Correctional Responses

1. Out of the four ideologies of punishment discussed in Chapter 4 of the text, I believe that incapacitation has the most relevance in today’s criminal justice system for numerous reasons. To begin, incapacitation is defined as a method to end actions of habitual criminals with the goal of creating long-term sentences that are served in a way to physically incapacitate offenders from being a threat to a society as a whole. Specifically, under this theory, “higher incarceration rates are expected to correlate with accelerated reductions in crime” (Stahlkopf, Males & Macallair, 2010). Now, based on modern day observations of the correction systems, it is evident that “the standard economic model of crime focuses on the goal of deterrence, but actual punishment schemes, most notably recent three-strikes laws, seem to rely more on imprisonment than is prescribed by that model” (Stahlkopf, Males & Macallair, 2010). Also, it is statistically proven that “offenders incarcerated for more than 120 months were estimated to be approximately 30 percent less likely to recidivate than those serving shorter periods of incarceration” (Cotter, 2020). Thus, it is clear that incapacitation is the most prominent ideology of punishment due to the fact that it is overtaking the original way of deterrence and showing positive recidivism results, as supported by the external sources.

2. Incapacitation is the appropriate punishment for violent crimes. In criminal justice, Incapacitation is restricting a persons’ freedoms as punishment for their criminal activities. Incapacitation removes offenders from society and restrains them in a purpose-built facility. This prevents them from committing any further crimes. Incapacitation cannot rectify past crimes; however, it does prevent future crimes. The form of Incapacitation will depend on the criminal acts. It will also depend on the seriousness and prevalence of the offense. Incapacitation can take the form of imprisonment or Community Correction Orders. The process of a trial and judgment determines the type of Incapacitation and sentences the criminal accordingly. Many offenses may not warrant Incapacitation (imprisonment). In my opinion, Incapacitation is the most appropriate one for violent crimes as it removes offenders from society and restrains them in a purpose-built facility. This way, society is safe from them meanwhile in the restricted built facility. 

3. Personally, out of the four ideologies of punishment, I believe that rehabilitation has the most relevance in today’s criminal justice system. Rehabilitation is the goal of restoring a convicted offender to a constructive place in society through some form of vocational or educational training or therapy (Clear et al., 2016). Many times, the reason someone commits a crime can be linked to psychological deficiencies or disorders that need to be treated in order for them to stop. An example of this could be Antisocial Personality Disorder. Someone with Antisocial Personality Disorder feels no guilt, lacks empathy, and does not know the difference between what is right and what is wrong. “Individuals with antisocial personality disorder often violate the law, becoming criminals. They may lie, behave violently or impulsively, and have problems with drug and alcohol use” ("Antisocial personality disorder", n.d.). Keeping something like this in mind, rehabilitation can help those in similar situations who wind up in prison or jail. According to the concept of rehabilitation, offenders are treated, not punished, and will return to society when they are reformed (Clear et al., 2016). Sometimes punishment just does not work, depending on the severity of the punishment, like solitary confinement and/or isolation. Sometimes, people just need a little extra help and a bit of a push in order to get their lives back in order, so rehabilitation in corrections systems can provide that because yes, corrections systems keep offenders away from society, but also provides as a place where an inmate can be rehabilitated and get their lives back on track. The indeterminate sentence is justified by the belief that if prisoners know when they are going to be released, they will not make an effort to engage in treatment programs prescribed for their rehabilitation; however, if they know they will be held until reformed, they will cooperate with counselors, psychologists, and other professionals seeking to treat their problems (Clear et al., 2016). While rehabilitation is not as popular of an option as retribution, deterrence, or incapacitation, there is a lot of support from the outside public when it comes to rehabilitation programs because of the idea of lowering recidivism rates.After doing some research, I found an article that focuses on how rehabilitation can reduce recidivism rates with proper treatment. “Research evaluating offender rehabilitation has established that treatment can reduce recidivism” (Yesberg & Polaschek, 2019). The authors used different tests and measures in their study to see how inmates made changes during and after treatment. However, what is important is to see the change that occurs after the inmate is released. “In summary, findings from this study suggest that to better understand how treatment works to reduce recidivism and facilitate desistance, outcome evaluations should focus not only on the amount of change an individual makes in treatment but also the extent to which this change continues after release” (Yesberg & Polaschek, 2019). Treatment can provide help both during and after release from prison, which can thus contribute to recidivism rates declining because ultimately, that is a major goal.Regardless, all four ideologies play a role in one way or another when it comes to today’s criminal justice system. For me personally, I just feel as though rehabilitation should be the main focus for inmates, especially when we consider recidivism rates and integrating inmates back into society to live a crime-free life away from prison or other corrections systems.

4. Of the four ideologies mentioned in the chapter, I believe that rehabilitation has the most relevance in today's criminal justice system. By definition, rehabilitation is "the goal of restoring a convicted offender to a constructive place in society through some form of vocational or educational training or therapy" (Clear et al., 2016, p. 74). Most individuals within the criminal justice system are not career criminals or dangerously violent. A staggering 46% of inmates have been charged with drug offenses. Homicide, aggravated assault, and kidnapping account for only 3% of those incarcerated (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2021). Our current system focuses heavily on incapacitation but fails to recognize addiction as a medical illness, and rather sees it as criminal behavior that must be stopped. A study done at Columbia University by Hung-En Sung looked at the impacts of deterrence vs. rehabilitative treatment for drug offenses. The study found that "the likelihood of being rearrested increased as the offender spent more days in jail or prison", meanwhile "subjects who had longer treatment stays were less likely to be rearrested" (Sung, 2003). The way the criminal justice system treats offenders is very contextual—someone with a drug charge should not be treated the same as someone who commits aggravated assault or first-degree murder. While it is true that some people are unexplainably evil, it is not the case for many people found in prisons. It is possible to be deemed sane, while also suffering from mental illness or even medical illness, such as that of addiction. A more recent meta-analysis study done by the National Institute of Justice supported Sung's findings, reporting that "adult offenders who participated in rehabilitation programs demonstrated reductions in criminal offending, compared with control group adult offenders who did not participate" (National Institute of Justice, 2020). This study broke down the effectiveness of different treatment programs, which can be found on the link in the references if interested. In our previous assignment, we discussed the different models of crime control in recent history, which included the medical model, community model, and crime control model. I find it interesting that the community model, the one that required the most effort on our end, and the most empathy, was the primary model for the shortest amount of time. I have no research to back this up, as it is only my opinion. I feel that the crime control model, the one that emphasizes incapacitation, has been the primary model for the longest because it is the easiest for law enforcement, corrections, and the courts. It is much easier to "lock them away and throw away the key", as the book says than to create individual treatment plans and to help offenders heal from the issues that led them to crime in the first place. 

5. Out of the four ideologies of punishment that were discussed throughout the text I believe that rehabilitation. The whole concept of rehabilitation is to provide either programs or other forms of methods to better the prisoner and figure out the problem that’s at hand and fix it for them. Some of the main characteristics of it is providing a structural program or programs to prisoners to help them fix their problems as well as Rehabilitation was once a very big concept back when we were in the medical system of corrections but it’s slowly die down as time progressed. I also personally believe that rehabilitation is a very key factor in corrections I say this because if we can offer Prisoners rehabilitation and good rehabilitation and help them solve their problems and cut their life back on track I personally believe that the rate of reoffending will go down tremendously. “But if you don’t believe me here are the results from an experiment that was take place In England “Pearson and Harper (1990) reported summary findings for conviction rates and prison time for the ISP participants alone and for the comparison of ISP versus CLOSE OTI. Only the comparative findings are considered here. After 2 years, 3 the treatment group showed statistically significantly lower conviction rates than the control group (12% versus 23%). Time spent in prison differed substantially between the two groups. At an unknown time interval following the completion of the program, presumably covering the same period of time for both groups, the treatment group had spent a median of 109 days in prison, while the controls had served a median of 308 days.” (Gary A. Bernfeld, David P. Farrington, & Alan W. Leschied. (2001)) The results of this show that The prisoners who got treatment had significantly lower conviction rates, as well as the rates of reoffending also went down. So this is why I personally believe that the rehabilitation ideology is the most relevant.