Chapter 14

The Futureof Corrections

The Future of Corrections

• Collateral Effects of Imprisonment

• Politics of Corrections and the Media

• The War on Drugs

• The Costs of Current Policies

• Changes in the Justice System

• New Technologies

• New Models of the Correctional Mission

Collateral Costs of Imprisonment

• 400% increase in imprisonment since 1980

• Harm to families and communities

• Disenfranchisement

• Risk of disease

• Crime and prison rates largely unrelated– 25% decline in violent crime

• Increasing recidivism and severity of crime

Media

• Agenda Setting: Directs concern to particular issues, opinions on topic set by personal factors

• Also creates images that are widely accepted

• Corrections issues manipulated for political and monetary gains by politicians, victims’ groups, CO unions, and prison-industrial complex

• Simple, dramatic, unusual stories preferred

• Correctional successes avoid publicity

Media (continued)

• 1990-1998, homicide rates dropped 50% but media news coverage increased 400%

• Reporters poorly informed about corrections

• Correctional officials reluctant to deal with media, give impression of secrecy

War on Drugs

• Alcohol the most criminogenic drug• 453,000 imprisoned for drugs at annual

cost of $5 billion• 58% have no violent history• One in three female inmates is a drug

offender• Disproportionate minority confinement

largely due to severe drug penalties

Drugs (continued)

• Violent offenders receiving early parole to create space for drug offenders with mandatory sentences

• Punishment ineffective with compulsive behaviors such as drug addiction

• Allocation of treatment resources very uneven, biased

Costs of Current Policies

• 690 of every 100,000 citizens incarcerated• 7% of all state resources committed to

prisons• Average annual cost for minimum security

male prisoner is $25,000• Reintegration programs cut to pay for

operating costs of new prisons• Harshness linked to recidivism

System Changes

• Courts greatly have broadened police powers in last 20 years

• Prosecutors’ discretion increasing, judicial discretion declining

• Increased victims’ rights can facilitate harshness or reintegration– Victim Impact Statements common– Mediation used in a few areas

New Technologies

• Computerized information sharing between agencies, jurisdictions– Biometrics: Recognition via fingerprints,

voiceprints, or eye, hand, face shape – Smart cards: Hold biometrics, medial, legal,

other data

• Victim updates on case, offender status computerized

Technologies (continued)

• Online medical care, education, training

• Defense equipment used in corrections

• Ground penetrating radar, puncture resistant clothes, heartbeat sensors

• DNA and similar forms of evidence

• Better, cheaper offender tracking, record storage/transfer = greater efficiency

The Correctional Mission

• Community corrections the main area for major changes

• Fears of discrimination and financial costs increasingly suggest need for new approaches

• Growing desire to give communities more autonomy in responding to crime

Restorative Justice

• Three simultaneous goals:– Assist victim– Prevent future crime– Reintegrate offender

• Acknowledges failure of punishment to alter behavior

• Focuses on assuring a better future for all

Community Justice

• Integrates corrections with area C.J agencies on formal and informal bases

• Also includes educational, welfare, health, housing, transportation etc, systems

• Broken Windows Approach: Potentially criminogenic situations are referred to appropriate agency BEFORE they get worse

• Most efforts experimental, places power mainly in hands of line practitioners– Resisted by hierarchical traditions of corrections/C.J.

Accreditation

• American Correctional Association (ACA)• Sets standards that guide the policies and

practices of many agencies• Dozens of manuals set all sorts of standards

for all types of agencies• These standards often referred to by courts

evaluating conditions and practices• Accreditation is not a formal defense