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Chapter 1

Chapter 1. Corrections: An Overview. The Corrections Explosion. Causative Factors: Get-tough-on-crime laws. Three-strikes, two-strikes, zero tolerance The War on Drugs. Parole authorities’ fear of civil liability and public outcry. The growth dynamic of the corrections boom.

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Chapter 1

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  1. Chapter 1 Corrections: An Overview

  2. The Corrections Explosion • Causative Factors: • Get-tough-on-crime laws. • Three-strikes, two-strikes, zero tolerance • The War on Drugs. • Parole authorities’ fear of civil liability and public outcry. • The growth dynamic of the corrections boom.

  3. National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 • Jim Webb (D-VA) and Arlen Specter (D-PA) • Probation and Parole • Incarceration vs. Crime Rates • Prisons and Jails: 756 per 100,000 residents • Prisons alone: 506 per 100,000 residents

  4. Correctional Clients • Prison inmates • Probationers • Parolees • Offenders assigned to alternative sentencing programs • Offenders held in jails

  5. Careers in Corrections • Growing correctional populations have led to an expanding workforce • Uniformed officers in prisons alone estimated at more than 215,000 • Including juvenile detention, probation, parole, administrators, jail personnel, and others boosts that number to nearly 750,000 nationwide.

  6. Types of Crime • Felony: A serious criminal offense; specifically one punishable by death or by incarceration in a prison facility for more than a year. • Misdemeanor: A relatively minor violation of the criminal law, such as petty theft or simple assault, punishable by confinement for one year or less. • Infraction: A minor violation of a state statute or local ordinance punishable by a fine or other penalty other than incarceration, or by a specified, usually very short term of incarceration.

  7. Other Types of Crime • Violent Crime: Interpersonal crime that involves the use of force by offenders or results in injury or death to victims, e.g. murder, rape, or robbery. • Property Crime: Burglary, larceny, automobile theft, and arson, as reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

  8. Measuring and Reporting Crime • FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. • Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). • These can aid in projecting the need for detention and rehabilitation services and facilities.

  9. Criminal Justice • As Process: the process of achieving justice through the application of criminal law and through the workings of the criminal justice system. Also, the study of the field of criminal justice. • As System: the collective agencies that perform criminal justice operations, administration, and technical support functions. The basic divisions include police, courts, and corrections.

  10. Entering the System • Arraignment: An appearance in court prior to trial in a criminal proceeding. • Preliminary Hearing: A pre-trial hearing that may follow arraignment to determine whether there is probable cause to believe that the accused committed a crime within the jurisdiction of the court.

  11. Judicial Procedures • Nolle Prosequi: A prosecutor’s action to drop criminal charges after the charges have been filed. When the action is taken, a case is said to be “nolled” or “nollied.” • Nolo Contendre:To accept a penalty without admitting guilt. The judge may accept or reject the plea. • Adjudication: The process by which a court arrives at a final decision in a case.

  12. Sentencing Options • May include: • Death • Incarceration • Probation • Fines • Restitution • Community Service

  13. The Correctional Subsystem • Institutional Corrections: A report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) says it is that aspect of the correctional enterprise that “involves the confinement and rehabilitation of adults and juveniles convicted of offenses against the law, and the confinement of persons suspected of a crime awaiting trial and adjudication.”

  14. The Correctional Subsystem - Continued • Noninstitutional Corrections (also called community corrections): BJS calls this that aspect of the correctional enterprise that includes “pardon, probation, and parole activities, correctional administration not directly connectable to institutions, and miscellaneous [activities] not directly related to institutional care.”

  15. Corrections • All the various aspects of the pretrial and postconviction management of individuals accused or convicted of crimes. • This definition is convenient for discussion purposes but also encompasses the fourteen elements listed in the text.

  16. Corrections Defined • Mores: Cultural restrictions on behavior that forbid serious violations of a group’s values. • Folkways: Time-honored ways of doing things. Although they carry the force of tradition, their violation is unlikely to threaten the social group’s survival. • Criminal Law: body of rules that define public offenses.

  17. Professionalism • Profession: An occupation granted high social status by virtue of the personal integrity of its members. • CorrectionsProfessional: A dedicated person of high moral character and personal integrity who is employed in the field of corrections and takes professionalism to heart. • Certification: A credentialing process, usually involving testing and career development assessment, through which the skills, knowledge, and abilities of correctional personnel can be formally recognized.

  18. Core Traits • Expanded on in the text, these four traits have been identified as essential to effective work in corrections • Accountability • Strong Writing Skills • Effective Presentational Skills • A Logical Mind and the Ability to Solve Problems

  19. Standard-Setting Organizations • American Correctional Association (ACA) • American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) • American Jail Association (AJA)

  20. Credentialing • The ACA’s program for certifying officers is part of a process called credentialing. • Discussed in detail in Chapter 13, ACA’s accreditation program certifies a facility’s or program’s quality through meeting industry-set standards.

  21. Evidence Based Corrections • Application of social scientific techniques to Corrections • Focuses on what works • The “evidence” is evidence of a program working, not criminal evidence • As contrasted with opinion-based policy

  22. Social Diversity in Corrections • Race • Racism • Ethnicity • Gender • How these aspects of social diversity impact the field, its personnel, clients, and issues

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