Journal Assignment

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Comparative Criminal Justice Systems

Seventh Edition

Chapter 8

An International Perspective on Corrections

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Learning Objectives (1 of 2)

8.1 Explain two classification schemes that can be used to show the variation among countries in how convicted offenders are sanctioned

8.2 Name and describe the four classic justifications and goals for punishment

8.3 Explain and provide several examples of financial penalties as they are implemented around the world

8.4 Describe how corporal punishment is applied in some of the world’s countries and place its use in the context of international standards

Learning Objectives (2 of 2)

8.5 Describe how capital punishment is applied in some of the world’s countries and place its use in the context of international standards

8.6 Summarize how probation is an example of a noncustodial sanction and list three responsibilities of probation agencies

8.7 Compare the prison systems of Brazil, Australia, and India

8.8 Summarize the issues facing women, foreign national, and minority prisoners throughout the world

Comparative Penology

Ways to compare countries in terms of penal sanctions

Cavidino & Dignan

Use social, economic, cultural, and ideological variables to identify four families: neo-liberalism, conservative corporatism, social democratic corporatism, and oriental corporatism

Neo-liberal countries have highest imprisonment rate and oriental corporatism the lowest

Ruddell & Urbina

Compare homogeneous and heterogeneous countries on punitiveness (having death penalty and imprisonment rate)

More heterogeneous countries are more punitive

Punishment (1 of 2)

Primary justifications

Retribution

Reflects human tendency toward vengeance

Is considered a necessary and natural response to social norm violation

Should be some equivalence between punishment and offense

Deterrence

Specific deterrence punishes for purpose of determining offender’s future criminal behavior

General deterrence punishes offender to deter offending by others in society

Punishment (2 of 2)

Primary justifications

Rehabilitation

Punishment should result in a reforming of offenders into productive members of society

Treatment programs used to assist offender in being better able to operate as law-abiding society member

Incapacitation

Protect society by restricting an offender’s freedom of movement

Historically accomplished with imprisonment but today is also likely to rely on technology

Punishment Types

Classification scheme for this chapter considers four sentence categories

Financial Penalties

Corporal and Capital Punishment

Noncustodial Sanctions

Custodial Sanctions

Financial Penalties

Inexpensive to administer and can be combined with other sanctions

Fines

Fixed-fine (same amount for all defendants committing similar crime regardless of finances) is popular in U.S.

Day fine (combining factors of crime severity and ability to pay results in different fines even for similar crimes) is popular in Sweden and Germany

Compensation to Victims and Community

Diyya (victim of qisas crimes shows forgiveness by accepting financial compensation from offender)

Donation penalties (offenders in Germany avoid trial and conviction by paying money to victim, charity, or state)

Corporal Punishment

More accurately, judicial corporal punishment, since it is applied as a sentence

Refers to any kind of punishment of the body or inflicted on the body

One form, mutilation (including amputation) is used in some Islamic law countries but is considered contrary to international standards

Whipping, including flogging or caning, is mandatory for some crimes in Singapore and is used in Islamic law countries such as Iran and Qatar

Capital Punishment (1 of 3)

Amnesty International reports (excluding China) more than 1,600 executions carried out in 25 countries in 2015

90% of those in Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia

Methods include beheading (Saudi Arabia), hanging (Egypt, India, Iran, Japan, and others), shooting (China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and others), and lethal injection (China, USA, Vietnam)

Capital Punishment (2 of 3)

Most European and many South and Central America countries are abolitionist in full or in practice

The death penalty continues in the U.S., Middle East, and North Africa

Capital Punishment (3 of 3)

The role of public opinion

After a low of 42% (1966) favoring the death penalty and a high of 80% (1994), the percentage of Americans favoring is now around 60-65%

Death penalty was abolished in Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom at times when a majority of their respective citizens favored its use

Today, there are few European countries where the public clearly opposes it—and some countries where support is strong

Noncustodial Sanctions

Probation

Around the world, probation attempts to reintegrate the offender into society in a way that balances offender needs with community safety

Most often, probation agencies have 3 tasks

Provide information to other criminal justice agencies

Case supervision

Enforcement

Custodial Sanctions (1 of 4)

Imprisonment rates vary

Custodial Sanctions (2 of 4)

South Africa

One of the world’s highest incarceration rates and one of the largest penal systems

Prisons operate at 157% capacity and are said to provide scandalously abusive conditions

Overcrowding has required that police lockups (designed for booking and initial detention) are actually used to hold sentenced offenders

Positive change in 2014 with detainees given a hearing to determine if pretrial detention needed

Custodial Sanctions (3 of 4)

Australia

Prison operation and management is the responsibility of each state and territory

Private prisons are also found

Most of the country’s prisoners are in New South Wales (33%) and Queensland (20%)

Main minority group is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners who are 2% of Australia’s population, but 28% of prisoners

Rehabilitation is priority with rehabilitation programs, work experience, and reintegration being priorities

Custodial Sanctions (4 of 4)

India

Prison operation is the responsibility of each state and territory

Low imprisonment rate is result of 1 billion population with fewer than 420,000 inmates

Three categories of prisoners

Persons convicted and serving a sentence (31% of total)

Persons awaiting trial (called undertrials) – 68% of the total

Mentally ill, “others,” and detenues (neither a convict nor an undertrial but in custody to preserve public order) – 1% of total

Women in Prison

More similarities than differences around the world

Consistently, women comprise a small number (2%-9%) of a country’s prison population

The world-wide tendency to imprison drug offenders results in more women prisoners

Similarity of needs and problems among women prisoners results in similar responses by prison authorities

Minorities in Prison

Racial and ethnic minorities are consistently overrepresented in prisons around the world

Reasons for the disproportionate representation

May be the result of selective criminalization practices and/or selective prosecution of certain racial and ethnic group minorities

Could also be the typically poor social and economic status that foreigners and ethnic minorities have in many countries

It is difficult to find a country anywhere at which charges of institutionalized racism and discrimination are not levied