Correctional Continuum

1
Correctional Continuum

• U.S. Correctional History

2
Review

• Corrections in Feudal Society?
• Serfs vs. Freemen
• First principalities in 12th Century
• From private to territorial lords
• By 1500, govt corrections overcomes traditions
  of private restitution and/or revenge
• Punishments very public, and brutal/bizarre
• In part, an effort to demonstrate that the
  government has a monopoly on the legitimate use
  of violence

3
Review II

• Interesting stuff from reading that I forgot to
  mention last class
• Inquisitorial vs. Accusatory system
• Eventually (1750s to 1850s), corrections changes
  into the form we recognize today
• No more molten lead down the front of the shirt
• Why?? Spierenburgs explanation?
• Transformation of sensibilities
• State no longer needs to prove itself

4
Colonial America(1600-1750)

• Nature of Society
• Calvinist doctrine
• Crime not a problem (fact of life)
• Control through family training/community
  cohesion
• Nature of Punishment
• Borrow heavily from England, So...central
  features are same
• Corporal
• Public
• Sparse use of prisons

5
Enlightenment and Change (1770s-1820)

• Population boom and shift from agrarian to
  industrial economy
• Enlightenment
• Produces alarm/dismay but also optimism
• First burst of enthusiasm (deterrence)
• Reform the legal code
• Substitute prisons for corporal punishment
• First wave of prison building (1790-1800)
• A repulsion from the gallows rather than any
  faith in the penitentiary spurred the late-18th
  Century construction

6
From deterrence to penance (1820-1850)

• By 1820, the luster of the classical school (and
  associated reforms) fades
• No crime reduction, trouble with prisons
• Still, very optimistic (impulse to reform)
• The Invention of the Penitentiary
• A PROPER penitentiary will reform offenders
• PN vs. Auburn debate
• Reflects new understanding of cause of crime

7
The Great Debate

• PN
• Reform through penance, solitude, silence, labor
  (inmates kept in cell, separate yard)
• Auburn
• Reform through discipline/obedience, labor
  (inmates congregate to work, but lockstep, etc)
• Contract labor system
• Why did Auburn Win?

8
Southern/Western Penology

• Often neglected topic in corrections texts
• Prisons develop differently
• In South, race and the Black codes
• Little to build prisons (civil war decimation)
• The LEASE SYSTEM
• Penal Farms

9
The New Penology (1870-1900)

• By 1860, enthusiasm for penitentiaries wanes
• Corruption, corporal punishment, crowding...
• Wardens give up on ideal and seek to maintain
  order
• 1870 National Prison Congress
• Leads to Declaration of Principles
• Reaffirm reform over punishment
• Indeterminate sentences
• Parole
• Separate institutions for females and juveniles
• The lockstep, rules of silence, isolation, etc
  humiliating and unproductive
• Elmira as test case for new Reformatory

10
Progressive Era1900-1960

• Progressives middle/upper class reformers
• Great optimism belief in government
• Sought to eradicate all sorts of social ills
• Crime?
• General reform (poverty reduction, fix slums)
• Embrace new penology
• Indeterminate sentences parole
  boards/supervision
• Juvenile Justice System
• Probation

11
The Medical Model and Rehabilitative Ideal

• By 1940s, social sciences gain prestige
• Psychiatry, psychology, sociology
• Rehabilitative Ideal (1940s-1960s)
• Causes of crime are unique (social,
  psychological)
• The goal of corrections is to identify and
  eliminate/correct these causes (rehabilitation)
• Treatment must be individualized
• Corrections workers and judges must be trusted
  with a great deal of discretion

12
1960s Corrections becomes professionalized

• Rehab as unquestioned goal (in rhetoric at least)
  of Corrections system
• American Corrections Association (from American
  Prison Association)
• Correctional Facilities
• Standards for correctional officers
• All kinds of new Rx programs
• College education, group counseling, therapeutic
  milieu, behavior modification

13
Progressives? Radicals, Change...(1960s-1980)

• Social Context of 1960s
• Contrast with progressive optimism/faith
• Many progressives turn more radical
• Labeling theory ascends ? avoid doing harm
• Martinson Report ? nothing works
• JUSTICE MODEL
• Clear et al. Community Corrections era
• Conservatives have different take on 60s
• Crime symbol of all the DISORDER
• Solution go back to classical school

14
Uneasy Alliance

• Conservatives and liberals agree on
• The need to limit sentencing discretion
• Conservatives liberal judges
• Liberals corrupt, racist judges/parole boards
• Solution return to determinate sentencing,
  sentencing guidelines, etc
• Only difference is on length of sentences
• Liberals do less harm, be fair (justice model)
• Conservatives punishment WORKS!