Sociology of corrections
Typically, there are four justifications for punishment that are still used today in the United States: Retribution, deterrence, incapication, and rehabilitation. There are many ways of reaching these justifications besides prison today, which are made to help the current problems in the criminal justice system. There are many different views about the effectiveness of these justifications, and with all of the problems in the criminal justice system many questions are left unanswered today, such as......How well do the realities of the correctional enterprise concur with these justifications of punishment ? Reality in this aspect generally means the rate of recidivism for a given offender. According to Marquart and Sorensen, "It may be possible to manipulate certain gross features of the existing, conceptional prison system- such as length of sentence and degree of security- in order to affect these recidivism rates. " (Correctional Contexts, Roxbury Publishing company, 1997, pg. 299 ) The recidivism rates for any given offender depend upon a lot of variables, one of which being, time of sentence. One harsh reality of the correctional enterprise is that the majority of the correctional institutions in the United
8 million are incarcerated" ( Class discussion, September 7 ) With the serious problem of correctional institutions being over crowded, it doesn't help the institution itself, as well as not helping the inmate. 6 2-63 ) all of theseforms of punishment are available to help the courts decide something else to do with offenders rather then imprisonment. When a given individual breaks the laws mandated by society, he/she needs to be punished. Rehabilitation clearly conflicts with the other goals. If I had ever seen anyone walking around with a nub for a hand, I would never steal a thing in my life !!! People have to be punished though, you could not go through society, not obide by the law, and expect not to be punished for it. 6 1 ) Judges try and impliment sentences for these three justifications as often as possible when it fits the crime, however rehabilitation according to Clear and Cole conflict with the other three justifications. With all of this in mind, come all of these new punishments that help relieve some of the burden of decision making on the correctional world. However, in the middle east, if you are cought stealing, they chop off your hand. Is this really teaching a lesson, or deterring criminals from wanting to commit crime again ? Especially the criminal that is of low economic status with no education, which according to class discussion also has the highest rate of recidivism. If incarceration consists mainly of a pleasant rehabilitative experience, its deterrent power is lost. Which in a lot of peoples opinions, rehabilitation should be the first thing on the agenda of the courts for each offender, however, that's not the case. A 1992 survey said that, "there are 3,500 county jails in the United States today, and there are 400,000 inmates inhabiting them. , working out and social time, schooling, and learning a trade. This is one of the main reasons that we have so many new approaches for punishment rather then using incarceration.
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