...Criminal Justice Trends Paper Dwight Blackshire September 9, 2013 CJA/484 Mr. James Herring Criminal Justice Trends Paper New philosophies to aid in the future progress of corrections are being developed as a result of past and current trends. The issues and concerns surrounding the corrections component of the criminal justice system are overcrowded prisons and their decreasing budget. If these issues and concerns are not address, they will continue to affect the effectiveness and future operations of corrections. Restorative and community justice programs are options being considered for the future of corrections as administrators, legislators, and activists debate philosophies to address these issues and concerns resulting from past and current trends. In the past, the national political climate favored the “get tough” approach against crime. It was believed that treatment programs could not reduce recidivism. Furthermore, it was also believed to keep the national crime rate low and protect the public, offenders of crime must be punished to deter crime. As a result, reforms such as truth-in-sentencing and three-strike legislation were implemented into the law. These...
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...Community corrections initiative is rooted in local and community-based programme which is implemented by the non-governmental organizations. In a couple of years there has been an increase in the bureaucratic control, increased offender populations and a growth in the budgetary constraints which have called for a comprehensive approach in the community corrections management. The Wisconsin department of Corrections administers the Wisconsin parole and probation programme, which falls in the Division of Community Corrections (DCC). In the fiscal year 2007-08, there was an average of 71407 offenders who were under supervision as reported by the DOC. This was an increase of about 6000 offenders in relation to the population of offenders in the correction programme. Wisconsin as the other states has embarked on a program aimed at reducing the prison population by initiating an early release if the inmates a strategy aimed at addressing the shortfall in the budget of the state. While details of the early release are on the final stage, it has been indicated that there is an expectation of releasing up to 3000 inmates from prison. There are approximately 21212 inmates who are currently being housed by Wisconsin. Additionally, 71407 of the offenders are on either on parole or probation. Unless changes are effected on the approach of Wisconsin to parole and probation, there is a likelihood of the long-term savings being offset by recidivism. The mounting corrections population in...
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...Community Corrections has been a big part of the criminal justice system. It is used as an alternative to imprisonment. The United States costs have risen in the last twenty years, these costs have come from building more jails and prisons. Policy makers needed to come up with a solution that could help cut these costs, and also stop overcrowding in prisons. Many states are on community- based corrections now. So the question is how can evidence-based practices in community corrections effectively manage offenders without compromising safety? To be able to meet this challenge it requires correction leaders to the use the most effective resources and focus on giving services that prove to reduce offender recidivism. Some examples of community corrections are parole and probation. Both systems watch convicted offenders and sometimes use the same sanctions and rehabilitation programs, but work differently. For instance, offenders on probation serve their sentencing in the community instead of being incarcerated. On the other hand, an offender on parole served time in prison but was granted to be let out in the community; due to maybe good behavior or time served expired. As policy makers now focus to have community- based corrections, probation agencies are stepping up to the plate as a leader. Probation higher ups are having the challenge to help lower these pressures by handling the growing number of offenders within the community. Instead of sending these offenders to prison...
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...and a team of juvenile justice consultants are called in to make corrections. In reality, this team is composed of four state officials whose sole purpose is to develop a proposal to present to the state legislature for recommendations of adjustments to the juvenile justice system. This team of consultants is creating these recommendations including all aspects of community, law enforcement, courts, corrections, and the private sector or privatization involvement. The community should be involved in the future of the juvenile justice system along with funding, awareness, and assistance from the state. Characteristics of the Golden Program and the Reclaiming Futures Program The recommendation to the state legislature is to improve the juvenile justice system by introducing proven ways of enhancing community involvement through community-based programs such as the Golden Program and the Reclaiming Futures Program. One proven way to improve effectiveness according to Nissen (2007), is a program named Golden (the integrated care network) that involves court personnel and treatment resources for juvenile offenders, which connects juveniles to treatment and positive community involvement. “Reclaiming Futures” is a strategy program of youth advocates that promotes the needs of the juveniles along with community involvement (Nissen, 2007). How Court Personnel, Social Workers, and Case Management Enhance Community Involvement Goldkind (2011) mentions that...
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... 1 Competing Theories of Corrections in The Criminal Justice System Nicole Yaniero AIU Online Running Head: CORRECTIONAL THEORIES 2 Abstract In today’s system, there are several competing theories for what approach should be taken to improve the correctional system. Certain strategies, such as punishment and rehabilitation, have different goals. These goals, in most cases, are different from each other. People all over prefer one strategy to the other, and compelling evidence can be brought into perspective for each. Aside form the usual, non traditional aspects and approaches to fixing the corrections system are also talked about today. This paper will discuss all elements of corrections theories, its goals, its effectiveness, and the rating of completion of academic and vocational programs offered to inmates in prison. Running Head: CORRECTIONAL THEORIES 3 Competing Theories Of Corrections In The Criminal Justice System In today’s day and age, many views and criticism take place of the Criminal Justice system. In specific, the correctional aspect of the system receives much of this criticism. There are two strategies particularly that come into play most often when speaking of corrections. These two strategies are punishment, and rehabilitation. Each of these strategies have its own set of goals and its own set of skepticisms from...
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...following principles: Juvenile justice systems must have the flexibility to meet the needs of the broad range of children and youth served, from the most violent youth to those children who are victims of abuse and neglect. The judicial process, treatment and authority vested must be responsive to the needs of children and youth and to protecting society. For many years studies have shown that child abuse and neglect are predictive of delinquent behavior and adult crime. Moreover, general societal attitudes of intolerance of differences and glorification of violence contribute to these same behaviors. These root causes must be addressed through appropriate intervention throughout the juvenile justice process as well as through changes at the community level. Therefore: 1. The juvenile justice system must offer a continuum of services which includes the appropriate resources to meet the needs of children and youth who are victims and/or offenders. Such a continuum should offer a range of services from prevention and early intervention to remedial and extended care and custody while recognizing the importance of partnerships with other systems of service delivery. The priority of this continuum should be, whenever possible, to eliminate the risk of delinquent behavior through primary prevention. 2. Coercive intervention and remedial services should follow the least restrictive principle by offering varying levels of supervision and custodial...
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...DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS OREGON AMBER L. SMITH BUS-PS 200A M. NELS JOHNSON WARNER PACIFIC COLLEGE JANRUARY 26, 2013 Abstract In this paper I will examine the structure and functionality of the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC). I will explain what ODOC is and what they do. We will also explore the pros and cons of some of the current policies and how those policies could be improved upon. NOTE TO INSTRUCTOR: I chose this government agency because it is of great interest to me. I simply chose this agency instead of an agency that has to do with my employment due to the fact that I am unemployed. Thank you. Keywords: DOC, Department of Corrections, corrections, agency, correctional institutions, governing agency, criminal justice policy, etc. DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS OREGON The Oregon Department of Corrections is a state agency that handles the states’ adult corrections affairs. The ODOC is responsible for the management and administration of all adult correctional institutions and other functions related to state programs for adult corrections. There are seven major divisions within the agency as well as a strong relationship with Oregon Corrections Enterprises, a semi-independent state agency. The department handles the custody of offenders that are sentenced to prison for more than twelve months. The offenders are housed in one of the fourteen state prisons. It is the mission of the ODOC to promote public safety by holding offenders accountable...
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...the following questions dealing on a political level of organizational structure and the decision making process. Question #1 Identify the groups, organizations, and political constituents likely to support a reduction in funding for the state’s department of corrections. Which of those groups would also publicly support changes in criminal sentencing that would reduce the prison population? Identify the stakeholder groups or individuals who benefit from funding the department of corrections or prison construction? The case study entitled “Time to Dig Out” was based on the decisions and political strategies in the view of the state governor. The case study revolved around the basis for new prisons and crime prevention within the state. The state wants to take a hard but drastic approach on preventing crime. There were too many contributing factors to debate on constructing new prisons or eliminating the idea all together. Because of the increased crime in the state the state’s budget base was eroding concurrent with the dramatic increase in dollars allocated to prison expansion. The groups, organizations, and political constituents likely to support a reduction in funding for state’s department of corrections are organizations and agencies affected by the decrease or loss of budget to help secure the function of their missions. Many of these groups, organizations, and political constituents were affected with the decrease in higher educational budgets, funds for social...
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...There are four types of prisons federal, state, municipal, and military. Federal prison is operated and managed by the government who normally house inmates who have been convicted of a crime in violation of a federal statue. State prisons are facilities operated by a state and used to house and rehabilitate criminals. State prisons have a minimum and maximum security prisons which are divided based on the severity of the crime. Municipal prison is a high security prison. Military prison is operated by the military and is used to house prisoners of war, enemy combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by the military or national authority and member of the military found guilty of a serious crime. (Department of Corrections WA State", 2012) Differences between jail and prisons: Although many people consider jail and prison the same thing but there are many differences the public should be aware of. For example, Ellisville county jail typically only holds people anywhere from a few hours to a week. This jail usually holds a person who is awaiting trial or your typical DUI case or drunk who needs a little time to sober up. On top of having a “drunk tank”, St. Louis county...
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...Community corrections is a range of alternative punishments for nonviolent offenders. There are two basic community corrections models in the United States. In the first model, integrated community corrections programs combine sentencing guidelines and judicial discretion ("front-end") with a variety of alternative sanctions and parole and probation options. In the second model, some states have instituted programs in which correctional officials may direct already sentenced offenders into alternative sanction programs and parole and probation options ("back-end"). Both models are designed to help reduce prison overcrowding and are less expensive alternatives to prison. Widespread development of community correction programs in the United States began in the late 1970's as a way to offer offenders, especially those leaving jail or prison, residential services in halfway houses. The first state community correction programs began in Oregon, Colorado, and Minnesota as pilot projects with very little government-funded support. They diverted nonviolent offenders in selected pilot project areas from jails and state prisons into local alternative punishment programs. The programs were referred to as "front-end" sentencing because they allowed judges to sentence offenders to a community-based punishment rather than jail or prison. Rehabilitation programs were the preferred punishment option. In the late 1980's, prison systems across the country began experiencing serious overcrowding...
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...purpose of sending criminals to prison is to transform them into honest and law abiding citizens by inculcating in them distaste for crime and criminality” (US-China Law Review; Mar2010, Vol. 7 Issue 3, p15-29, 15p). In United States of America the correction system provides many programs that are designed in order to rehabilitate inmates. Some of those programs include religion related services like Bible study groups or religious congregations. The other forms can include art crafts, sports, found raising activities or prison work assignments. For those offenders that are struggling with addictions, there are drug and alcohol treatment programs that offer anonymous group meetings. Also, definitely as a one of very supportive programs is visitation with family and nonfamily outsiders. Parole it is a supervision that offender receives after being released from the prison. It is a similar to probation method of supervision when it comes to its conditions. Just like on probation, while on parole the convict has to obey the law, stay away from substances like drugs and alcohol and report to his or her officer until the parole is over. The word parole came from old French parole d’honneur which means “word of honor” (Burk Foster, Corrections The Fundamentals). In United States of America parole came to life at the end of 1800’s and by...
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...senator is speaking before the state bar association next week and intends to address the ways in which the correctional system may be improved. This paper is a detailed outline on the correctional theory in general, as well as a series of suggestions on ways to improve some of the nontraditional theories of corrections. Correctional Theories We all know that life is difficult and sometimes with those difficulties come more problems. What you put into life is what you get out. As the famous Isaac Newton once quoted “For every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction.” For this very reason correctional theories were created. These theories are based on two common principles within the corrections; system-punishment and rehabilitation. The criminal justice system’s idea of justice, punishment and correction is made up of a combination of strenuous, criticizing, and practical theories. Retribution The most common traditional rationale for correction and punishment in the U.S. is retribution (Seter, 2011). What is retribution? What does retribution have to do with the criminal justice system and the correctional theories that are prevalent in the system? Retribution is the dispensing...
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...constrained (Mental Health Strategy: For Corrections in Canada, 2008).It has been recommended that the sustained efforts to train the police in such areas is required, alongside regular review of all incidences involving the mentally ill with a view to incorporation into the police training program. Furthermore, it has been identified that provincial standards for such training have not been established and as a result, mechanisms for accountability and monitoring that could align police training to mental needs of suspects are...
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...Central Ohio Technical College Institute for Public Safety Law Enforcement Technology Autumn Semester, 2013 August 21 through December 11, 2013 Class Syllabus Course Title: Introduction to Criminal Justice Course Number: LET-100 Instructor: Bob Cromwell, MS BBA C: (740)258-0800 Office hours by appointment only. email: rcromwel@cotc.edu Required Materials: Textbook(s): Frank Schmalleger. (2014) Criminal justice: a brief introduction (10th edition). NJ: Pearson Education. ISBN: 978-0-13-300979-8 Packets: Not required Supplies: Any materials students may need to record information in face to face classroom setting AND access to internet for research projects. Additional Materials: None. Closed Reserve: None. ITS Resources: http://www.cotc.edu/faculty-and-staff/it-support/Pages/index.aspx Student Services: http://www.cotc.edu/student-life/Pages/default.aspx Library: http://www.cotc.edu/libraries/Pages/default.aspx College-Wide Policies: 1. Assessment -- As part of COTC’s campus-wide assessment initiatives (quality assurance program), samples of student performance such as test results, projects, papers, etc. may be used. The data gathered will not identify individual students and are not related to the student’s grade for the course, but will be used to improve student learning at COTC. 2. Disability -- Any student who...
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...Correction Trend Alfreda Jernigan CJA-394 02-15-2012 University of Phoenix Correction Trend Compare and Contrast- Past, Present, and Future trends pertaining to the development and operation of institutional and community based corrections Correctional programming today is at a level of effectiveness that exceeds previous expectations. Jurisdictions throughout the United States there are other programs that utilize research-based programs to educate, train and motivate offenders. Gone are the days of haphazard implementation of programs that sounded good, but often just occupied time for the offenders. The past evolution occurred for many reasons (Corrections Today, 2010). One of our biggest wake-up calls was the claim made about 30 years ago that, nothing works in corrections, in terms of rehabilitation. Although this widely publicized statement was removed from its context for some less-than-honorable purposes, it did in fact bring some attention to the conundrum that many prisons were not effective as change agents for offenders, but rather seemed only to serve the purpose of separating problems from society (Corrections Today, 2010). 7,225,800 adults were under correctional supervision (probation, parole, jail, or prison) in 2009 (U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010). While this singular purpose was acceptable to many citizens, the more visionary leaders, both inside and outside of corrections, understood that the only good thing that could ever result...
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