U.S. Court Systems

CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM

I think the purpose of my country’s correctional system is punishment. Incarceration is the cornerstone of the American criminal justice system. It is the most common punishment for serious offenses. The U.S. has over two million adult citizens incarcerated; twenty-five percent of the world’s prison population. The U.S. also has the highest per capita rate in the world, a rate five times higher than the next highest Western nation. In addition, the past decade was a decade that has incarcerated more people than I any other decade. The amount of people added to prisons in the 1990s was 25% higher than in the 80s, and is nearly 16 times as many as the average number added during the five decades before 1970 in which the incarcerated population increased. In the past two to three decades though, the philosophy behind punishment has shifted from rehabilitating the offender to prevention of future crimes through control and detention of dangerous persons.

Incarceration has become the most dominant form of punishment. Not only is incarceration not a deterrent, it may actually cause offenders to commit additional crimes. A Department of Justice study revealed that an overwhelming percent of prisoners were again arrested for felonies or serious misdemeanors within three years of their release. Another Department of Justice study discovered that imprisonment actually increases the rate of recidivism among felons. Felons sentenced to imprisonment were matched with felons sentenced to probation, according to characteristics of crime and criminal thought to correlate with recidivism. Seventy-two percent of the prison group was rearrested during the two years following release, compared to only sixty-three percent of the probation group.

Most of today’s correctional institutions lack the ability and programs to rehabilitate the criminals of America. One can predict that a prisoner held for two, four, eight or ten years, then released, with no education or vocational skills will likely return to a life of crime. Often their life in crime will resume in weeks after their release. Most inmates have had too little discipline, come from broken homes, and have no self-esteem. They are very insecure and at war with themselves as well as with society. Most inmates did not learn moral values or learn to follow everyday norms.

Most people believe that if we want to rehabilitate criminals we must do more than just send them to prison. For instance, we could give them a chance to acquire job skills; which will improve the chances that inmates will become productive citizens upon release. The programs must aim to change those who want to change. Those who are taught to produce useful goods and be productive are likely to develop the self-esteem essential to a normal, integrated personality. This kind of program would provide skills and habits replacing the sense of hopelessness that many inmates have.

Another technique that could be used to rehabilitate criminals is counseling. There are two types of counseling in general, individual and group counseling. Individual counseling is much more costly than group counseling. The aim of group counseling is to develop positive peer pressure that will influence its members. One idea is that group problem-solving has definite advantages over individual problem-solving. The idea is that a wider variety of solutions can be derived by drawing from the experience of several people with different backgrounds. Also, one individual’s problem might have already been solved by another group member and can be suggested. Often if a peer proposes a solution it carries more weight than if the counselor were to suggest it.

Another type of rehabilitation used by a correctional center is halfway houses. Halfway houses are usually located in residential communities and are aimed to keep offenders in the community. The name comes from the fact that they are halfway between the community and the prison. The rationale behind halfway houses is that criminal activity originates in the community, so the community has a responsibility to try to correct it. Also, sending a person who