Prisons

Discuss the factors that influence the sentencing process.

Factors that influence the sentencing process: • The administrative context of the courts o Misdemeanor court o Hear 90 percent of criminal cases o Only minority of cases end in jail sentences o Judicial decisions mass produced o Most cases result in: o Fines o Probation • The attitudes and values of judges o Blameworthiness of offender: o Offense severity o Criminal history • The presentence report o Presentence report: o Report prepared by a probation officer, who investigates a convicted offender's background to help the judge select an appropriate sentence.

What were the elements of the Cincinnati declaration?

• 1870 Meeting of the National Prison Association: • Prison operations should stem from a philosophy of inmate change, with reformation rewarded by release. • Indeterminate length sentences replaced by fixed sentences. • Reformation, rather than lapse of time necessary for prisoner's release. • Individuals such as Gaylord Hubbell and Enoch Wines were motivated by human concerns and paved the way for reform. • Classification of prisoners on the basis of character and improvement. • Penitentiary practices of fixed sentences, the lockstep, rules of silence and isolation seen as debasing and humiliating. • The Cincinnati declaration insisted that "reformation is a work of time," and that for the protection of society reformations need to be long enough for the reformatory process to take effect.

Describe the mentally ill offender and the issues corrections have in dealing with them.

• A "disturbed" person whose criminal behavior may be traced to diminished or otherwise abnormal capacity to think or reason, as a result of psychological or neurological disturbance. • Classifying most violent offenders as mentally ill • Overlap between career criminal and psychopath • Psychopath lacks attachment to people or rules • Mental issue is often a separate issue from criminality

Describe the sex offender and the problems associated with corrections.

• A person who has committed a sexual act prohibited by law, such as rape, child molestation, or prostitution, for economic, psychological, or situational reasons. • Corrections usually classifies sex offenders into 3 types: • Sexual Assaulters • Pedophiles • Prostitutes.

Describe the long term prison and the issues of concern for corrections officials.

• A person who serves a lengthy period in prison, such as 10 years or more, before his or her first release. • 24 percent of prisoners serve sentences of 25 years or longer. • Problems for corrections: • Have to make prison life livable for a long time • Maximizing opportunities for the inmate to exercise choice in living circumstances • Creating opportunities for meaningful living • Helping the inmate maintain contact with the outside world

hat issues surround the mentally handicapped offender?

• A person whose limited mental development prevents adjustment to the rules of society. • 2 to 3 percent of the American Population is Mentally Handicapped, for offenders this percentage is much higher. • Problems for corrections: • Usual routines of probation, diversion, incarceration, and community service will not work. • Not comfortable with change. • Not likely to improve significantly in terms of mental condition or social habits. • Tend to violate probation or break prison rules. • Segregated from other prisoners.

Describe the situational offender and the challenges corrections face when dealing with them.

• Crime is usually a serious violent crime: • Murder • Aggravated assault

Describe the underlying assumptions of the positivist school.

• Criminal behavior is not the result of free will but stems from factors over which the individual has no control: • Biological characteristics • Psychological maladjustments • Sociological conditions • Criminals can be treated so that they can lead crime-free lives. • Treatment must center on the individual and the individual's adjustment.

Describe the career criminal and the challenges corrections officials have in handling them.

• Extra costs • Nonprofessional but intermittent offenders being misclassified as career criminals. • Contributes to prison overcrowding • It is important to remember however, that classification of criminals in this manner or any other has social and political significance.

Discuss five key issues facing corrections today.

a) Conflicting goals- Some disagreement exists as to whether or not prisoners can be "corrected." Issues exist regarding rehabilitation and employment among other factors. b) Adequate funding- Competition with other services for funding. c) Making the bureaucracy of correctional services more effective-Monitoring how workers use their time/energy has to become more effective. d) Coordinating correctional activity across different agencies- Dispersed decision making improves interagency coordination. e) Dealing with correctional uncertainty-It is impossible to predict how individual choice will impact the system.

What has the "great experiment of social control" taught us?

a) Great Experiment - Increase in prison population: b) Effects on crime: • No likely effect c) Effects on society: • Damage to families and communities d) Pursuit of justice: • Have we become a more just society?

Describe the principles of the Classical of the Criminology developed by Cesare Beccaria.

a. Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) • Italian scholar who applied the rationalist philosophy of the Enlightenment to the criminal justice system • True aim and only justification for punishment is utility • First attempt to explain crime in secular, or worldly terms, instead of religious terms • Came up with 6 principles of Classical Criminology b. Classical Criminology • School of criminology that views behavior as stemming from free will, that demands responsibility and accountability of all perpetrators, and that stresses the need for punishments severe enough to deter others. c. Main principles: • Basis of all social action must be the utilitarian concept of the greatest good for the greatest number of people. • Crime must be considered an injury to society, and the only rational measure of crime is the extent of the injury • Prevention of crime is more important than punishment for crimes. To prevent crime, laws must be improved and codified so that citizens can understand and support them. • Secret accusations and torture must be abolished. Accused have a right to speedy trials and to humane treatment before trial and right to bring forward evidence on their behalf • The purpose of punishment is crime deterrence, not social revenge. Certainty and swiftness in punishment, rather than severity best secure this goal. • Imprisonment should be more widely employed, and better physical quarters should be provided, with prisoners classified by age, sex, and degree of criminality. d. Beccaria: • Punishment must be essentially public, prompt, necessary, the least possible in given circumstances, proportionate to the crime, dictated by laws. • Imprisonment should be more widely employed and better physical quarters should be provided for prisoners.

What does the term "Wergild" describe?

a."Man money" Money paid to relatives of a murdered person or to the victim of a crime to compensate them and to prevent a blood feud.

What rights are protected by the amendment and what issues are of concern to prison officials and inmates?

counsel in revocation ,due process , probable cause , notified of charges ,• Know evidence against them • Allowed to speak on own behalf

How can corrections officials protect themselves from inmate law?

follow the procedures, know the laws keeping good records

What rights dose the first amendment affords Inmates and what issues are of concern to prison officials and inmates?

freedom of speech and religion

Discuss the court recognized interested justifying restrictions on the constitutional rights prisoners.

maintenance of order maintenance of intuition security rehabilitation of inmates

Describe the concept of " benefit of clergy

The right to be tried in an ecclesiastical court, where punishments were less severe than those meted out by civil courts, given the religious focus on penance and salvation.

Identify the various components of the corrections system today and what are their functions?

A. Subunits: • Probation officers • Halfway houses • Prisons E. Jail • A facility authorized to hold pretrial detainees and sentenced misdemeanants for periods longer than 48 hours. D. Prison • An institution for the incarceration of people convicted of serious crimes, usually felonies. C. Federalism • A system of government in which power and responsibilities are divided between a national government and state governments.

What was the motivation behind the return to the crime control model?

Crime control model of corrections: • Criminal behavior can be controlled by more use of incarceration and other forms of strict supervision. • Reasons for return to crime control model: • Political climate change in 1970s and 1980s • Crime rate at historic levels • Response by legislators, judges, criminal justice officials • By 1980, crime and punishment became intense subject for ideological conflict, partisan politics, and legislative action. • A more punitive ethos during that time (80s & 90s) also influenced it's return.

What is meant by the term "system" and how does it relate it corrections?

A system is a complex whole consisting of interdependent parts whose operations are directed toward common goals and are influenced by the environment in which they function.

What were the principals of the new York and Auburn corrections system

Congregate System • Inmates held in isolation at night but worked with other prisoners during the day under a rule of silence. Inmates were forbidden from talking or even looking at each other while working. • Contract Labor System • Inmate labor sold on a contractual basis to private employers who provided the machinery and raw materials with which inmates made salable products in the institution. States negotiated contracts with manufacturers and prisoners created raw goods. • Lease System • Inmates leased to contractors who provided prisoners with food and clothing in exchange for their labor. In southern states, the prisoners were used as field laborers. • Leasing program used extensively in California, Montana, Oregon, and Wyoming until passage of the Anti-Contract Law of 1887. • Upon becoming a state in 1850, California reformatted its system which led to San Quentin and other prison reforms.

What was the impact of the Age of Reason on corrections?

a. Classical school of criminology emerged: • Rational link between gravity of crime and severity of punishment • Limitations on power of government emphasized • Proposed system of graduated penalties • During this time penal codes were re-written to emphasize adaptation of punishment to the offender. • Also the Penitentiary developed as an institution where criminals could be isolated from society. b. Major shift in penal thought and practice • Penal codes rewritten to emphasize adaption of punishment for the offender • Correctional practices moved from inflicting pain to methods that would set the individual on a path of honesty and right living c. Penitentiary developed as an institution where criminals could: • Be isolated from temptations of society • Reflect on their offenses • Be reformed

Describe the concept of the "exchange" when it comes to corrections.

a. Exchange is a mutual transfer of resources based on decisions regarding the cost and benefits of alternative actions b. In a jail the exchange comes from the officer needing the offenders cooperation to convince superiors that the officer is performing properly; the offender needs the officer's recommendation for favorable termination of parole. c. A staff member and offenders depend on each other to achieve their goals, each person can influence evaluations made by the other.

Describe the six common punishments handed out before the 1800s?

a. Galley Slavery b. Imprisonment c. Transportation d. Hulks: e. Corporal Punishment and Death f. Mutilation • Removing hand or finger • Slitting the nostrils • Severing an ear g. Branding • Offenders were publicly branded so they could be identified h. Hanging • 72,000 people were hanged during Henry VIII's reign

How is the corrections system inter connected?

a. INTERCONNECTEDNESS - A series of processes that have an effect on the rest of the system. b. Corrections can be viewed as a series of processes: Sentencing, Classification, Supervision, Programming, And Revocation c. Offenders pass through the system in an assembly line with return loops

What was the impact of Jeremy Bentham on corrections?

a. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) • English advocate of utilitarianism in prison management and discipline. Argued for the treatment and reform of prisoners. • Came up with the idea of hedonistic calculus. • Created a Penitentiary based on Utilitarian Principles, called a panopticon or inspection house. b. Utilitarianism • Doctrine that the aim of all action should be the greatest possible balance of pleasure over pain, hence the belief that a punishment inflicted on an offender must achieve enough good to outweigh the pain inflicted. c. Bentham's Views • Criminals were childlike or unbalanced, lacking the self-discipline to control their passions by reason. • Behavior was not preordained, rather an exercise of free will. • Crime not sinful but the result of improper calculation. • Criminal law should be organized so that the offender would derive more pain than pleasure from a wrongful act.

What was the impact of John Howard on corrections?

a. John Howard (1726-1790) • English prison reformer whose book The State of Prisons in England and Wales contributed greatly to the passage of the Penitentiary Act of 1779 by the House of Commons. • County squire • Social activist • Sheriff of Bedfordshire • Shocked by conditions in English correctional facilities • Rallied legislative interest in reform • Major proponent of the penitentiary • English Parliament passed Penitentiary Act of 1779 based on Howard's principles • A secure and sanitary structure • Systematic inspections • Abolition of fees • Reformatory regimen • Helped come up with suitable forms of labor for a prison environment (of the hard and servile variety). • Many of Howard's reforms were based on what he saw in prisons in Ireland

What is meant by the law of "lex talionis"?

a. Law of retaliation, the principle that punishment should correspond in degree and kind to the offenses b. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth c. Jurists and writers on international law are divided as to the right of one nation punishing with death, by way of retaliation, the citizen's or subjects of another nation; in, the United States no example of such barbarity has ever been witnessed but, prisoners have been kept in close confinement in retaliation for the same conduct towards American prisoners.

How does the prison population relate to the crime rate in the US?

a. Little relationship between prison population and crime rate. b. 1 in 6, Male African Americans have been to prison. c. In 2008, U.S. imprisonment rate was 506 per 100,000. d. Over 3,200 people on death row and 14,000 serving life sentences. e. Considering all forms of corrections, more than 3% of all adults under some form of correctional control. f. If the people commiting a crimes are in jail then the crime rate should lower, but that's not the case because only 40% of all crimes are reported, so if 60% of crime is not getting reported that will keep the crime rate up.

How are corrections connected to the outside world?

a. Outside forces/influences: • Public opinion • Fiscal constraints • Law b. Corrections has a reciprocal relationship with its environment. c. Correctional Practices have an effect on the community, and community values/expectations have an effect on corrections. d. Is imperative for citizens to have faith in the system as when they do not, they are reluctant to spend tax dollars on the system.

What were the concepts behind the Age of Enlightment?

a. The 1700s in England and France, when concepts of liberalism, rationality, equality, and individualism dominated social and political thinking. • John Locke • Montesquieu • Voltaire • John Calvin • Martin Luther b. Advances in scientific thinking led to: • Observation • Experimentation • Technological development • Sir Isaac Newton c. Scientific Revolution • Encouraged questioning of established institutions • Use of power of reason • Progress

Describe the four forms of criminal sanctions in the United States.

• Incarceration o Indeterminate sentence: o A period of incarceration with minimum and maximum terms stipulated, so that parole eligibility depends on the time necessary for treatment; closely associated with the rehabilitation concept. o Determinate sentence: o A fixed period of incarceration imposed by a court; associated with the concept of retribution or deserved punishment. o Presumptive sentence: o A sentence for which the legislature or a commission sets a minimum and maximum range of months or years, judges are responsible for setting the length of the sentence within that range, allowing for special circumstances. o Mandatory sentence: o A sentence stipulating that some minimum period of incarceration must be served by people convicted of selected crimes, regardless of background circumstances. • Intermediate sanctions & Differential Sentencing o Intermediate sanctions: o A variety of punishments that are more restrictive than traditional probation but less severe than incarceration. o Fines o Home confinement • Probation-(Most frequently applied criminal sanction) o Shock probation: o Sentence in which the offender is released after a short incarceration and resentenced to probation. o Probation generally advocated for rehabilitating offenders whose crimes are less serious or who have clean prior records o Viewed as less expensive and more effective than imprisonment • Death • Judges have discretion in determining the appropriate sentence

Describe the alternatives to litigation available to prison officials?

• Inmate grievance procedures • Ombudsman • A public official who investigates complaints against government officials and recommends corrective measures. • Mediation • Intervention, in a dispute, by a third party to whom the parties in conflict submit their differences for resolution and whose decision (in the correctional setting) is binding on both parties. • Legal assistance • All interventions are designed to solve problems before an inmate feels compelled to file suit.

Discuss the implementation of the medical model in corrections.

• Medical model • Assumption that criminal behavior is caused by social, psychological, or biological deficiencies that require treatment. • 1929: • Congress authorized the Federal Bureau of Prisons to develop institutions to ensure proper classification, care, and treatment of offenders. • Stanford Bates was the first director of the Bureau and pushed forth the medical model.

How did community corrections differ from the medical model and the progressive movement and what did the community corrections offer as their proposal?

• Medical model • Assumption that criminal behavior is caused by social, psychological, or biological deficiencies that require treatment. • Progressives • Group that attacked the excesses of big business and placed their faith in state action to deal with the social problems of slums, adulterated food, dangerous occupational conditions, vice, and crime. • Members of the positivist school of criminology • Mostly came from Upper Class backgrounds • Both of these offers protection in the community

hat issues are of concern for corrections official's involving elderly offenders?

• Nearly 1 in 5 prisoners is over the age of 44 because of: • U.S. population in general is aging • Longer prison sentences • Problems for corrections: • Need for increased medical care • Different social interests than younger offenders • Greater per-inmate operating costs • Elderly offenders also have a variety of concerns when leaving prison

Discuss the goals of the corrections system and how they impact corrections.

• PUNISHMENT • PROTECTION b. When these two functions do not correspond, corrections face goal conflict. c. Correctional activities make sense when prisoners are punished fairly. d. Conflicts between the goals of punishment and protection can cause problems in the way the system operates.

Discuss the substance abuser and the challenges presented to corrections officials.

• Personnel must address the effects of drug dependency while client is in detention, on probation, in prison, or on parole. • High likelihood of rearrest. • Treatment programs that do not have high success rates.

Discuss the concern prison officials have related to prisoners with HIV/AIDS

• Policy issues concerning prison employees. • Prevention • Housing • Medical care • As of 2008, nearly 6,000 offenders in US prisons or jails had been verified as having AIDS and another 22,000 are HIV Positive. • Many more HIV Positive offenders are likely undiagnosed.

Discuss the four programs advocated by the progressives.

• Probation • Recognized individual differences and allowed offenders to be treated in the community under supervision. • Indeterminate Sentences • Minimum and maximum terms, within which the correctional process of rehabilitation could operate. • Parole • Caught on in the US in 1920, during that time period 80% of felons who left prison were placed on parole. • To change other people by having them adopt the Progressive vision of middle class behavior and thought...this particularly applied to issues of recreation and leisure, the status of the family, sexual orientation and behavior. Progressives sought to revive a sense of Victorian family and social values early in the twentieth-century. • To end class conflict between the "have's"(the privileged class) and "the have less," (or have not) • To effect a measure of control over big business • To segregate society into groups, based on occupation (labor, management,etc) race, sex (laws protecting women insured secondary status in employment), and immigration status. Segregation of the races was seen by Progressives as a method of stabilizing race relations. Four Main Goals of the Progressive Movement are- 1. Protecting Social Welfare. 2. Fostering Efficiencey. 3. Moral Improvement. 4. Economic Reform.

what are the purposes of the corrections system?

• Protecting society by punishing people who break society's rules. • Help define the limits of behavior so everyone understands what is permissible. • Central purpose is to carry out the criminal sentence. • The three basic concepts of offense, guilt, and punishment define the purposes/procedures of criminal justice system.

Discuss the variety of "test" the courts consider when deciding on the legality of restricting prisoner's right.

• Rational basis test • Requires that a regulation provide a reasonable, rational method of advancing a legitimate institutional goal:

What are the 4 sources of correctional law? Describe each.

• Regulations (Rules made by federal, state, and local administrative agencies) • Case law (Foundation of legal system, prior rulings establish a legal precedent) • Statutes (Laws passed by legislature at all levels of government) • Constitutions (Basic Principles/Procedural Safe Guards)

Describe the four goals of punishment.

• Retribution (Deserved Punishment) Retribution: o Punishment inflicted on a person who has infringed on the rights of others and deserves to be penalized. The severity of the sanction should fit the seriousness of the crime. o Underlying philosophy o "Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" • Deterrence (Two Types: Specific/General) General: o Punishment of criminals that is intended to be an example to the general public and to discourage the commission of offenses by others. • Incapacitation (Detention/Incarceration, removes offender from society) Incapacitation: o Depriving an offender of the ability to commit crimes against society, usually by detaining the offender in prison. • Rehabilitation (Restoring offender to a more constructive place in society) Rehabilitation: o The goal of restoring a convicted offender to a constructive place in society through some form of vocational or educational training or therapy.

Discuss the criteria used to determine the classification of prison inmates.

• Specific sets of objective criteria, such as offense history, previous experience in the justice system, and substance abuse patterns, applied to all inmates to determine an appropriate classification. • Offense criteria classify offenders as to the seriousness of the crime committed. • Risk criteria classify offenders as to the probability of future criminal conduct. • Program criteria classify offenders as to the nature of correctional treatment appropriate to the person's need and situation.

What rights are protected in the 4th amendment and what issue are of concern to prison officials and inmates?

• The Fourth Amendment: • Prohibits only unreasonable searches and seizures. • A variety of specific cases based on this amendment have been contested in court including: • Lanza v. New York (1962) • US v. Hitchcock (1972) • This amendment was designed to protect areas of privacy from government intrusion. However, once in prison most of these rights are forfeited.

What were the principles of the Pennsylvania corrections system?

• The Great Law of Pennsylvania • Based on humane Quaker principles and emphasized hard labor in a house of correction as punishment for most crimes. • Death reserved for premeditated murder • The law was used until 1718 when it was replaced by the Anglican Code • The Anglican Code featuring 13 laws, 12 of which (Larceny was the exception) were punishable by death • Corporal Punishment was used for a variety of offenses • Prisoners would not be treated vengefully but should be convinced that through hard and selective forms of suffering they could change their lives. • Solitary confinement would prevent further corruption inside prison. • In isolation, offenders would reflect on their transgressions and repent. • Solitary confinement would be punishment because humans are by nature social beings. • Solitary confinement would be economical because prisoners would not need long periods of time to repent, and therefore fewer keepers would be needed and the costs of clothing would be lower.

Describe the two primary forms of unjust punishment and the factors associated with each.

• Unjust punishment can be result of: • Sentencing disparities (Divergent penalties imposed on offenders with similar criminal histories. This is often done by race and class). o Sentencing disparity: o 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. o Discrimination occurs when criminal justice officials either directly or indirectly treat someone differently because of their race, ethnicity, gender, or class. o Average prison term for White offenders is 58 months, compared to 63 months for African American Offenders. • Wrongful convictions (17 people who have spent time on death row, have been wrongly convicted). o Wrongful conviction: o Occurs when an innocent person is found guilty by either plea or verdict. o DNA convictions/exonerations o Why do wrongful convictions occur? o Eyewitness error