Penology and Corrections

Definition of Terms

• Penology is otherwise known as penal science, dealing with the study of crime punishment, control, and prevention.
• Correction involves the custody, supervision, and rehabilitation of convicted offenders.
• Penal management refers to practices in managing places of confinement like jails and prisons.
• Correctional administration studies the systematic management of imprisonment institutions.
• Principal aims of penology include examining the ethical barriers of punishment, comparing penal laws, and evaluating the social consequences of enforcement policies.

Correction as a System and Process

• Correction as a system aims to treat and rehabilitate criminals and delinquents for reintegration into the community.
• Correction as a process seeks to prevent criminal re-offenses through individual reformation measures rather than punitive actions.

Correction and the Criminal Justice System

• The Criminal Justice System (CJS) includes Law Enforcement, Prosecution, Courts, Corrections, and the Community.
• Correction's role in the CJS handles convicted individuals for crime prevention and control.
• Corrections are often viewed as the weakest CJS pillar due to recidivism.

General Principles of Treating Offenders in the Modern Period of Correction

• Impartial application of rules, without discrimination on grounds of race, color, language, religion, or other opinion/origin/status.
• Respect for religious beliefs and moral principles not contrary to law.
• Firm but understanding enforcement of prison/jail rules.
• Custodial staff must set a good example.
• Prohibition of abusive or indecent language towards prisoners.
• Special care to avoid inmate humiliation or degradation.
• Force is only permissible in self-defense, escape attempts, or lawful order resistance.
• Recognition that prisoners may require medical or psychiatric treatment.

Approaches in Correction Administration

• Various models help guide prison management of prisoners.

• Control Model emphasizes obedience, work, and education.

• Responsibility Model stresses prisoners taking accountability for their actions.

• Custodial Model focuses on maintaining security, safety, and order through strict discipline.

• Rehabilitation Model prioritizes rehabilitative efforts, with security serving as a framework.

• Reintegration Model aims to reintegrate offenders into society through gradual freedom and community ties.

• Total Institution describes prisons as places encapsulating prisoners' lives, strictly governed by staff and rules.

Historical Perspectives

• Penitentiary Model: Focuses on obedience without moral respect, which did not align with modern penology, and only caused additional problems and violence. Penitentiaries demanded absolute obedience from criminals that were never taught limits, following rules and respect, while the filthy elements of society only added to the problem.

• The aim of a modern prison is to implement modern penology, while remembering that prisons can become hard to manage, when prisoners feel pain.

Key Concepts from Later Sections

• Punishment is society's redress for offenders, involving pain or suffering but, the injury is to the public, not the individual.

• Corrective justice aims to restore balance through offender's suffering.

• Criminal punishment, the focus is on compensation through fines, restitution, and community service.

• Fines are monetary penalties paid to the court.

• Restitution requires offenders to compensate victims for damages (psychological, physical, or financial). Monetary agreements can be drafted to repay victims, but all parties must agree with the agreement, otherwise there's a legal basis for disagreement. -Community service involves service work for the state or community rather than compensation for victims.

Incarceration and modern alternatives

• Incarceration affects a certain amount of the prison population, but recidivism rates remain high.
• "Shock probation" and "split sentences" blend the transition process, where incarceration may lead to probation.
• "Intermittent sentencing" allows offenders to maintain employment and family ties
• Boot camps offer a more militaristic approach, with discipline and training involved.

Key Figures

• Aristotle: Introduced Corrective Justice, emphasizing that punishment should have greater weight than wrong doing
• Dr. George Beto: Proposed the Control Model to encourage prisoner education
• Blumstein: Drafted an approach that deals with prison crises.
• Voltaire: Instituted shame upon offenders instead of physical torture.
• William Penn: Prescribed imprisonment.

Philosophies

• Utilitarian Hedonism (Bentham): An individual acts to both seek pleasure and in attempt to avoid pain
• Freewill (Beccaria): Punishment should be severe enough to stop crime.
• Hedonism (Bentham): Advocates for pleasure in everyday actions.

Schools of Criminology

• Classical School focuses on criminals being inherently bad.
• Neo classical notes that some individual actions are not always the fault of freewill.

Modern Correctional Forms:

• Parole involves the conditional release of a prisoner, managed by a parole officer
• Probation provides an offender the conditions of sentence imposed by a courtroom trial.
• Destierro involves banishment.

Explore penology, corrections, and penal management. Learn the aims of penology and how correction relates to the criminal justice system. Discover the processes involved in rehabilitation and reintegration.