Corrections EXAM 1 Review Breakdown of Time Periods 1. Colonial America  1600-1790 lasted nearly 200 yrs.  Social Context: • Small/close knit – essential to survival o Community had a consensus of what behaviors were criminal laws were written very broadly.  Individual colonies had a lot of discretion in creating the laws as long as none of the laws they created violated English Common Law. o Most crimes were reported by citizens not law enforcement “moral enforcers” • Obedience to God/Parents/Authority Figures • “Grim Determinism” – behavior/class divisions was preordained by God. o Trying to change it going against God.  Cause of Crime: • Criminal behavior was a result of sin offense against God/community brought upon by the devil. o Wide range of behaviors considered criminal- blasphemy (violations of faith), drunkenness, flirting, etc.  This type of behavior must be punished.  Most things were considered criminalhelped keep strict religious/moral values.  Punishment: • Punishment was intended to be just that- punishment. o The intention was never to rehabilitate because crime was thought to be caused by sin and predetermined by God the offender could not be changed.• Community members received less harsh punishment than outsiders. • Fines most common form of punishment. o Whippings were the 2nd most common form of punishment. • Banishment basically meant death. Commonly used on foreigners and habitual offenders. • Other forms of punishment included: shaming, jails (they were just holding spaces while offender awaited trial- not intended as a punishment), hangings (public spectacle), shock death (offender thought they were going to be hanged but were later set free), death penalty (for recidivists/ murderers/incorrigible youths). • The wealthier community members usually received a lesser punishment such as crime while the poor and foreigners had more harsh punishments. 2. Period of Transition  1790- 1830  Social Context: • Major changes in American culture establishment of norms and values consistent w/ capitalism, democracy and egalitarianism. o Capitalism: theoretically allowed movement from one socioeconomic class to another. Characterized by free market, private decisions of price/production/ownership. o Democracy: theoretically being able to vote for government (majority rule). Reality was that many couldn’t vote (slaves/women). o Egalitarianism: human equality, again theoretical. Social, political and economic rights. • Population explosion due to urbanization. • Commercial boom factories/corporations flourished. • Social, economic and geographic mobility. o Led to an individualistic lifestyle (unlike in colonial America)• The Enlightenmento Began in Europeo Changed mindset from “grim determinism” to “pleasure v. pain”  Utilitarianism: capacity to balance the level of pain/ pleasure. We act if the pleasure outweighs the pain rational thought.  Jeremy Bentham  People control their destiny and are born good instead of bad as thought in Colonial America.  Causes of Crime: • Rational choice. Free will.  Punishment: • Incarceration was the most popular means of punishment.• The point of punishment was to deter.o Specific Deterrence- prevent offender from reoffending. o General Deterrence- prevent future crime by showing that if you (general public) offend you’ll get caught and be punished. • Philosophy of Deterrence:o Certainty: if you commit a crime, you will be punished. o Celerity: punishment had to be swift to be an effective deterrent.o Severity: punishment had to be severe enough to outweigh the pleasures obtained from criminal behavior.  Beccaria thought that certainty and swiftness were the most effective deterrents.  Classical School: • Principle of Legality: can’t be punished for a “crime” if there is no law establishing that behavior as criminal beforehand and the punishment must be stated as well.o Unlike colonial America laws dictating crimes were broad and punishments based on discretion.• Principle of Strict Interpretation: judges shouldn’t have discretion in what constitutes a crime/ appropriate punishment. It should be dictated by law. • Principle of Equality under the Law: offenders who commit similar crimes should be given similar punishments, regardless of socioeconomic status. • Principle of Presumption of Innocence: innocent until proven guilty. • Principle of Minimal Criminalization: make as few laws as necessary to maintain an ordered society. • Principle of Fair Criminal Procedure: no capricious acts by the State. Due process to determine guilt or innocence. • Penal Codes precise, uniform. Citizens knew exactly what constituted a crime. o Designed to eliminate: judicial discretion, capricious punishment, favoritism, oppression of lower classes. • Popularity of the death penalty as a means for punishment decreased during the Transition Period. o Corporal punishment was eliminated and so was shaming. • 2 reasons why incarceration became the primary form of punishment:o Liberty was cherished incarceration = powerful deterrent. o Severity of punishment was determined by # of yrs imprisoned.• First American prisons were in terrible shape. o Old colonial jails and workhouses served as the prisons. o Common herds- all types of offenders placed in the same place.o The problem with all the prisons led to the creation of the penitentiaries.o Overcrowding was an issue prisoners usually received a pardon or completed less than 50% of their sentence. 3. Age of the Penitentiary  1830- 1870s Social Context: • Westward expansion, immigration, large cities led to population growth.o Led to social instability and less close knit communities. • Economic expansion also disrupted traditional community life. • Alcohol, gangs, opium, psychological disorders, prostitution and violent crime became a serious problem. o Violent crime was seen as increasing. o Property crime was a major problem. o Primarily among lower class and immigrants.  Causes of Crime: • Crime was a moral disease. o Morally weakened families/environment morally weak individuals who succumb to temptation and vice. Middle and upper classes wanted to “save” wayward youth and the poor.  Punishment/ Control: • Medical model of crime control: isolation, penitence and hard