside World  Environment: o

Outside forces/influences:  Public opinion

 Fiscal constraints  Law o

Corrections has a reciprocal relationship with its environment.

o

Correctional Practices have an effect on the community, and community values/expectations have an effect on corrections.

o

Is imperative for citizens to have faith in the system as when they do not, they are reluctant to spend tax dollars on the system.

 Corrections System and Feedback  Feedback: o

System learns, grows, and improves according to feedback.

o

System has trouble obtaining useful feedback.

o

Correctional system and environments tend to over respond to failure but remain less aware of success.

 Types of Activities related to Corrections  Complexity o

All types of activities come under heading of corrections:  Pretrial drug treatment  Electronically monitored home confinement  Work centers  Residential treatment programs

 Learning Objective 3  Name the various components of the corrections system today and describe their functions.  Correctional Subunits  Subunits: o

Probation officers

o

Halfway houses

o

Prisons

 Subunits vary in: o

Size

o

Goals

o

Clientele

o

Organizational structure

o

Each Subunit has its own function and responsibility.

 Federalism  Federalism o

A system of government in which power and responsibilities are divided between a national government and state governments.

o

All levels of government (state, county, municipal, etc.) are involved in one or more aspects of the correctional system.

 Federalism  Most correctional activity takes place at state level, of all individuals in correctional system: o

1% of individuals on probation at federal level.

o

12% on parole at federal level.

o

13% in prison at federal level.

 Prisons vs. Jails  Prison o

An institution for the incarceration of people convicted of serious crimes, usually felonies.

o

102 federal prisons, 1719 state prisons

o

A facility authorized to hold pretrial detainees and sentenced misdemeanants for periods longer than 48 hours.

o

Jails are primarily operated by local governments, but in 6 states, they are integrated with the state prison system.

 Jail

 Learning Objective 4  Identify at least five key issues facing corrections today  Key Correctional Issues  Five key issues facing corrections today: 1

Conflicting goals- Some disagreement exists as to whether or not prisoners can be “corrected.” Issues exist regarding rehabilitation and employment among other factors.

2

Adequate funding- Competition with other services for funding.

3

Making the bureaucracy of correctional services more effective-Monitoring how workers use their time/energy has to become more effective.

 Key Correctional Issues  Five key issues facing corrections today: 1

Coordinating correctional activity across different agencies- Dispersed decision making improves interagency coordination.

2

Dealing with correctional uncertainty-It is impossible to predict how individual choice will impact the system.

 Conflicting Goals  Conflicting goals: 1

Rehabilitation/Punishment

2

Political ideology:

3



Liberal



Conservative

Goals as vague generalities: 

“Protect the public”



“Rehabilitate offenders”



“Corrections does not work to achieve an overriding goal, but aims to balance stated and unstated goals so as not to sacrifice a single goal.”

 Funding  Adequate funding: 1

Corrections paid for by tax revenues: 

Vie for funding

2

Conflicts among branches and levels of government.

3

Per capita spending on criminal justice activities ranges from less than $100 dollars in West Virginia to more than $400 dollars in Alaska & New York.

 Bureaucracy  Effective bureaucracy: 1

Street-level bureaucrats

2

Limited resources

 Bureaucratic model guarantees that services are delivered only up to a point and that goals are never fully achieved.  Interagency Coordination  Coordinating correctional activity across different agencies:  Most correctional systems comprise several loosely related organizations that are themselves bureaucracies.  Decision making dispersed.  Great deal of policy is formally interconnected.  One agency determines the workload of the next.  Isolation of systems makes it more likely that different units will run into problems resulting in lack of cooperation from other units.  Correctional Uncertainty  Dealing with correctional uncertainty:  Uncertain technologies and methods of treating various groups of offenders.  Uncertain correctional strategies.  Two points of interest are important to keep in mind. 1

Offenders are handled in a variety of ways.

2

Corrections gets it’s “business” from the courts and from itself.

 Uncertain Technology  Uncertain technologies:  Technology: 1

A method of applying scientific knowledge to practical purposes in a particular field.

 Validity of approaches for treating offenders remain in doubt: 1

Group therapy

2

Behavior modification

3

Anger management

 Uncertain Strategies  Uncertain correctional strategies:  Greater emphasis on secondary technologies:

1

Design of a prison’s security apparatus

2

Computer-based offender-tracking system for probation

 What happens to offenders?  Learning Objective 5  Discuss what we can learn from the “great experiment of social control.”  Great Experiment  Great Experiment – Increase in prison population:  Effects on crime: 

No likely effect

 Effects on society: 

Damage to families and communities

 Pursuit of justice: 

Have we become a more just society?...