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CJUS-K 300 : EXAM 1
Right on Crime |
By Newt Gingrich: recommendations about CJ reform
o Conservative |
Smart on Crime |
Written by 40 organizations
o Liberal |
Similarities between Right on Crime and Smart on Crime |
Both thought that there needed to be an expansion of treatment programs and strong community-based sentences as options for judges
• Also thought that "mass incarceration" was becoming a problem (financially) |
CORRECTIONS |
variety of programs, services, facilities, and organizations responsible for the management of individuals who have been accused or convicted of criminal offenses |
PURPOSE OF CORRECTIONS |
o Used for social control (actions and practices, of individuals and institutions, designed to induce conformity with the rules and norms of society)
o Sets boundaries for citizens (what is permissible)
o To manage crime and criminal
o To promote social order
o To prevent victims of crime from seeking justice on their own or engaging in what criminologists refer to as "self-help" |
Emilie Durkheim |
law is broken-->mad citizens-->criminal is punished-->sense of community, more alert to shared values |
Three concepts of Western criminal law: |
o Offense, guilt, and punishment |
Corrections as a system |
complex whole consisting of interdependent parts whose operations are directed toward common goals and are influenced by the environment in which they function (legal intervention to deter, rehabilitate, incapacitate, and punish) |
Goals of Corrections |
• Fair punishment and community protection
o Conflict when these goals aren't met |
INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF CORRECTIONS |
• Processes (Sentencing, Classification, Supervision, Programming, Revocation)
o Affect processes in the rest of the system because it resembles as assembly line (domino effect) |
Feedback of Corrections |
• Positive: work to continue functioning that way
• Negative: work to improve
• Success is best indicated by absence of new crimes or prison riots
o Success is hard to judge, everybody recognizes failure
Over respond to failure and remain less aware of success |
Complexity of Corrections |
• Used to be the three P's (probation, prison, parole)
o Much more complex now (drug treatment, work centers, home confinement)
• Offenders are supervised by various service agencies operating t different levels of government (state, county, municipal) and different branches of government (executive and judicial) |
Key Issue in Corrections
Forces
Financial |
Social and political forces are constantly shifting (complicate things)
o Paid for by tax revenues
Up against education, transportation, welfare, etc.
o Doesn't always receive the funding it needs
People don't think about corrections until a problem occurs
People don't want to spend their money funding those who are being corrected
o Conflict among the branches of government created problems for corrections
Local government are responsible for correctional programs for minor offender, state government handle more serious offenders
• Vie for funds, programs may overlap
Executive branch often says that legislatures enact correctional codes and operations without the sufficient funds
• Both branches complain that court rulings set unfair constraint on their ability to handle assigned offenders
• Correctional agents must consider the sociopolitical environment and the government setting in which corrections functions
o Probation offices is attached to the judiciary and funded by county governments
Turf dispute
o Struggles for resources between corrections and related social service agents |
STREET LEVEL BUREAUCRATS |
public service workers who interact directly with citizens in the course of their work, granting access to government programs and providing services within them (feel obligated to provide higher quality treatment for their clients than they can afford, maintaining a working relationship proves frustrating) |
Working with offenders "people work" |
central to corrections, because they deal with staff and offenders
o Deal with uncertain technologies, engage in exchange relationships with offenders, and follow uncertain correctional strategies |
Staff |
probation officers, correctional officers, counselors, and others responsible for the daily management and supervision of offenders (professional and nonprofessional employees) |
Professional staff |
Professional staff At least one college degree, work without supervision without consulting rulebooks or guidelines |
Nonprofessional staff |
HS education, supervision, enforce rules with physical means when necessary |
Technology |
method of applying specific knowledge to practical purposes in a particular field (Not as sophisticated as engineering, but humans are far more complex)
Knowledge of human behavior has developed, but there remains doubt
Correctional decisions are prone to error
• Correctional organizations may approach the technical problem of human ignorance about humans by seeking to reduce types of error, not eliminating error altogether
|
Exchange |
mutual transfer of resources based on decisions regarding the costs and benefits of alternative actions |
Two points of interest for correctional facilities |
1. Offenders are obviously handled in a variety of ways (who determines what happens to offenders and how they make this determination)
2. Corrections gets its business from the courts and from itself
• Policies and practices determine how strictly the rules will be enforced, how dire the consequences will be when they are broken, and how much latitude that staff will have in assigning offenders to programs |
Draconian Code |
introduced in Greece in the 7th century BCE
o Laws that are extremely severe and cruel |
Law of the 12 Tables (Rome) |
o Complied by Emperor Justinian, laid groundwork for European law
o Roman lawbreakers were made into slaves, exiled, killed, imprisoned, and brutalized |
Lex talionis |
Lex talionis law of retaliation (eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth)
o Foundation of Anglo-Saxon law until the Norman conquest of 1066 |
Secular Law |
law of the civil society, distinguished from the church law
o Organized according to the feudal system in the absence of a strong central government |
Wergild |
money paid to relatives of a murdered person or to the victim of a crime to compensate them and prevent a blood feud |
Benefit of clergy |
exemption of the English clergy and nuns from the jurisdiction of the ordinary civil courts (could claim they were outside of the jurisdiction)
|
PUNISHMENTS OF THE 1500S |
o Galley slavery
o Imprisonment
o Transportation
o Corporal punishment
o Death
|
GALLEY SLAVERY |
• Forced rowing of large ships or galleys
o Rome and Greece
o Abolished until the 1700's
• Later became a reprieve from the gallows |
Imprisonment |
• Prisons were originally used while waiting for trial
• Later used for petty crimes in Italy, France, Germany, and England
• Bad conditions
o Sick
o No upkeep on the inmates
o Warden viewed job as a business proposition (sold food and accommodations) |
HOUSE OF CORRECTION |
o London's Bishop Nicholas Ridley persuaded Edward VI to donate Bridewell Palace as the first HC
o Workhouse, poorhouse, and penal institution
o Inmates were often prostitutes, beggars, minor criminals, and the idle poor (orphans and sick)
o Similar institutions in Germany, Italy, France, and Holland
o John Howard visited these places in 1775 and was impressed by their conditions
o Bridewell's: conditions got worse, housed more criminals than poor people
o Became a model for humanitarian form in the treatment of offenders (relied on incapacitation as punishment, not physical punishment) |
Ghent's Maison de Force (1772) |
o Ghent's: design (octagonal surrounding a central yard)
8 long pavilions from the center, separated the inmates by the seriousness of the crime |
Prison Act of 1865 |
joined the jail and house of correction
o Prison (place of punishment for those serving terms up to 2 years)
o Elements of the houses of correction were later incorporated into the penitentiary and the industrial prison of the 19th century |
Transportation 1787-1868 |
o Sent offenders to another region or land
o Helpful for overcrowding of prisons |
Transportation Act of 1718 TRANSPORTATION |
increased the number of convicts sent to colonies
o Good: labor Bad: Overpopulation |
HULKS |
abandoned ships that the English converted to hold convicts during a period of prison crowding between 1776 and 1790 (banks of the Thames) |
Corporal punishment |
punishment inflicted on the offender's body with whips or other devices that cause pain
o Often done in public as a deterrent from crime |
Capital punishment |
Capital punishment instant death or a prolonged death |
Enlightenment |
cultural movement in England and France, 1700's, concepts of liberalism, rationality, equality, and individualism dominated social and political thinking
o Against the monarchial tradition |
Contributors to the Enlightenment (5) |
William of Orange (Glorious Revolution, higher power to Parliament)
John Locke (treatises, liberal society)
Montesquieu
Voltaire
Newton (scientific thinking) |
Influence of the Enlightenment |
• These influences caused people to rethink the procedures used to determine guilt, government's power, nature of criminal behavior, and correcting criminals
o Criminology emerged
• Penal codes were rewritten (changed punishment to the offender)
• Path of honesty and right living>inflicting pain |
CESARE BECCARIA |
Italian scholar, applied the rationalist philosophy to the CJS, founder of the school of criminological thought |
Classical Criminology |
school of criminology that views behavior as stemming from free will (accountability), stresses the need for punishments severe enough to deter others |
JEREMY BENTHAM |
advocate of utilitarianism in prison management and discipline, argued for the treatment and reform of prisoners |
UTILITARIANISM |
doctrine that the aim of all action should be the greatest possible balance of pleasure over pain, punishment inflicted must achieve enough good to outweigh the pain inflicted |
JON HOWARD |
English prison reformer, sheriff of Bedforshire, England, developed the penitentiary
|
What Motivated Correctional Reform |
• Emergence of the middle class, humanism
• Some criminals got away, because jurors wouldn't convict a criminal for a petty crime if the punishment was death
• Wanted a system of benevolent justice
• The penitentiary can't represent the product of the humanitarian instincts unleashed by the Enlightenment, has to discipline the working class to serve a new, industrial society
• Pentonville in North London (concept traveled across the new Atlantic to the new American republic) |
Colonial Period |
• Lived under laws from England
o Puritans (strict, religious)
o Pillory, death, and banishment were common punishments
Public spectacles |
William Penn |
• William Penn: "The Great Law": Quaker principles, hard labor, house of correction
o Replaced by the Anglican Code (larceny was the only offense not punishable by death)
Continued until the Revolution
|
ARRIVAL OF THE PENITENTIARY |
• 19th century: social problems couldn't be handled with the help of neighbors
o Poor, insane, and criminal became the province of the state and its institutions
• Revolution: ideas of the Enlightenment (including a new concept of criminal punishment) came to the force
o Philosophy combined the ideas of Beccaria, Bentham, and Howard with the ideals of the Declaration of Independence
Optimistic view on human nature (social progress was thought possible through reforms
Crime was caused by forces in the environment
• Primary goal was to reform the criminal
• Liberalization of the harsh penal codes of the colonial period
• Incarceration began after the Revolution |
PENITENTIARY |
institution intended to isolate prisoners from society and from one another so that they could reflect on their past, misdeeds, repent, and undergo reformation
By the middle of the 19th century, the US penitentiary had become world famous |
Pennsylvania System |
o Prisoners would not be treated vengefully, should be convince that through suffering they could change their lives
o Solitary confinement would prevent further corruption inside prison
o In isolation, offenders would reflect on their transgressions and repent
o Solitary confinement would be punishment because humans are social beings by nature
o Solitary confinement would be economical because prisoners would not need long periods of time to repent (fewer keepers, lower cost of clothing)
Physical punishments were degrading
• NY only embittered inmates, failed to promote work ethic
• Crafts-oriented, religious society
• Outdated labor system, too expensive (lost)
• Supported by Europeans |
Penitentiary House |
Focused on solitary confinement
Separated based on severity of offense
Became overcrowded (built more institutions) |
Eastern State Penitentiary |
****(based on separate confinement)
o Inmate was held in isolation from other inmates, with all activities carried on in the cells*** |
The New York (Auburn System) |
• 1816: authorization of a new state prison (overcrowding)
o Portion of the jail was built for SC (heard good things about it)
Resulted in sickness, suicide, and insanity
o Discontinued in 1824
• Congregate and Silent System
• Largely preferred over Penn Model
• Regarded as more humane, allowed inmates to interact in work groups and to eat together.
Inmates should be "broken", rigid discipline, silent labor
• Costs less, efficient
• Industrial age
• Supported by American states |
Elam Lynds |
warden at Auburn
Instituted prison stripes and the lockstep |
CONGREGATE SYSTEM |
inmates were held in isolation at night but worked with other prisoners during the day under a rule of silence |
Contact labor system |
inmates' labor was sold on a contractual basis to private employers that provided the machinery and raw materials with which inmates made salable products in the institution |
BLACK CODES |
For newly freed African Americans
o Curfews
o No guns
o No foul language toward women
o Proof of employment at all times
(Prove they weren't being leased to a contractor at the time) |
WHAT LED TO THE LEASE SYSTEM |
• Devastation of the war and depression in the agriculturally based economy
|
LEASE SYSTEM |
o Inmates were leased to contractors who provided prisoners with food and clothing in exchange for their labor
• Treated worse than slaves (disease, homicides, accidents-->shallow graves) |
Reformatory Movement |
• The public no longer supported penitentiaries (NY or PN)
o Weren't successfully deterring offenders or rehabilitating them
o Many problems within the system (brutality, poor administration was corrupt |
Enoch Cobb Wines and Theodore Dwight |
visited 18 prisons/houses and wrote their Report on the Prisons and Reformatories of the US and Canada
(described inadequacies) |
Alexander Maconochie |
mark system
o Offenders are assessed a certain number of marks, based on the severity of their crime, at the time of sentencing (prisoners could reduce their term and gain release by reducing marks through labor, good behavior, and educational achievement
Controversial
Similar practices were involved in Walter Crofton's intermediate system
• Spent a period in solitary confinement, were sent to public work prisons (could earn positive marks)
• Could later be sent to the intermediate stage (halfway house)
• Final test was a ticket of leave (conditional release, precursor of modern parole system) |
National Prison Association (NPA) |
met to embody the spirit of reform |
Declaration of principles |
new design for penology
Indeterminate sentences, proof of reformation before release
Prior practices were seen as humiliating and detrimental to inmates' initiative |
Zebulon Brockway |
superintendent of the Elmira Reformatory
o Studied the causes of deviance, created a work and education program |
Elmira Reformatory |
institution for young offenders, emphasized training, a mark system of classification, indeterminate sentences, and parole
• Different grades
o Each offender entered at a grade 2
If they earned 9 marks/month for 6 months, they could be moved up to a grade 1
Would be demoted to grade 3 if they didn't show cooperation or self-control
After three months of good behavior, they could move onto "eventual release"
• Elmira had great success (emulated in 20 other states)
o 81% of Elmira's inmates underwent "possible reformation"
Being a good prisoner soon meant freedom, didn't actually mean the prisoner had changed (declined around WWI) |
Age of Reform |
set tone for US social thought and political action until the 60s
o Industrialization, urbanization, technological change, scientific advancements |
Progressives |
• Progressives attacked the excesses of this emergent society
o Placed their faith in state action to deal with the social problems of slums, adulterated food, dangerous occupations conditional, vice, and crime
o Optimistic about the possibility of solving the problems of modern society
Focused on city conditions (immigrant populations)
Believed that civic-minded people could apply the findings of science to social problems (penology), could benefit all
Also believed that society could rehabilitate criminals through individualized treatment |
Individualized Treatment |
• Conscience and convenience were most important
o Promoted by benevolent and philanthropic people, wanted to understand and cure crime case by case
o Against reformers of the penitentiary era
• Learn the life history of each offender, create a treatment specific to that offender
o Diagnose each criminal, prescribe treatment, schedule release to the community
• Trusted that the government would secure social justice and help offenders
|
Positivist School |
assumes that human behavior is a product of biological, economical, psychological and social factors
o Scientific method can be applied to ascertain the causes of individual behavior
o Criminal behavior isn't the result of free will, stems from factors you can't control
o Criminals can be treated, can lead to crime-free lives
o Treatment must center on the individual and the individual's problem |
MEDICAL MODEL |
implemented in the 30's
o Criminal behavior is caused by social, psychological, or biological deficiencies that require treatment |
Sanford Bates |
director of the Federal Bureau of prisons, served as the president of the American Correctional Association and promoted the new medical model |
Howard Gill |
tried to create a "community" of inmates
Superintendent of MA Norfolk State Prison Colony |
Treatment Era |
1950s, treatment became the goal (punishment was outdated)
o Prisons became like mental hospitals (incorporation of the medical model)
o More psychiatrists
o Group therapy, behavior modification, shock therapy, etc.
o Prisoners were assigned to the facilities, jobs, and programs that had openings |
COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS |
Reinstating the offender into the community should be the goal of the CJS
o Departure from the medical model's emphasis on treatment in prison
Prisons and psychological treatment were to be avoided, focus on programs that could give them opportunities to become successful citizens |
Crime Control Model |
criminal behavior can be controlled by more use of incarceration and other forms of strict incarceration
o Determinate sentencing
o More strict |
Punishment is marked by |
o An offense
o The infliction of pain because of the commission of the offense
o A dominant purpose that is neither to compensate someone injured by the offense or to better the offender's condition, it is to prevent further offenses and inflict deserved pain |
Four goals of corrections |
o 1. Retribution
o 2. Deterrence
o 3. Incapacitation
o 4. Rehabilitation |
RETRIBUTION |
punishment inflicted on a person who has infringed on the rights of others and deserved to be penalized
o Severity of the sanction should fir the seriousness of the crime
o "Eye for an eye"
o Doesn't focus on the future of the offender
• Desire for retribution is a common human emotion
o If the state doesn't provide it, citizens might take matters into their own hands
Could lead to social unrest
Retribution emphasizes the standards that all members are expected to withhold |
GENERAL DETERRENCE |
example to the general public, discourage offenses by others |
INDIVIDUAL DETERRENCE |
discourage an offender from committing future crimes |
Incapacitation |
depriving an offender of the ability to commit crimes against society, detain the offender in prison (protecting society from certain types of offenders)
o EX: banishment, capital punishment |
Selective incapacitation |
making the best use of expensive and limited prison space by targeting for incarcerating offenders whose incapacity will do the most to reduce societal crime |
REHABILITATION |
REHABILITATION goal of restoring a convicted offender to a constructive place in society through some form of vocational or educational training or therapy
• No relationship between the severity of the punishment and the gravity of the crime
Indeterminate sentences |
Restoration |
punishment designed to repair the damage done to the victim and community by an offender's criminal act
o Can provide ways for the offender to repair harm with the victim |
INDETERMINATE SENTENCES |
• Period of incarceration with minimum and maximum terms stipulated
o Parole eligibility depends on the time needed for treatment
o Closely associate with the rehab concept
o Judge has discretion to select from a range of sentencing options (fines, probation, etc) based on the background of the offender/circumstances of the crime (special)
o Release date is set by the State Board of Parole
o Freed with supervision
o ***Goal: Individualize punishment (punishment is made to fit the criminal), facilitate rehab, deter the offender from offending again
o Justification: crime is the result of individual deviation from the norms of society, rehabilitation and change can be achieved with the right measure of punishment, correctional personnel have the knowledge to provide treatment and predict risk of recidivism |
DETERMINATE SENTENCES |
• Fixed period of incarceration imposed by a court
o ***Goal: to punish the offender/retribution, incapacitation, individual deterrence, general deterrence
o Parole board is NOT involved in the release decision
Reduces judicial discretion
o Actual time served: fixed sentence-good time credit (automatically freed without supervision)
o Advantages: public safety is enhanced, offenders know when they will be released (predictability and certainty)
o Disadvantages: offenders return to the community without supervision, serve longer periods of time-->overcrowding, disruption of time with family |
PREUMPTIVE SENTENCES |
o Sentence for which the legislature or a commission sets a minimum and maximum range of months/years (judges are to fix the length of the sentence within that range, allowing for special circumstances)
o*** Goal: Increase uniformity in criminal sentencing
o Reduce class and racial bias in criminal sentencing
o Judges have limited discretion to modify the sentence based on the presence of mitigating or aggravating circumstances
EX:
• Robbery: 7 years
• Mitigating Factors: 5 years
• Aggravating Factors: 9 years |
MANDATORY SENTENCES |
• Sentence stipulating that some minimum period of incarceration must be served by people convicted of selected crimes, regardless of background or circumstances (gun violence, selling drugs within 1000 feet of a public school, drug trafficking etc.)
o Often leads to charge bargaining
Prosecutor may agree to charge the offender with a less serious charge (shorter sentence)
o ***Goals: Limit judicial discretion in cases defined as serious (get tough on crime), reduce variation in sentences imposed in drug cases in the court systems, punish and deter offenders and the general public |
GOOD TIME |
reduction of prison sentence at the discretion of the prison administrator
o For good behavior or participation in vocational, educational, and treatment programs
o Reduce the length of sentence (2 days credit for every 1 day done on good behavior) |
TRUTH-IN-SENTENCING |
• Laws that require offender to serve a substantial proportional of their prison sentence before being released on parole
|
Three goals of truth-in-sentencing |
1. Provide the public with more accurate info about the actual length of sentences
2. Reduce crime by keeping offenders in prison for longer periods
3. Achieve a rational allocation of prison space, prioritizing the incarceration of particular classes of criminals |
PROBATION |
Sentence allowing the offender to serve the sanctions imposed by the court while he/she lives in the community under supervision
o Designed to maintain supervision of offenders while they try to straighten out their lives
o Specification of how the offender will behave throughout the length of the sentence
Undergo drug tests, curfews, educational programs, employment etc.
o If the conditions are not met, the probation could be revoked and the remainder of the sentence could be served in prison |
SHOCK PROBATION |
sentence by which the offender is released after a short incarceration and resentenced to probation |
Felon disenfranchisement |
temporally or permanently restricting the voting rights of convicted felony offenders |
Opponents of felon disenfranchisement |
such laws stifle reintegration efforts because they send ex-inmates the message that they haven't fully repaid their debt to society
Also argue that such laws have changed the outcomes of elections |
Supporters of felon disenfranchisement |
necessary to encourage reform
Requiring ex-inmates to wait several years provides they with the opportunity to show they deserve to exercise this right |
Misdemeanor court |
• Minimal time for each case (overloaded)
o Any person appearing before the court is guilty, the police and prosecution have presumably filtered out doubtful cases
o Vast majority of defendants will plead guilty
o Those charged with minor offenses will be processed in volume |
Felony Courts |
• Courts of general jurisdiction
• Atmosphere is more formal, less chaotic than misdemeanor courts
• Sentencing decisions are ultimately shaped by the relationships, negotiations, and agreements among the prosecutor, defense attorney, and judge |
Judges |
• All judges differ from one another in their sentencing decisions
o Conflicting goals, administrative pressures, influence of community values, judges' attitudes, etc.
• Blameworthiness concerns (offense severity, offender's criminal history, role in commission of the crime)
• Protection of the community
• Practicality of a sentence (offender's ability to "do time")
• Costs |
PRESENTENCE REPORT |
• Report prepared by a probation officer, who investigates a convicted offender's background to help the judge select an appropriate sentence
o Helps in the classification of probationers, prisoners, and parolees for treatment planning and risk assessment |
Sentencing disparities |
divergence in the lengths and types of sentences imposed for the same crime or for crimes of comparable seriousness when no reasonable justification can be discerned |
Wrongful convictions |
an innocent person is found guilty by plea or verdict |
Situational offender |
• Person who violated the law but doesn't normally choose criminal behavior under normal circumstances, unlikely to repeat the offense
o Problems:
Usually a serious crime
Offender usually knew the victim well
Corrections can't really do much, the offenders often show a solid work record and a positive attitude (not threat to society)
• Want to release them for overcrowding issues, but if they do, they will be criticized for releasing a murderer early |
Career Criminal |
• Sees crime as a way of earning a living, numerous contacts with the CJS over time, may view the criminal sanction as a way of life
o Three or four convictions |
Sex Offenders |
• Committed a sexual act prohibited by law for economics, psychological, or situational reasons
o Rapists, child molesters, prostitutes |
Rapist |
o Now considered a sexual crime AND a violent assault
o More serious punishments for rapists now |
Child molester |
o Most child molesters were molested as children, over 50, sense of attachment-->sexual contact
Children often feel guilty (usually close to the offender)
• Situation is complicated if there were pleasurable feelings from the contact
o Child molesters are the most targeted in court and in prisons |
Prostitute |
o Punishment is generally probation or a fine
o More attention when the spread of HIV became an issue
o Most prostitutes have children but don't have custody of them
o Often raised in dysfunctional home (drug use and sexual assault)
o Seen as low priority (no threat to society)
Many try to leave the trade but are often addicted to drugs and have little education to fall back on |
Concerns about sex offenders |
o Sexually violent predators (repeatedly victimize others sexually and seem incapable of stopping themselves from escalating their violence)
Treatment usually doesn't succeed
o New laws:
Intense supervision, notify neighborhoods when they move in or are released on parole, tougher sentencing, mental institutions until cured |
Drug abuser |
o Use of illegal substance disrupts normal living patterns to the extent that social problems develop (leads to criminal behavior)
o High likelihood of rearrest
o Need money for drugs-->property crime
o Treatment programs don't always have great success rates (controversial) |
Alcohol abuser |
o Person whose alcohol use is difficult to control, disrupting normal living patterns and frequently leading to violations of the law while under the influence of alcohol or in attempting to secure it
o Causes 100,000 deaths annually
o Dealing with them can be dangerous if they become violent when drunk
o Treatment: AA is seen as the most successful
Peer influence
Voluntary (those who are there want to be there and get better) |
Mentally ill offender |
• "Disturbed", criminal behavior may be traced to diminished or abnormal capacity to think or reason as a result of psychological or neurological disturbance
o Not all offender are violent or psychopathic
• The classification of violent offenders as "mentally ill" is now seen as an overgeneralization and a social issue (not all violent offenders are mentally ill and labeling people as "ill" makes the person seem less whole and makes it easier to justify extreme correctional measures
• Some become mentally ill while incarcerated (away from emotional support, humiliated by being convicted and sentences to prison, strains of prison life) |
National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence (Mentally Ill) |
evidence doesn't support the idea that the mentally ill are overrepresented in the population of violent criminal AND people identified as mentally ill generally pose no greater risk of committing violent crimes than the population as a whole |
Deinstitutionalization |
release of a mental patient from a mental hospital and his or her return to the community |
Mentally Handicapped Offender |
o "Mentally retarded"
Limited mental development prevents adjustments to the rules of society
o No link between their condition and a tendency for criminal behavior
May not know how to obtain what they want without breaking the law
May view deviant behavior as a joke, easily duped by people
o Mostly property or public-order crimes
o Are never executed (no matter how serious the offense)
Usually return to the community, expected to live under little super vision (end up back in the CJS)
o Those with mental handicaps often don't do well with change (may break rules, punished further)
Segregated with other offenders
Butt of practical jokes, used as scapegoats or sexual objects
o Most people think that these offenders should undergo treatment (teach them how to better function in society) not prison |
Prevention of AIDS |
High rates
o At risk Pre-incarceration lifestyle (drug use, prostitution)
Exchange sex for money, drugs, shelter
o At risk incarceration lifestyle
Tattooing with dirty needles
Sex without condoms, setting populated with HIV
Need to have knowledge of the disease
Hard to know if you're living with HIV in the early stages (could be spreading it unknowingly)
Staff and inmates are now educated on the disease
Some have said to make condoms and needles available (but the actions are against policy, hesitation to do so) |
Housing inmates with AIDS |
Depends on the amount of infected inmates and the cost of separate facilities
• Usually separate those with AIDS
• Case by cases basis (separate those who are at a high risk, who need protection, or those whose medical condition calls for separate housing
Sometimes given treatment and placed in single cells (criticized, because this announces their condition to the staff and inmates) |
Medical care for those with AIDS |
Psychological and physical problems (support services are available)
Release of inmates with AIDS: don't want AIDS patients to spend their last days in prison, but they can't just dump them on the streets |
Elderly offender |
Prison population is aging
• US population in general is aging
• Consecutive length sentences for heinous crimes, long mandatory minimum sentences, and life sentences without parole
Groups: entered prison at a young age (life/long sentence), enter prison in their old age (financial crimes, pedophilia), or committed criminals (in prison again)
Need a lot of supervision when finally released:• Higher health costs/problems
• Criminal offenders/prisoners age more rapidly
• Inadequate health care
• Lack of adequate insurance
• Life of substance abuse
• Stress of prison life |
Long-term prisoner |
24% of prisoners are serving a sentence of 25 years, 9% are serving life sentences
"Long-Term" is considered 10 or more years
Often committed violent or drug crimes
When released, they face major issues regarding adjustment, employment, and housing
• Stress, depression, and other health problems
Administrators have to find a way to make prison life livable (often lack motivation, benefits are hard to visualize when they're so far away)
• Maximize opportunities for the inmate to exercise choice in living circumstances
• Create opportunities for meaningful living
• Help the inmate maintain contact with the outside world |
Military Veteran Offender |
Assumed that the strain of combat can lead to criminal behavior BUT only about a fifth of those incarcerated saw combat duty
• Aren't at high risk to the population
Important to know the background of each prisoner
• May suffer from PTSD (stress/anxiety-->hard to keep employment, strain on relationships->isolation) |
COMPONENTS OF THE CJS (5) |
o Federal, State and Local Legislative Bodies which enact Criminal Laws
o Criminal Law
o Law Enforcement
o Courts
o Corrections
|
Legislators role in the CJS |
o Federal, State and Local Legislative Bodies which enact Criminal Laws
o Criminal Law
o Law Enforcement
o Courts
o Corrections |
Courts role in the CJS |
o Assess the actions of law enforcement and prosecutors to determine if their actions (e.g. arresting citizens/filing criminal charges) are consistent with Constitutional Law and Citizenship Rights that require Due Process before citizens may be deprived of liberty, property, or life
o Judges manage the prosecution of criminal charges against criminal defendants
o Judges impose sentences (e.g., conditions) against offenders convicted of criminal offending |
Law Enforcement role in the CJS |
o Enforce laws enacted by legislative bodies
o Engage in reactive responses to criminal offending (e.g. investigate reports of criminal wrong-doing)
o Engage in proactive efforts to deter criminal offending |
Types of sentences (3) |
o Fines
o Probation
o Imprisonment |
Function of the Correctional Component of the CJS |
to manage and supervise offenders who have been convicted of a criminal offense and sentenced to a period of community supervision or a period of imprisonment
|
DISCRETION |
"An authority conferred by law on an official or agency to act in certain conditions or situations in accordance with the official's or agency's professional judgment."
Authority to stop and question individuals where they have "reasonable suspicion."
Police: arrest or not arrest.
Police: use force or not use force, including "deadly force."
Prosecutors: assess facts and file charges, reduce charges, or drop charges
Judges: dismiss charges, revoke probation & select from various sentencing options
Probation Officers: establish conditions of community supervision
Correctional/Prison officials: determine security level, award privileges, and impose punishment for disciplinary violations.
Parole officers: set conditions of community supervision and to revoke parole status
• Discretion is vulnerable to various forms of bias:
o class bias
o racial bias
o religious bias
o sexual preference bias |
Correctional Agencies (5) |
o Local Jails (administered by county or city officials)
o Probation Departments
o State Prisons (responsible for the incarceration of felony offenders, administered by state government)
o Parole Departments (supervise offenders who have completed a portion of their sentence and have been released by a parole board to serve the rest of their sentence under supervision in the community)
o Community Corrections (correctional supervision agencies, bridge between institutional corrections and release from correctional supervision) |
Flogging/Whipping and Public Humiliation |
o Most common
o The Code (Moses) permitted flogging
o Romans: flogged for theft
o Been used in America from Colonials times-early 1960's
o Humiliation:
Public spectacles, public would attend |
Branding |
o In Roman society
o On forehead or face with letters to denote their crime
T: Thief |
Mutilation |
o Medieval Europe thieves/counterfeiters had their hands cut off
o Liars/perjurers: tongues cut out
|
Public hangings |
o Western states (1850's-1880's)
Public hangings, mutilations, and burnings of blacks who were accused to offenses against whites or who were in the CRM |
Cruel and unusual punishments of ancient Greece |
o Stoning
o Throwing offenders off cliffs
o Nailing offenders to stakes
o Banishment
o Beating
o Beheading
o Mutilation
o Penal slavery |
Banishment (ancient Greece) |
Alternative to physical punishment
Transported felons to newly found lands (1597)
Ended: American Revolution (no longer available for transport of felons, Expansion of the African Slave Trade) |
Penal slavery |
Lifelong or fixed period of indentured servitude
Convict leasing (need to know)
|
Civil punishment in ancient Greece |
o Confiscation of property
o Loss of ability to transfer property
o Loss of the right to vote |
Common punishments in ancient Rome |
o Burning and hanging
o Put offender in a sack with an ape, dog, or snake & throwing it in the sea
o Virgins who violated the laws of Chasity were burned alive
o Exile |
GALLEY SLAVERY |
o Force slaves and men capture in battle to serve as oarsmen on war ships (Rome/Greece)
These slaves were used in the voyages of Columbus and Vasco de Gama |
Constitution Democracies |
citizens have rights that must be respected before being deprived of property, liberty, or life |
Penitentiary Act of 1779 |
Work houses as an alternative to banishment/exile
o Secure/sanitary
o Inspections
o Abolition of fees
o Focus on reformation
• Purpose of confinement: punish and reform offenders |
REFORM/REHAB MODEL |
• Crime control should provide rehabilitation not retributive punishment
• Indeterminate sentences and early release, parole supervision
o Judge is able to sentence with mandatory minimum and maximum sentence (individualize the sentence)
o Determinate (fixed amount of time)
• Focused on saving the offender from self-destruction, individual and social deprivations
• Social work with offenders and their families
• Re-integrative support upon release
• Preference for youth reformatories and correctional facilities vs traditional prisons |
WALNUT STREET JAIL |
First appeared in 1790 (Philadelphia's Walnut St Jail was converted to the Eastern State Penitentiary, allowed separate confinement)
Attracted the world's attention (incorporated in England)
o Operated as a jail (first prison)
o Operated under Quaker religious beliefs |
Problems with the Walnut Street Jail |
• Use of physical punishments to enforce discipline
• Prisoners suffered mental breakdowns due to extended periods of isolation.
• Separate confinement was not fully implemented |
Sing Sing (NY Prison) |
• "The Plantation"
o Mostly black and Latino workers
• No communication allowed |
The Panopticon |
• Developed by Bentham
• Architecture
• Emphasis on surveillance (octagon, people watching all around) |
Punitive Crime Control Model |
• Crime is a problem of lack of self and social control
• Offenders need to be deterred and punished
• Crime is a product of rationale choice and weak law enforcement and punishment
• Characteristics:
o Lengthy prison sentences
o Segregation of dangerous offenders (super max prisons)
o Skepticism of rehabilitative treatment
o Focus on the righteousness and value of punishment
o 3 Strikes Laws
o Mandatory Minimum sentencing
o Truth in Sentencing Laws (have to serve at least 85% of sentence)
o Sentencing laws-->overcrowding in prisons (more people there for longer periods of time)
• Emphasized determinate/mandatory sentences
• Key concern: protecting the public |
Types of sentences |
• Fines
• Probation
• Incarceration
o PAROLE IS NOT A SENTENCE (PART OF A SENTENCE) |
3 Strikes Law |
requires that judges sentence habitual offenders (three or more felony convictions) to long prison terms/life
|
Mitigating Factors |
reduce liability (family pressures, abuse, intoxication) |
Aggravating Factors |
gratuitous violence, unnecessary and enhanced the level of harm (shooting the victim, mutilation of the victim) |
Exceptions of the mandatory minimum sentence |
o Safety valve provision (prosecutors may offer relief under special circumstances) |
Most common correctional supervision |
Probation (57.5% of offenders) |
PROBATION |
• Court order period of supervision in the community
o Generally imposed as an alternative to incarceration
|
Split sentence |
brief incarceration and probation
o Period of incarceration followed by a period of probation
|
Myth about probation |
o Punishment for low level offenders
Serious offenders are also placed under probation
More probations have been convicted of assault and burglary compared to the prison population
55% of offenders on probation committed a felony |
Factors contributing to increase of prison populations |
*Selective Enforcement of drug laws (more arrests)
o Alfred Blumstein and Allen Beck agreed with this factor (88%) of this increase is due to harsher sentences for drug offenses
Greater likelihood of incarceration if convicted
Longer prison sentences
• Racial bias and the selective prosecution of the war on drugs
o More penalties for crack cocaine
o Sweeps of disadvantaged neighborhoods |
State prison population (race) |
• Blacks: 38%
• White: 35.5% |
State prison population (offense) |
o Violent offense (54%) |
Federal prison (offense) |
• Drug Offenses: 48% |
Types of Criminal Sentencing (7) |
• Fines
• Probation
• Indeterminate Sentencing
• Determinate/Fixed Sentencing
• Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
• Presumptive Sentencing
• Habitual Criminal Laws |
Drug Path to Corrections |
o Drug Possession
o Drug Trafficking
o Drug Manufacturing
o Drug related crimes (Theft, Burglary, Robbery, Assault, Murder)
o Majority of people arrested and detained in big city jails test positive for an illegal drug
o Paul Goldstein's Drug Crime Typology
Three types of drug related violence:
• Psychopharmacological violence (angry when drunk)
• Systemic Violence (violence between drug users, drug dealers, etc.)
• Economic Compulsive Violence (robbery)
o Drug offenders are a correctional challenge:
Disruption of institutional order and control
• Import drugs into the correctional facility
• Bribe staff to import drugs into the prison |
Mental Illness Path to Corrections |
o Female inmates had higher rates of mental health problems than male inmates
Separation from family (children)anxiety
o Most mental illness in Jail inmates
o 25% of state prisoner with a mental health problem had served 3 or more prior incarcerations
o Higher rates of substance abuse dependence and drug use
o Also more likely to break prison rules or assault correctional officer
o Criticisms: inadequate training of staff
o Lack of mental health staff and services
o Overreliance on solitary confinement
o Inadequate plan to arrange a continuity of care as mentally ill prisoners go from the prison to the community |
Jail population (race/gender) |
white (46%) male (87%) |
Function of jails |
o Primary entry point into the corrections system in the US |
TYPES OF JAIL OFFENDERS |
o Persons arrested and awaiting arraignment and a bail decision
o Persons unable to post bail and awaiting final adjudication of the charges
o Persons convicted of a misdemeanor/felony and sentenced to serve 1 year or less in a correctional institution |
Release on Recognizance |
• Show up at hearing (date given by judge)
o Usually know important people (minor offenders)
• Advantages:
o Lower recidivism rates
o Higher rates of being sentences to probation vs jail
o Biases
Women are more likely to get ROR than men
Whites are more likely to get ROR than blacks |
REGIONAL JAILS |
• Multi-jurisdictional correctional facility
o 2 or more jurisdictions enter into an agreement to jointly est and maintain a correctional facility
o Some states are encouraging regional jails through the contribution of construction funds
EX: OH state legislature is providing 60% of funding for the building of regional jails |
PROS OF REGIONAL JAILS |
o Opportunity for jurisdictions to share costs of managing local jail
o Opportunity to provide a broader range of rehabilitation programs to inmates by sharing costs
o Earn revenue by making space available to non-member jurisdictions
o Jurisdictions with limited resources have access to modern facilities
|
CONS OF REGIONAL JAILS |
o Disagreements over the location of the jail
o Unwillingness of various stakeholders
o Corrections reformers object (may have to relocate inmates from their communities) |
Decentralized |
control at the local level
o Probation officers are more in tune with local community norms and expectations
o Criticisms: lack of resources and knowledge |
Centralized |
o Need professionals to coordinate with correctional agencies |
Functions of probation officers (3) |
Investigation
Pre-sentence investigation
Supervision |
PSI (FUNCTION) |
• Informs judicial decision making
• Determine if the offender has special problems or circumstances that led to criminal behavior
• Determine if the offenders' problems can be managed in the community (probation)
• Estimate their threat to society
o Criminal history, lifestyle, history with treatment |
PSI (CONTENT) |
o Info regarding the current offense
o Info pertaining to the offenders level of involvement
o Info about any factors that may have precipitated involvement
o Info pertaining to mitigating of aggravating circumstances |
Three element of supervision (probation) |
o Resource mediation
o Client surveillance
o Enforcement |
Probation (Resource mediation) |
Service brokers (assist offenders in accessing a wide variety of services: job placement, treatment, etc.) |
Client surveillance |
Monitor offender in the community (in-person meetings, routine home/work visits, drug/alcohol testing) |
Probation (Enforcement) |
Hold them accountable for adherence to the probation conditions and the law
Conditions: rules that are imposed on probationers (limit freedom, mobility, and status) |
Standard/general probation conditions |
o Reporting to the probation officer as required to do so
o Notify the agency in any changes of address
o Maintain employment
o Refrain from those with a felonious background
o Refrain from criminal activity
o Don't leave the jurisdiction without supervision
o Provide support to legal dependents |
Treatment probation conditions |
o Require probationers to address criminogenic problems (alcoholism/drug use, domestic violence, etc |
Punitive probation conditions |
o Specifically targeted conditions
o Want to increase the restrictiveness of probation
o Required to:
Pay fines, restitution, subject to electronic monitoring
o Restriction on where and who the probationer may live with |
How does probation end? |
• Successful completion of the probation sentence
• Revocation of probation as a result of misbehavior |
SOCIAL CONTROL |
• All societies est norms to regulate behavior
o Est a mechanism to compel individuals to conform to social expectations
• Corrections: practice/study of punishments |
TRANSPORTATION |
Alternative to physical punishment
Transported felons to newly found lands (1597)
• Breakdown of feudalism and worse economic conditions transportation
o Sent offenders to another region or land
o Helpful for overcrowding of prisons
• Transportation Act of 1718: increased the number of convicts sent to colonies
o Good: labor Bad: Overpopulation
• British transportation began in 1787
• **1837: Parliament said that transportation created depraved societies, forcing Englishmen to be slaves until they were fit to become peasants**
• Transportation ceased in 1868 |
QUAKER BELIEFS |
Philosophy of penitence (regret of wrongdoing)
Philosophy of nonviolence toward inmates |
INTERMEDIATE SANCTIONS |
• Variety of punishments that are more restrictive than traditional probation but less severe and costly than incarceration
• Advocates stipulate that these sanctions should be used in combination to reflect the severity of the offense, the characteristics of the offender and the needs of the community
• Criminal justice agencies have devoted few resources to enforcing sentences that don't involve incarceration (if the law doesn't fulfill its promises, offenders may believe that they have beaten the system-->punishment becomes meaningless |
SENTENCE |
various conditions that are imposed on persons convicted of criminal offenses
o No conviction, no sentence
o One becomes a correctional client (subject to correctional supervision)
based on the severity of the crime and the defendant's criminal history |