ipl-logo

Recidivism In Corrections

1494 Words6 Pages

By definition, corrections are the variety of programs, services, facilities, and organizations responsible for the management of individuals who have been accused or convicted of criminal offenses (Clear 11). Yet, looking at what prisons are giving inmates today, it seems that this definition is not being upheld. There has been a lack of funding towards new programs that could prevent inmates from returning to prison, and the result is an increase in recidivism in prisons all over the United States. Since World War II through the 1970s, many changes have occurred in the United States correctional systems. During these years, the correctional system has transformed from the rehabilitation model to a more punitive model. During the 1950s …show more content…

During the 70s, the public was upset that some violent offenders were given the opportunity to be released from prison and commit further crimes. The fear over increasing crime rates and the failure to reform offenders led to the federal government to pass the Comprehensive Crime Control Act. In 1984, the U.S. Congress passed the Comprehensive Crime Control Act. The Sentencing Reform Act was included in the initial Crime Control Act. The sentencing reform made changes to federal sentencing and parole policies by replacing unspecified sentences with defined terms of imprisonment. Early releases through parole were abolished and replaced with supervised release. The determinate sentencing structure of the sentencing guidelines rejects the rehabilitative model’s notion that the rehabilitative capacity of offenders should determine sentence lengths. (Maulhausen, 2010) This change from reform to punitive required offenders to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence with the possibility of early release based on good behavior for the remaining 15 percent of the sentence. During the time of rehabilitation, offenders only served, on average, 58 percent of their prison sentences. (Maulhausen, 2010) Since the United State is using a get tough on crime approach, punishment is now a prisons main function. As a result, the punitive model has caused an explosion in prison …show more content…

In creating a balanced system, different types of criminals need to be sentenced to a specific program that fits both the personality of the offender and the crime they committed. “Poorly implemented programs, delivered by untrained personnel, where offenders spend only a minimal amount of time in the program, can hardly be expected to successfully reduce recidivism.” (Mackenzie, p.26) The prisons of the 21st century need to be very different from the unsuccessful prison systems and beliefs of the 20th century. The biggest change in correctional beliefs needs to be that prisons should only house violent criminals. Non-violent criminals are more of a threat to themselves than to society and can be punished using community-based corrections. It is necessary to keep non-violent criminals separate from violent criminals, as to keep non-violent criminals from escalating to the commission of violent crimes once they are released from prison. The elimination of all drug felons from the prison system will allow prisons to function more smoothly and create programs focused toward the rehabilitation of violent criminals. Another benefit of using community-based corrections are that the prisons will become extremely less populated, and the money used to finance prisons can be put toward hiring

Show More
Related
1396 Words | 6 Pages

In “Are Prisons Obsolete,” Angela Davis, an American activist who served 16 months in prison before being acquitted, argues that today's prison systems fail to address the root causes of crime. Despite their intended purpose, prisons lack the structure needed to rehabilitate inmates. We become so quick to assume that imprisoning criminals leads to a safer environment. As prisons continue to expand and their inmate population rises, they become embedded in society's norms without the consent of the people or critical examination of their effectiveness. Davis argues for reform, noting that the current system has serious flaws in addressing criminal behavior, as she believes crime will continue to persist and keep growing exponentially within

Read More
1128 Words | 5 Pages

Should Convicted Felons be Entitled to More Rights? Everyday thousands of individuals are incarcerated into the United States prison system. As soon as these jailed individuals start their term, they give up multiple rights they had prior to being convicted. Each convicted felon is treated the same regardless of the crime they committed and lose the same amount of rights. The amount of constitutional rights taken away from convicted felons should depend on the severity of their crime.

Read More
1097 Words | 5 Pages

Today in the United States, there is more than 7.1 million individuals under correctional supervision. For every 100,000 people, there is approximately 737 people incarcerated, nearly seven times higher than the world average incarceration rate of 166 per 100,000 people. This rapid explosion of prison populations over the past 25 years can largely be attributed to The War on Drugs and mandatory minimums which have primarily target the African-American community. Mandatory sentencing guides have led to many individuals being locked up for minor drug offences and non-violent crimes. As a result, prisons are overflowing with incarcerated individuals.

Read More
312 Words | 2 Pages

Prison reform has been an ongoing topic in the history of America, and has gone through many changes in America's past. Mixed feelings have been persevered on the status of implementing these prison reform programs, with little getting done, and whether it is the right thing to do to help those who have committed a crime. Many criminal justice experts have viewed imprisonment as a way to improve oneself and maintain that people in prison come out changed for the better (encyclopedia.com, 2007). In the colonial days, American prisons were utilized to brutally punish individuals, creating a gruesome experience for the prisoners in an attempt to make them rectify their behavior and fear a return to prison (encyclopedia.com, 2007). This practice may have worked 200 years ago, but as the world has grown more complex, time has proven that fear alone does not prevent recidivism.

Read More
524 Words | 3 Pages

Food stamps are provided to help Americans who struggle with food insecurity. People that are not sure where there next meal is coming from are given help so they can get by in difficult times. Maine's Governor, Paul LePage has lobbied that food stamps should ban the purchasing of candy and sugary drinks. The purpose of food stamps is not violated by this restriction, candy and soda hardly count as a nutritious, filling meal. However this bill was shot down by the Federal Government, LePage's response was to threaten to scrap the food stamp program if these new regulations are not included.

Read More
1728 Words | 7 Pages

The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for several reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. This literature review will discuss the ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system and how mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism has become a problem.

Read More
687 Words | 3 Pages

Between 1980 and 2010, half of the 222% increase in the nationwide prison population was due to longer sentencing, with the number of prisoners servicing life sentences having increased dramatically (Fair Fight Initiative, n.d.). In previous decades, victim impact statements and truth in sentencing laws required offenders to serve approximately 50% of their sentences, now, as a result of victim’s rights legislation, offenders must serve at least 85% of their sentences (Rio Salado College, n.d.). With inmates serving more time before qualifying for parole, the incarcerated population continues to increase. Events Leading Up to the Corrections Explosion Events that have led up to the corrections explosion include the 1980s war on drugs, 1980s and 1990s mandatory minimum sentencing laws, three strike laws, and victim rights legislation (Rio Salado College, n.d.). The war on drugs in the 1980s led to the implementation of stringent drug laws.

Read More
915 Words | 4 Pages

The literature answers the issues of incarceration rates increasing by giving us the product such as legislative decisions that were the primary reason that led to the increase of charging and imprisoning more offenders as well as increasing sentences, limiting prison release, and expanding the prison capacity. Higher incarceration rates were not the sole reason for the increase in crime. Prisons were continuing to be built even though crime had been declining. Later resulting in the sharpest decrease in crime in American history. Essentially every states incarceration rate was increased by 150 percent from 1970 to 2000, and the median state increasewas 390 percent, which was taken from the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2012.

Read More
938 Words | 4 Pages

School programs were without supplies, inmate classifications weren’t distinguishable, detailed treatment plans fell short, and harsh fines depleted the worth and value of paid labor. Due to the lack of guidelines for indeterminate sentencing the original promise and purpose was lost and abused by officials seeking to gain further control over insubordinate inmates. Parole board members were unqualified and failed at adequately reviewing offenders progress or failures. Overcrowding pushed for early release, rendering requirements lax and often overlooked. Once released, parole officers failed at physically supervising offenders, relying on paperwork and formalities to monitor their progress and reform (Blomberg & Lucken, 2010, pp.

Read More
1485 Words | 6 Pages

The retribution part is to punish the person for the crime that they permitted against society, and the incapacitation part is to remove that person out of society so they do no further harm. Deterrence means the prevention of future crime, and the rehabilitation teaches life skills and in the betterment. However, author Sandiford says that instead of solving crime, mass incarceration has infected our communities and striking them with devastating symptoms, and prison costs have skyrocketed, inmates ' families have been torn apart, and the system is overwhelmingly stratified by race and class (Sandiford,

Read More
1529 Words | 7 Pages

The punishment is that they are with us” (Paragraph 2). Instead, prisons focus on rehabilitation. Most citizens understand that in order to have long term effects, it take long processes that take a while to get used to. “The country’s well-education population [appreciate] that almost all prisoners will return to society. They understand [...] that the more the penal system can do within the small window of opportunity during a prisoner’s incarceration, the better it will be in the long run” (Paragraph 15).

Read More
380 Words | 2 Pages

With well over two million people incarcerated in the United States and countless more tied up within the criminal justice system, alternatives to incapacitation are needed now more than ever. Jails and prisons are feeling the strain on their resources due to overcrowding. This overcrowding has debilitated their ability to function as a place to serve out sentences and to rehabilitate inmates. Alternatives to incarceration could reduce prison populations as well as reduce economic costs. A few programs that have shown to be effective are probation and restorative justice.

Read More
3020 Words | 13 Pages

If the criminal justice system is effective, it should be able to reduce the rate of recidivism by providing appropriate punishment, rehabilitation, and support to offenders. High rates of recidivism suggest that the criminal justice system is not effectively addressing the underlying causes of criminal behavior or providing adequate support to help offenders reintegrate into society. This can result in a cycle of crime and punishment that is not only costly to society, but can also perpetuate social inequality and lead to further criminal behavior. Reducing recidivism requires a multifaceted approach that includes not only punishment, but also education, job training, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and other forms of support that can help offenders address the underlying causes of their criminal behavior and reintegrate into society. By reducing recidivism, the criminal justice system can help to create safer communities, reduce the burden on the criminal justice system, and promote greater social justice.

Read More
3599 Words | 15 Pages

Punishment as rehabilitation as a way to decrease crime has no concrete evidence of working because most criminals don’t think of the consequences of their actions until the crime has already been committed. If they’re going to commit a crime, they’re unconcerned with what happens after. Along with incarceration being a punishment, many federal prisons in the United States also use the death penalty. Despite the risk of facing death themselves, many criminals still commit the murders that lead to their death sentence, but for reasons unknown despite all the research done, they murder even more in the states that have the death penalty (Nolen). Researchers are able to make the conclusion that punishment in any way as a course of action to rehabilitate inmates is ineffective and needs to be changed by the

Read More
717 Words | 3 Pages

The correctional system consists of many different government agencies that are responsible for protecting the population from dangerous individuals who may bring self harm or bring harm to others. The correctional system is made to keep everyone safe from those who are considered a criminal or convict. Punishment and rehabilitation are two of the methods used for those who have been categorized as criminals. Punishment consists of parole, probation, imprisonment and death whereas rehabilitation consists of redirection for an individual that has been convicted of a crime. Rehabilitation is a method that could be a mental aid for someone who may possess a mental illness depending on the severance of the crime.

Read More

More about Recidivism In Corrections

Related Topics

Open Document