Essay On The Penal Harm Movement

Francis T. Cullen

Assessing the Penal Harm Movement

Explain the rise of the penal harm movement. How does this relate to broader issues in corrections today?

The key rationale behind corrections is to punish law breakers while also reforming offenders to be constructive in society. However, the utilization of the penal harm movement, and the unintended consequences that arose from this movement suggests otherwise. This deliberate measure has deteriorated the main purpose of correctional facilities. The penal harm movement has to led to overcrowding of prisons, degraded inmate living, and health conditions, and numerous other ramifications, which continues to cause society further complications in finding a more efficacious and progressive response to crime.

The penal harm movement of 1970’s was introduced to the U.S. correctional facilities by policy makers, after pressure from the public to inflict harsher punishment on inmates. The corrections system often justifies the increasement of penal harm on the basis of retribution and deterrence. According to Cullen, the penal harm movement is “…a movement whose supreme aim is the infliction of penal harm” (58). Society have used words such as incapacitation to mask and minimize the true intentions of penal harm. However, the issues and consequences of penal harm still remains unmasked.

Cullen, Cullen elaborates the consequences that arose from the penal harm movement. The decline of rehabilitation programs, inmate amenities, and sentencing disparities are also discussed. Cullen further reviews the evolution of punishments throughout time, and the distinctions of the corrections system in each historical era. He strongly argues toward the necessity for a corrections system where resources are allocated efficiently, in helping the poor and the minorities climb out of poverty stricken areas. Which in return will remarkably benefit society as a