Chapter 1
Corrections: An Overview
Chapter Objectives
1. Explain why correctional populations continue to rise even though the rate of serious crime in the United States has been declining.
2. understand how rising correctional populations affect the costs of corrections
3. List the kinds of crimes that cause people to enter correctional programs and institutions.
4. Describe how crime is measures in the United States and explain the differences between the two major crime reporting programs.
5. List and describe the various components of the criminal justice system.
6. List the major components of the corrections subsystem.
7. describe criminal justice as a system and as a process
8. Define the term corrections.
9. Explain the importance of professionalism in the corrections field.
10. Understand what is meant by social diversity and explain why issues of race, gender, and ethnicity are important in corrections today.
Chapter Outline
The Corrections Explosion
· Serious crime has consistently declined throughout much of the 1990s and into the 21st century
· Crime rates today are 20% lower than in 1980
· Number of people under supervision in the US has continued to climb
o Why? 1. get-tough-laws
2. the war on drugs
3. reluctance to release inmates early
4. more inmates under control of the system causes more supervision violations and then more inmates sentenced or returned to prison
TIP: This is a good time for a class discussion or debate on the impact of the war on drugs and the get tough laws. Why do we have these policies? Are they effective? Should we stop the war on drugs?
Historical Roots of the Corrections Explosion
· imprisonment rate has increased continuously for the past 150 years
· the current rate of imprisonment is 476 per 100,000 persons
Correctional Expenditures
· $54 billion a year is spend on federal, state, and local correctional budgets
· only 10% on building new facilities
· about 75% on day-to-day activities
· provides a tremendous number of jobs
Crime and Corrections
· people enter the criminal justice system when they commit a felony, misdemeanor, or infraction
· the treatment of crimes is very different from state to state
Measuring Crime
· Uniform Crime Reports
o Data is gathered from police agencies across the country
o Only include crimes known to the police
o Provides a national crime index
o Only includes part I offenses which are the more serious crimes
· Solving and Clearing Crimes
o Most crimes reported to the police are not solved
o Nationwide the clearance rate for crimes reported to the police is 20%
o The clearance rate is highest for murder (62%) and lowest for burglary (13%)
· National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)
o A new reporting program implemented by the FBI which obtains main details about each criminal incident
o Data is gather on more crimes and with more detail than what was reported with the UCR
· National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
o The self-reported victimization survey conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics
o Provides a detailed picture of crime incidents, victims, and trends
o Shows more crimes being committed in most categories than does the UCR
o The sample consists of 49,000 households containing about 101,00 people
o The 2002 findings show that in 2002, Americans age 12 or older experienced fewer violent and property crimes than in any other year since the NCVS began (1973)
The Crime Funnel
· The proportion of criminal offenders who eventually enter the correctional system is very small
TIP: This is a great discussion point. Ask the students if they would report a crime if they were the victim. Then set up different scenarios and ask if they would still report the crime and how accurately they would do so.
For example if you were robbed at knife point but they only took $10. Or ask a male student if he would report the crime if he was mugged. Then change the details and make the offenders two 15 year old girls who knocked him down and took his wallet. Would he still report?
Corrections and the Criminal Justice System
· The components of the CJ system are: police, courts and corrections.
· The process of criminal justice involves the activities of the agencies that make up the criminal justice system.
Entering the Correctional System
· Of the 42 million estimated felonies committed annually only 419,500 people will be sent to prison annually
· If an offender is arrested, booked, and jailed to await an initial court appearance, the intake, custody, confinement, and supervision aspects of corrections first come into play at this stage of the process.
Prosecution and Pretrial
· What happens after a person has been arrested?
· Figure 1-5 illustrates the number of places a suspect can be removed from the system and also shows the various stages of the criminal justice process.
Judicial Procedures
· Arraignment is the first stage in the process by which a court arrives at a decision (adjudication). It occurs after an indictment or information is filed with the trial court.
· At the arraignment the suspect will be able to enter their plea
· The case may then proceed to trial
Sentencing and Sanctions
· Sentencing occurs after a guilty verdict or guilty plea
· Victim impact statements are sometimes looked at by the court prior to sentencing
· Sentences can vary dramatically and may include anything from prison, counseling, community service or death.
The Correctional Subsystem
· The correctional subsystem includes institutional corrections and community corrections.
· This is a very broad area of the criminal justice system and is growing all the time.
TIP: This is a good time to discuss the purpose of corrections. Why does this country lock up so many people? Is it making people safer? Does it rehabilitate the offender?
Also, you can ask the students to discuss the benefits of community corrections both to the offender and the community.
Professionalism in Corrections
· Professionalism in corrections is a relatively new concept.
· Historically corrections paid very little, offered little professional recognition, and was not a sought after career.
Standards and Training
· The first training standards were established in the late 1970s by the ACA.
· Virtually every state now requires at least 120 hours of preservice training for correctional officers.
Basic Skills and Knowledge
· Four traits essential to effective work in corrections: accountability, strong writing skills, effective presentational skills, and a logical mind and the ability to solve problems.
Standard-Setting Organizations
· American Correctional Association
· American Probation and Parole Association
· American Jail Association
· These associations offer training, hold meetings and seminars, create and maintain job banks, and produce literature relevant to corrections.
· The ACA also established a program for certifying correctional staff.
Education
· Education builds critical-thinking skills, it allows the application of theory and ethical principles to a multitude of principles that are constantly in flux, and it provides insights into on the job difficulties.
Social Diversity in Corrections
· Women started working in corrections in the 1970s and now are becoming more accepted.
· There is still a lot of debate about whether women should be able to work in male facilities and male officers in female institutions.
· Race, ethnicity, and gender are all suspects of social diversity.
Chapter Summary
Although crime rates are at their lowest level in more than 20 years, correctional populations have been increasing because of get-tough-on-crime attitudes, the nation’s War on Drugs, and the increasing reluctance of parole authorities, fearing civil liability and public outcry, to release inmates.
Growing correctional populations mean increasing costs. Budgetary allocations for corrections have grown in step with correctional populations. Growth in correctional populations and in spending has also led to a dramatically expanding correctional workforce and to enhanced employment opportunities within the field.
The crimes that bring people into the American correctional system include felonies, which are relatively serious criminal offense; misdemeanors, which are less serious crimes; and infractions, which are minor law violations.
Two important sources of crime statistics are the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), published annually under the title Crime in the United States, and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NVCS), published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics under the title Criminal Victimization in the United States. The UCR reports information on eight major crimes: murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, automobile theft, and arson. The NCVS provides a detailed picture of crime incidents, victims, and trends. While UCR data are based upon crime reports made to the police, NCVS data are derived from annual nationwide surveys of American households.
Criminal Justice agencies are said to make up the criminal justice system. The main components of the criminal justice system are (1) police, (2) courts, and (3) corrections. Each can be considered a subsystem of the criminal justice system.
The major components of the corrections subsystem are jails, probation, parole, and prisons. Jails and prisons are examples of institutional corrections, while probation and parole are forms of noninstitutional corrections.
The term criminal justice can be used to refer to our system of justice, or it can refer to the activities that take place during the justice process. Criminal justice agencies, taken together, make up the criminal justice system. Since the activities of criminal justice agencies routinely involve other agencies, the word system encompasses not only the agencies of justice, but also the relationships among those agencies. The justice process, on the other hand, refers to the events that unfold as a suspect is processed by the criminal justice system.
Corrections refers to all aspects of the pretrial and postconviction management of individuals accused or convicted of crimes.
Professionalism in corrections is important because it can win the respect and admiration of others outside the field. Moreover, professionals are regarded as trusted participants in any field of endeavor.
Social diversity encompasses differences of race, gender, and ethnicity. Social diversity is important in corrections today because it impacts individual correctional clients, influences correctional populations and trends, affects the lives and interests of those working in the field of corrections, and may help determine the structure and functioning of correctional institutions, facilities, and programs.
Key Terms
Correctional clients: Prison inmates, probationers, parolees, offenders assigned to alternative sentencing programs, and those held in jail.
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 state statute or local ordinance punishable by a fine or other penalty but not by incarceration, or by a specified, usually very short term of incarceration.
Violent crime: Interpersonal crime that involves the use of force by offenders or results in injury or death to the victims.
Property crime: Burglary, larceny, automobile theft, and arson as reported in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports.
Crime Index: An annual statistical tally of major crimes known to law enforcement agencies in the United States.
Crime rate: The number of index offenses reported for each unit of population.
Criminal justice: The process of achieving justice through the application of the criminal law and through the workings of the criminal justice system. Also, the study of the field of criminal justice.
Criminal justice system: The collection of all the agencies that perform criminal justice functions, whether these are operations or administration or technical support. The basic divisions of the criminal justice system are police, courts, and corrections.
Adjudication: The process by which a court arrives at a final decision in a case.
Arraignment: An appearance in court prior to trail in a criminal proceeding.
Nolo contendere: A plea of “no contest.” A no-contest plea may be used by a defendant who does not wish to contest conviction. Because the plea does not admit guilt, it cannot provide the basis for later civil suits.
Writ of certiorari: A writ issued by an appellate court to obtain from a lower court the record of its proceedings in a particular case.
Institutional corrections: That aspect of the correctional enterprise that “involves the incarceration and rehabilitation of adults and juveniles convicted of offenses again the law, and the confinement of persons suspected of a crime awaiting trial and adjudication.”
Noninstitutional corrections (also community corrections): 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.”
Corrections: All the various aspects of the pretrial and postconviction management of individuals accused or convicted of crimes.
Mores: Cultural restrictions on behavior that forbid serious violations – such as murder, rape, and robbery – 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 survival of the social group.
Criminal law: Also called penal law. That portion of the law that defines crimes and specifies criminal punishments.
Profession: An occupation granted high-social status by virtue of the personal integrity of its members.
Corrections professional: A dedicated person of high moral character and personal integrity who is employed in the field of corrections and takes professionalism to heart.
Professional associations: Organizations of like-minded individuals who work to enhance the professional status of members of their occupational group.
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.
Racism: Social practices that explicitly or implicitly attribute merits or allocate value to individuals solely because of their race.
Homework Assignments
1. Have the students research the qualifications necessary to enter the field of corrections in your state? What is the process of applying for a job as a corrections officer, what is the education requirements, the fitness requirements, etc.?
2. How much crime is there in your city? Have the students compare the crime rate in your city to a much larger or much smaller city and explain what could cause the differences in crime rates that occur.
3. Have the students research how much money is spent by correctional agencies in your area. Have the students find the budgetary allocations for the current year for the local jail, probation and parole offices and prisons.