Punishment And Corrections Case Study

Punishment and Corrections
Laws have an important role in maintaining order within society. Understandably, society comprises of different individuals with differing aspirations, beliefs, personalities, and merits – just to name a few. Allowing individuals to push their personal desires using resources available to them would not only lead to a disordered society, but also one that embraces injustice and prejudice. Laws are the common principles that guide the conduct of individuals in society while ensuring that society upholds the rights of everyone who is part of it. Such laws accrue as a resemblance of morality for entities in society to which all members are held accountable irrespective of their race, social class, or popularity. However,

However, the US system diverts from this setup and establishes a network of criminal justice systems at special jurisdiction, state, and federal levels (Neubauer & Fradella, 2015). The US system is further divided into three different sections, each dealing with different phases of criminal activity. The first section is law enforcement, which upholds the law while detecting crimes and apprehending individuals deemed liable for respective crimes. However, law enforcers do not have the power to convict such individuals, but instead gather all necessary evidence, provide reports, and ascertain motive. The role of ascertaining whether and individual is guilty of a crime or not lies with the second segment of the system – courts. Courts play their part in the criminal justice system by taking a legal process, which ultimately separates the innocent from the guilty in a four-step process. This process comprises of (1) pre-trial submissions by the police or litigants, (2) arraignment, (3) trial, and (4) sentencing if found guilty (Neubauer & Fradella, 2015). Individuals who are established as guilty of accused crimes move on to the corrections system, which is the third and final segment. As the name implies, this sector primarily rehabilitates and reforms convicted individuals through their respective sentences such as jail terms and hard labor,

Incapacitation plays a complementary role to deterrence by preventing further crimes by individuals who have shown they can contravene the law. The system ensures incapacitation by putting criminals in jails where they are constantly under supervision away from the public and society in general. The primary aim of incapacitation is to limit an offender’s ability to engage in further criminal activity physically rather than rehabilitating convicted criminals. Simon (2012) sheds light on the incidence of mass incarceration in US prisons, which raises questions of the goal of incapacitation. However, such punitive measures witnessed in the judicial system still serve to keep offenders away from society, albeit for lesser crimes than ideal. Still, the length of the imprisonment depends on the incidence of a relapse of the behavior leading to the convicted crime. Individuals convicted for habitual behavior with a high likelihood of a relapse attract longer terms in prison that behavior reflecting lower chances of recidivating. The concept of incapacitation effectively justifies the principle of being innocent until proven guilty. An individual will be denied justice if he or she is wrongfully convicted for a crime they did not do because there is no chance he or she will re-engage in an activity they are not aware of or familiar with in the first