Download Chapter 1 - Sheriff Larry Waller

Chapter 1
The Goals of
Correctional Policy
Corrections
• Content: Jails, probation, prisons, parole
• Context: Democracy, bureaucracy
• Goals: Fairness (law) and efficiency
(science) justice and medical models
Goals of Punishment
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Retribution
Treatment–reintegration
Deterrence
Boundary setting
Restitution
Just deserts
Incapacitation
Sentencing Structures
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Indeterminate
Determinate
Mandatory
Presumptive sentences
Political Control of Corrections
Legislature
Courts
Executive
Budgets
Degree of
control varies
Mandates
Powers
Duties
Trial Courts:
nature of
population
Appoints policy
makers
Appellate Courts: Source of
interpretation of authority for
laws
most agencies
The Goal Controversy
• To strive for justice via punishment?
– Legal equality of individuals based on ability to
make choices (i.e., free will)
• To seek efficiency via discipline and
control?
– Science examines uniqueness of individuals
and effects of discipline/control
• ability to make choices (liberal), and
• dangerousness (conservative)
Punishment
• Infliction of pain
• Symbolizes rejection
• Alienates recipient
Discipline
• Training, learning rules
• Requires honesty, respect, loyalty
• Utilizes rewards and punishments
– Context critical
Moral View of Corrections
• Goals are:
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Fairness
Compensation
Emotional relief
Boundary setting
• Focus is on past action (crime)
• Set by conscience, resource limits
– Legal
Principle of Least Eligibility
Offenders should have more difficulty
getting goods, services, jobs, etc. than
others
Utilitarian View
of Corrections
• Goals are:
– Efficiency
– Minimize future crime
• Focus on future behavior, costs
• Set by knowledge of behavior, offender
– Scientific
Retribution
• Moral
• Pain to offender that slightly surpasses that
of victim
• Retaliation, vengeance
Just Deserts
• Modern revision of retribution
• Focus is on (restoring) society’s sense of
fairness
Restitution
• Utilitarian – Material compensation of
victim
• Violence – state fund
• Property – arranged through sentencing
court and probation authorities
• Community Service for crimes without
complainants
Deterrence
• Utilitarian complement to retribution/just
deserts
• Sets example for rational actors to follow
• Certainty critical
– swiftness, severity more easily adjusted
• Ineffective with impulsive, compulsive acts
Types of Deterrence
GENERAL
• Punishes offender to
encourage others to
avoid that behavior
• The most common use
of term “deterrence”
SPECIFIC
• Attempts to
discourage offender
from repeating act
Boundary Setting
• Utilitarian, communicates values
• Defines membership in society
– Outcasts = offenders
• What are the rules?
• Which are most important?
Incapacitation
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Utilitarian
Physically preventing further crimes
Expensive when used as main policy
Most effective when applied selectively
Treatment–Reintegration
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Utilitarian
Seeks return of offender as taxpayer
Cuts costs of recidivism
Violates principle of least eligibility
Capability varies with type of offender and
level of investment
• Requires forgiveness, monitoring
Legal Approaches to
Incapacitation
Sentencing Methods and Structures
Enacted by Legislature
Employed by Courts
Determinant Sentences
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Crime + prior record = sentence
Judge chooses from range set by legislature
Good time reductions only
Release date known from outset
Mandatory Sentences
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Penalty set by legislature
Conviction assures sentence
No judicial discretion
May permit good time
Presumptive (guideline)
Sentencing
• Guidelines set according to past practices
– Severity of crime
– Prior record
– Other legally permissible recidivism predictors
• Deviations must be explained, approved
• Used in federal system
Truth in Sentencing
• Legislature requires X% of sentence be
served prior to consideration for release
• An “add–on” to indeterminant structures
Retributive Justice
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Goal = fairness, affirmation of conformity
Reduce offender’s status
Make offender an outcast
Inflict pain on offender
Restorative Justice
• Assure that victim, community and offender
are healed
• Main goal – prevention of future crimes
• Methods: restitution, mediation
Impact of
Justice Model Sentences
• Prison populations more than tripled in less
than 20 years
• Prisons became main expense of many
states
– Education and health often sacrificed
• Credited with reducing crime rate
– This debated due to age and economic changes
– One study linked releasees with increased
murders
Growth of the
U.S. Prison Population