Corrections:

1
Corrections

• Wassup with that?

2
What is Corrections?

• Agencies and programs that carry out the sentence
  of the court
• Institutional Corrections prisons/jails
• Community Corrections
• Front End Sanctions
• Back End Programs

3
Community Corrections

• Front End Sanctions Alternative to Prison/Jail
  Senteces
• Probation
• Intermediate Sanctions
• Boot Camps, Electronic Monitoring, Intensive
  Supervision
• Back End Programs Reintegrate
• Parole Supervision
• Halfway Houses

4
A Brief History of Corrections

• Until the late 1960s
• Rehabilitation was the Guiding Mission of
  Corrections (at least on paper)
• Community Corrections was centerpiece
• Indeterminate Sentences, Probation, Parole
• Rehabilitation attacked and largely killed in the
  early 1970s
• Why?
• Results?

5
Cromwell et al.

• Paradoxically, correctional policy shifts
  according to public perceptions, which are
  primarily influence by the media, no by the
  realities of corrections

6
Social Context and Ideology in late 1960s and
early 1970s

• Conservatives
• Value stability, hate disorder
• Mistrust rehabilitation as coddling criminals
• Particularly riled up in the 1960s
• Liberals
• Value equality/fairness
• Enraged by the government in the 1960s
• Rehabilitation as another government failure

7
Liberals and Conservatives agree

• Abolish parole, institute determinate sentences,
  implement sentencing guidelines
• Only issue length of sentences
• 1980s ushered in a conservative era in U.S.
  politics
• Legislative results?
• Sentencing guidelines with harsh sentences
• 3 strikes, mandatory minimum sentences
• The War on Drugs

8
Whither Community Corrections

• What is the role of Community Corrections in a
  get tough era?
• Joan Petersilia
• C.C. suffers from an image problem and is
  therefore under-funded
• Particularly troublesome, given
• ¾ of corrections population is in community
• Over ½ of these folks are felons

9
What Works?In a traditional sense

• Does a C.C. program reduce recidivism?
• Does a C.C. program divert people from prison
  (and therefore save )?
• Is a C.C. program punishment?

10
Joan Petersilia

• Should recidivism be used as a criteria?
• If so, should we focus on post-program behavior?
• If so, is all recidivism bad?
• C.C. programs should count other stuff
• Contacts with offenders
• placed in treatment

11
The Future of Community Corrections

• The Limits of Control in the Community
• Zero tolerance programs, high-surveillance
• Boot Camps, ISPs, Electronic Monitoring
• New Directions
• Community based supervision
• Restorative Justice
• Judicial Involvement/Drug Courts