Throughout United States correctional history, it has been heavily debated as to whether or not prisons have positive effects on inmates and society. Today, many prisons attempt to have a positive impact on the lives of the inmates, while giving society the satisfaction on punishing criminals. The correctional system achieves this goal through the use of four techniques. The four techniques used by the correctional system include rehabilitation, deterrence, incapacitation, and retribution. These four methods work individually as well as collectively to produce felons who can be productive citizens of society.
Firstly, one main, effective method used by correctional facilities today is rehabilitation. Prisons aim of rehabilitation is to create productive law-abiding citizens through social and moral improvement. (Holt v. Sarver) An examination conducted by California Youth Authority researcher, Ted Palmer, in 1975, noted that after further inspection of data collected by Robert Martinson, rehabilitation results were partially positive. (Cei 2) Robert Martinson stated “Nothing Works” in regards to rehabilitating inmates. Palmer concluded that in Martinson’s research 39 or 48% of programs in the study were at least partially positive. (Cei) In 1978, Palmer continued on with his research on the positives of rehab and concluded that many programs do work. Palmer noted that we must not look at inmate as a whole but as individuals. He continued on to say, we must figure out what programs works for which type of offender, in a certain setting to gain increasingly positive results. (Cei) Furthermore, researchers Francis Cullen and Paul Gendreau expanded on the belief that rehabilitation programs work. After conducting 200 studies from ...
... middle of paper ...
...s status to that of a deprived outcast. (Quinn 4)
Finally, as the effectiveness of today’s correctional facilities on inmates and society is debated people look to find out the correct answer. Through the use of four modern techniques, the prisons of today’s society achieve positive outcomes. Practices utilized for progressive results are rehabilitation to create productive citizens, deterrence to dissuade further crime, incapacitation to protect society, and retribution to reaffirm society’s morals and insure fairness.
Works Cited
Quinn, James F. Corrections: A Concise Introduction. 2nd ed. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland, 1999. Print.
Hassine, Victor. Life without Parole: Living in Prison Today. 5th ed. New York, NY: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.
Cei, Louis B. "Prisons Should Rehabilitate Inmates." The Prison Rehabilitation Debate in the 1990's (1996): n. pag. Print.
the history of the United States and including the western world. Corrections have served the country by convicting and sentencing offenders depending on the seriousness of the crime. Along with that today, offenders are either placed in probation, incarcerated or taken to community-based corrections. Even though, corrections have always tried to find ways to deter crime by correcting criminals, the poor economy in our country has been the cause for struggles in the correctional system. Some of the
Then and Now Paper 9/24/2017 Seminar in Corrections 4200 Katlyn Ford Valdosta State University Introduction The correctional system as a whole has a significant impact on the United States. Incarceration, sexual victimization, and segregation all have a relationship of sorts. Simply stated, it is the butterfly effect. The overpopulation throughout correctional facilities across the United States leaves more opportunity for inmates to encounter sexual victimized. Additionally, the number of people
problems within the correctional facilities are growing. An alternative is needed to assist in relieving several major problems within correctional facilities all around the United States. Criminal justice proceedings begin with the commission of a crime. Duhaime’s Law Dictionary defines a crime as “an act or omission which is prohibited by criminal law and punished, usually by
facets compose the makeup of a prison community. One of the main components of the prison culture is the correctional officer. The individuals that are responsible for the security at correctional facilities such as a prison are better known as CO’s or correctional officers. Typically, the higher the security levels of the prison, the lower the ratio of inmates to correctional officers. “State averages of inmates to COs range from about 3.5 to 1 up to 8 to 1 (with national averages of 5.4 to 1 in
Correctional officers and gender have been an issue throughout prisons and jails since the start of having female correctional officers after the civil rights act of 1964. The role of a correctional officer was kept to the same gender prior to the civil rights act and was frowned upon if challenged. Female officers worked at female correctional facilities and male officers worked at male correctional facilities, after the civil rights act of 1964 the challenge was set forth to change correctional
population and various changes that plague correctional institutions, government agencies are finding that what was once considered a difficult task to provide educational programs, inmate security and rehabilitation programs are now impossible to accomplish. From state to state each correctional organization is coupled with financial problems that have depleted the resources to assist in providing the quality of care in which the judicial system demands from these state and federal prisons. Judges, victims
greater the number of potential criminals; the greater number of criminals, the more people that need to be incarcerated. Because of this, technology based crimes and correctional facilities are now and will continue to be major issues plaguing law enforcement. The field of law enforcement has evolved tremendously in the United States since the early part of the seventeenth century when Boston, Massachusetts began using watchmen to patrol the streets at night to protect the public; then in 1838 when
While the goals may be similar, the philosophy of individual systems and the means through which they either achieve their objectives differ. The United States has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, with approximately 1.6 million imprisoned in 2010, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics CITE. Further, the United States has one of the highest rates of recidivism, which would draw one to conclude that the structure currently in place does not facilitate rehabilitation
factual. Ross presents and utilizes multiple sources in order to support his criticism in the categories of the predominant myths that have manifested in society. Many citizens in the general public would consider the living conditions of correctional facilities to be either too luxurious or too savage. Few would relatively contemplate the conditions to be in between assumptions. For an example in the article, Ross presents the myth of most convicts being provided sufficient health care benefits.
Practices in Overcrowded Jails The United States at present has the highest incarceration rate that costs taxpayers millions of dollars and continually has our county jails operating over their rated capacities.(Hess 2008). A significant number of the jails in the United States are overcrowded, and this has been a management issue which has been in existence for years. Jail overcrowding has become one of the major financial and controversial problem in the United States. The jail population is increasing
current prison expense plan and why it’s a problem to a common us citizen. Second, I will tell you how we can try and solve this problem by cutting prison expenditures. Finally I will be showing you why reducing costs will benefit everyone in the United States. I will
addressed. Does the utilitarianism of prisoner’s right laws actually protect them? Or are the unethical actions of the international and states right laws exploiting the prison labor? Unethical procedures that impact incarcerated individuals and correctional staff, the relativism of respect as people and not just prisoner’s; the safety of all inmates and correctional staff, are all issues worth continuous reflection. LABOR & PRISONERS When reviewing the international human right laws we see that it
Joycelyn Pollock begins with the discussion of the correctional system moving towards a rehabilitative era in the 1970s and establishing rights for inmates inside of institutions. However, it then mentions that the system is in an era of due deference in which there is a struggle to balance correctional officer authority and safety, with the rights and safety of the inmates. With this in mind, the chapter talks about the different types of correctional discretion, which is not unlike police and prosecutorial/judge
inmates who have been sexually victimized by correctional officers, refuse to report the incident for all the reasons previously stated. The Department of Corrections realized all the complications and risks that inmates have to go through in order to report sexual abuse incidents; therefore,
Correctional institutions are owed and run by private corporations that contract with the state or federal governments to house inmates. Prisons are part of the criminal justice system, individuals who get officially charged of convicting a crime are sent and held in prisons. There are numerous crimes that can lead to prison including, fraud, robbery, murder, aggravated assault, weapons violations, and or stolen property. There are many types of prisons that held offenders including, Maximum Security