Research Paper on "Proper Place of Prisons in the Modern U S Criminal Justice System"

Research Paper 2 pages (2380 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

These could include alternatives to incarceration, such as: fines; community service; probation; intensive supervision/electronic monitoring; residential community corrections; boot camp; split sentencing; and specialized courts such as drug courts to manage certain types of drug offenders;

ii. New commitment to providing high-quality treatment programs in the institutional and community corrections system; iii. Recruitment, training, and retention of corrections personnel skilled in counseling, mentoring, and advocacy, akin to corrections personnel in countries with a distinct rehabilitation direction (e.g., Australia, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) (Byrne, Pattavina, & Taxman, 2015).

Examination of criminal justice systems within the United States and across the globe clearly outline the need for a greater focus on addressing our crime problems with rehabilitation and treatment of the individual within his/her community as well as within the more formal programs of the criminal justice system.

C. Conclusion

While this paper does not advocate complete elimination of the U.S. prison system, the history of criminal justice in the United States shows the evident failure of solely being "tough on crime" as far back as 1932. Sanford Bates, the Wickersham Commission and the Gluecks all painfully pointed out the failures of the prison and juvenile detention systems of that time. Unfortunately, the United States apparently did not learn well from their observations, as the 1970s saw America's notorious war on drugs and war on crime, resulting in nearly draconian sentences and high recidivism rates for drug-related offenders. Fortunately, after approximately 40 years of a crushingly failed "get tough on crime" system, the United States began to adopt a more intelligent approach to crime, using "evidence-based practices" to lower prison populations and their related financial and human costs. In addition, in Brown v. Plata, the U.S. Supreme Court held that prison overcrowding qualified as unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. Consequently, states including but not limited to California began downsizing their prison populations.

Recidivism, a key concept in criminal justice, allows a system to gauge its effectiveness: the higher the rate of recidivism, the more troubled a criminal justice system is deemed to be. Recidivism is a punished/rehabilitated criminal's relapse into criminal behavior, usually gauged by the individual's re-arrest during a fixed period of time. Chronically high recidivism rates are the bane of the criminal justice system and there are least two hypotheses about high recidivism rates. The first is based on "status frustration" in which offenders with fewer life achievements have a higher risk of reoffending. The second is that prison may actually encourage recidivism by creating an ironically positive relationship between imprisonment and crime. Both the lack of life achievements and the acceptance/encouragement of criminal behavior can concretize antisocial/criminal behavior in prison. Many criminal justice experts assert that recidivism can be lessened if/when offenders are given opportunities to accept prosocial values/behaviors and reject antisocial values/behaviors, achieving positive effects and respect aligned with prosocial identities. This positive redefinition of the self encourages offenders to redefine their futures rather than justifying their pasts because their pasts need not dictate their futures.

Realignment is another key concept in modern criminal justice. It is the shifting of punitive/rehabilitative responsibility from one criminal justice sector to another. In the case of California, significant realignment is occurring by dispersing prisoners from state prisons to county jails. This has the dual effect of reducing prison overcrowding and shifting the cost/burden of punishment/rehabilitation back to counties. This approach also empowers counties to use greater discretion in employing new practices for incarceration and post-release supervision. To date, there is insufficient data to gauge the success rate of California's realignment approach.

Examination of global criminal justice is valuable for obtaining new ideas and assessing workable solutions. Examination of 20 countries, including the United States, reveals that approaches to crime must be rethought, recognizing the strong links between community development and crime, as well as the need for rehabilitation of the offender in both the prison setting and in the community setting. Suggested changes in policies, programs, and personnel, include: corrections/sentencing policies with alternative punishments causing incarceration rates at or below the global average; commitment to providing high-quality treatment programs in the institutional and community corrections system; and recruitment, training, and retention of a corrections personnel skilled in counseling, mentoring, and advocacy. Here in America and worldwide there is an obvious need for focus on rehabilitating the individual in his/her community as well as within formal criminal justice programs.

Works Cited

Bates, S. (1932). Have our prisons failed? Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology (08852731), 23(4), 562-574.

Byrd, M., & Grattet, R. (2016). Realignment and Recidivism. Retrieved from Annals Of The American Academy Of Political & Social Science, 664(1), 176-195: doi:10.1177/0002716215603319

Byrne, J. M., Pattavina, A., & Taxman, F. S. (2015). International trends in prison upsizing and downsizing: In search of evidence of a global rehabilitation revolution. Retrieved from Victims and Offenders, 10(4), 420-451: doi:10.1080/15564886.2015.1

Klingele, C. (2015). The promises and perils of evidence-based corrections. Notre Dame Law Review, 91(2), 537-584.

Kubrin, C., & Seron, C. (2016, March). The prospects and perils of ending mass incarceration in the United States. Retrieved from Annals of the American Academy of Political & Social Science, pp. 16-24: doi:10.1177/0002716215616341

Schaefer, L. (2016). On the reinforcing nature of crime and punishmet: An exploration… READ MORE

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