Suicide and the Death Penalty: Social and Legal Considerations

1. Chapter 30 Suicide

2. Objectives • Outline the prevalence of suicide in the United States and its prison populations • Explain the correlation between social and individual characteristics and suicide • Describe the steps needed to construct a proper correctional suicide prevention and treatment program

3. Social and Individual Considerations • Demographic factors cause people to experience life differently, leading to different stressors and coping skills • Men constitute 80% of completed suicides, while women self-report three times more attempts • Men are more likely to use a firearm • Caucasians are twice as likely to commit suicide as African Americans • Third leading killer of young people 15-24

4. Social and Individual Considerations (cont.) • Individual risk factors • History of mental illness • Substance abuse • Previous suicide attempts • Isolation • Relationship loss • Feelings of hopelessness • Physical illness

5. Social and Individual Considerations (cont.) • Protective factors • Family and community support • Interpersonal coping skills • Cultural or religious beliefs that suicide is wrong

6. Stigma • Some religions state that suicide leads to eternal damnation • Others are more respectful of deceased and family • Some people shun family or blame them • Correctional officers must value the lives of suicidal inmates to ensure that prevention programs work

7. Correlates of Suicide • Small jails have rates 5 times that of large ones • Whites and males are most likely to kill themselves • Jail suicide was concentrated in first week • Hanging was most common method

8. Legal Considerations • Legal responsibility depends on concept of deliberate indifference • Corrections workers must have known that a person was suicidal and did nothing about it

9. Attitudes and Training • Staff members ask about suicidal risk factors such as previous suicide attempts • May refer at-risk inmates to mental health or substance abuse professionals

10. Attitudes and Training (cont.) • Six-point framework for written policy • Training • Identification and Assessment • Housing • Levels of Supervision • Intervention • Follow-Up Administrative Reviews

11. Program Example • High rate of suicide in Kentucky lead to creation of Jail Mental Health Crisis Network • Provides following services: • Training on signs of suicide and mental illness • Screening instruments identify risk and needs • Assessment via phone • Management protocols for each level • Mental Health follow-up by trained professionals

12. Community Health Workers • Many rural areas have services provided by private psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers. • Often have standing contracts with community mental health centers

13. Conclusion • Suicide rates in correctional setting have decreased since 1980s • Suicide prevention programs have been advanced to focus on first week of incarceration as well as inmates with mental health and substance abuse issues

14. Chapter 31 The Death Penalty

15. Objectives • Describe the role of religious and activist groups in the capital punishment debate • Explain why the death penalty has become such an emotional topic in the administration of justice in the United States • Examine how states differ in their capital punishment laws

16. A Brief History • Capital punishment goes back to earliest human cultures • Methods were cruel and the goal of punishment was to create a painful experience • Some states abolished death penalty in early 1900s; others reinstated it later • Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that the use of the death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment because it was not applied fairly to all defendants

17. A Brief History (cont.) • In Gregg v. Georgia, the Supreme Court approved guidelines for a jury to follow in determining the death penalty • Ruled against mandating the death penalty for certain crimes • States returned to greater use of the death penalty following these rulings

18. Arguments Against the Death Penalty • Long waits on death row • Few individuals are actually executed • Between 1973 and 1995, only 5% of inmates on death row nationwide were executed • Unclear qualifications • Inconsistency in sentencing guidelines comes from ambiguous standards in the law • Inmates find myriad loopholes to prolong their stay on death row • Interpretations vary widely among judges and juries due to loosely defined guidelines

19. Arguments Against the Death Penalty (cont.) • Complexity of appeals • Complexity of appeals contributes to significant time delays • Estimated 40% of decisions are reversed on appeal • High financial cost • Capital punishment is actually more costly than life in prison without parole

20. Arguments Against the Death Penalty (cont.) • Racial discrimination • Some argue that the process discriminates against some races and ethnicities • Offenders with Caucasian victims are more likely to be sentenced to death • African Americans are overrepresented on death row • Those with low socioeconomic status are also disproportionately given death sentences

21. Arguments Against the Death Penalty (cont.) • Limited effect on deterrence • Infrequency with which capital punishment is imposed can hardly be expected to deter others • Irregularity and inconsistency of dispensing the death penalty is its greatest weakness • Failure of legal representation • ABA voted to halt the death penalty due to concern over the inconsistent quality of legal representation

22. Arguments Against the Death Penalty (cont.) • Unfair application based on location of the crime • Prosecutors in urban areas seek the death penalty five times more than those in rural areas • Wrongful execution • Possibility of executing an innocent person is a major weakness • Over 115 people have been proven innocent and released from death row in the past 30 years

23. Support for Capital Punishment • Death penalty advocates argue that costs would be significantly lowered in capital punishment cases without prolonging trials and appeals – Constitution does not guarantee them “super due process” • Some argue the death penalty deters others from crime • Greatest support is simply retribution – death penalty is deserved punishment for some crimes • May offer comfort to families of the victims

24. Death Row Operations • Average inmate spends 12.25 years on death row before execution • Some states mainstream death-sentenced inmates • Most states have separate death row operations • Inmates spend most of their time in secure cells and are out minimal time for recreation and showers

25. Emotional Ordeal of an Execution • Traumatic for staff • Institutions are careful to protect the identity of those who participate • AMA prohibits participation of physicians • Nurses or emergency medical technicians are often responsible for inserting the needles

26. Special Exemptions • Roper v. Simmons – Supreme Court ruled that offenders under the age of 18 when they committed the crime cannot be executed • Atkins v. Virginia – Supreme Court ruled it cruel and unusual punishment to execute mentally handicapped persons

27. Conclusion • Whether one invokes economic, moral, social, or legal reasoning, it is not enough to convince the other side of the rightfulness or wrongfulness of the death penalty

28. Chapter 32 Gang Management

29. Objectives • Describe which criteria distinguish prison and street gangs in a correctional institution • Examine management dilemmas that prison and street gangs pose to the safe and orderly operation of prisons • Outline how unmonitored communication networks can create prison security problems

30. Defining a Gang • Traditional prison gangs of 1960s and 1970s consisted of adult criminals who were organized into hierarchies with rank differentiation • These prison gangs were efficient criminal organizations • Street gangs were social groups whose members were younger inmates, with simple hierarchies, less status differentiation, and less defined leadership • Street gangs were less efficient criminal organizations

31. Defining a Gang (cont.) • Today, the term security threat group (STG) is used more often and applies to groups in which: • Affiliation is based on race, ethnicity, geography, ideology, or a combination • Members seek one another’s protection • Economic objective, such as drug distribution, that is linked to violence or threats of violence • Power of STGs has been stifled in recent years

32. Gang Management Program • Requires a comprehensive and holistic policy that specifies legal precedents, procedures, and guidelines • Strong policy should include: • Statement of institution’s philosophy on gang management • Operational definition of STG that fits institution’s management plan, culture, and climate • Established list of ground rules in gang investigations and prosecutions

33. Gang Management Program (cont.) • Well-managed program links gang classification and intelligence gathering to institution security and inmate programs • Identify strategies to prevent new inmates from participating in gang activities • Allow current members a way out of STGs • Develop zero tolerance culture for gang activity • Encourage participation in other activities

34. Gang Management Program (cont.) • Role of Prison Staff • Paperwork and procedures are straightforward • Staff become “gang detectives” while trying to deal with human resources of gangs • Selecting qualified personnel is most important step • Need to carefully screen all potential applicants to the institution for gang ties

35. Gang Management Program (cont.) • Curbing Communication Networks • Keep logs of STG members’ visitors, monitor telephone calls and mail, stay in touch with local police agencies • Require inmates to obtain permission to send letters to inmates at different correctional institutions

36. Social Control • Ensure that minor problems are addressed appropriately • Social and physical environment can influence inmates’ behavior • Withdrawing inmate incentives and using lockdown is a gamble • Super-maximum facilities can be effective with the most violent offenders • Housing can play an important role in controlling STGs

37. Intelligence and Data Collection • Improved surveillance, improved layout, and sophisticated intelligence-gathering strategies have curtailed prison gangs’ rackets • Key to gang intelligence is continuously updating data • Staff should maintain local and national ties with gang units and attend training on gang intelligence

38. Intelligence and Data Collection (cont.) • STG management is job of all employees • Gangs are social groups • Staff must be familiar with gang tattoos, graffiti, and symbols • Data must be well-organized and carefully analyzed once gathered

39. Conclusion • Proactive defense against gang expansion will include the development of a comprehensive institution management system to encourage inmates’ cooperation and participation in programs • Challenge of curbing STG growth will best be met with modern crime intelligence techniques and good planning

40. Chapter 33 Special Needs Offenders

41. Objectives • Describe the variety and prevalence of physical and mental health issues present in a prison population • Outline the challenges posed by inmates with disabilities or special needs • Identify some of the measures that institutions must take to manage inmates with special needs effectively

42. Introduction • Special needs offenders are those with unusual or unique requirements stemming from • Physical or mental age • Physical impairment • Terminal illness • Chronic medical condition • Mental illness • Mental retardation

43. Special Needs Classification • Physical impairments are defined as severe mobility, visual, hearing, and speech limitations • Mentally ill are those with any diagnosed disorder in DSM • Mental retardation is having less than normal intelligence, usually IQ < 70 • Terminally ill have a fatal illness and less than 6 months to live • Geriatric offenders are those over the age of 65, although some institutions use 50 as the cut off

44. Prevalence • Midyear 2005, more than 50% of state and federal inmates suffered from a mental health problem • Estimates are that the number of mentally retarded persons in prison is two or three times greater than in the community

45. Identifying Those with Special Needs • Intake is often conducted at a separate facility with a reception and diagnostic unit • Medical screening should identify any medical or mental health concerns that need immediate attention

46. Protocols for Care • Each correctional facility should develop written policies and procedures that are consistent with the ADA • ADA does provide for exclusion from a program if a disabled inmate presents a direct threat to the health and safety of others

47. Segregation or Mainstreaming? • Reasons for separating special needs offenders • Cost containment • Managed care • Concentration of resources • Mainstreaming is basic premise of ADA • Combination of mainstreaming and segregation should provide services well for inmates with disabilities

48. Access and Communication • ADA does not require that all existing facilities be modified to new standards, although new construction should definitely conform to ADA standards • Alternate methods of program delivery satisfies “access” requirement • Communication with special needs offenders should be as effective as with other inmates

49. Access and Communication (cont.) • Program and Activity Availability • Some prison industry tasks can be brought to the housing unit • Tutors can come to the living unit • Mentally ill and mentally retarded inmates may require segregation in specialized unit • Major focus of units is therapy • Partnerships with community agencies will help supply services for offenders.

50. Classification Considerations • Most classification systems consider risk factors such as prior convictions, current convictions, escapes or attempted escapes, length of sentence, institutional adjustment, age, education level, history of substance abuse, history of violence • Provision for override allows staff to factor in information on medical and mental health conditions • Disability should be among many factors considered in classification decisions