Prison & Other Corrections Approaches



Prosecution & Punishment Lecture Outline

Guest Lecture on Parole & Probation systems in Maryland (“Community Corrections”) by Heather Hall – Key Points: Increasing Focus on Rehabilitation & getting Treatment and Services to reduce recidivism (& shift away from punishment as primary focus), bulk of case load is probation, and of that large portion is DUI, Largest categories of cases/offenders are: DUI, Drug, and Domestic Violence. Other less frequent but generally more serious types include Sex Offenders, Violence Prevention Initiative (target high risk, young offenders with violent crime history), and warrant apprehension; Importance of Partnerships with many types of agencies various parts of Crim. Justice system, social service providers, and community organizations.

In Readings a Key issue is extra-legal bias (race & ethnicity, class, gender) in prosecution & punishment. Ideally there should be no such biases in prosecution & punishment. Key issue is how much, what types & where.

Plea Bargaining – what it is & how it works, what portion of all guilty cases are result of it, & Problems with Plea bargaining. (Barkan, Ch. 17)

Adversarial Model Vs Court Working Group reality & who has most power (Barkan ,ch. 17) & how at work in plea bargaining…

Prosecutorial Discretion as key factor in courts and leading to imprisonment.

e.g., Rural Indiana county prosecutor very aggressive in prosecuting drug and other non-violent offenses, very high imprisonment rate of local population (while in much of rest of country trend is toward non-incarceration for such low-level offenders) (Keller et al. web rdg.).

Social Class link to conviction & imprisonment (Barkan, ch. 17)

Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in Prosecution & Punishment – or Lack Of -- Where Discrim & Where not? (ala Barkan, ch. 17)

– Prosecutor Bring Charges or Drop

– Race of Victim effect

– Length of sentence

• Less Serious Crime vs. more Serious Crime

– In/Out Decision, once convicted (i.e., imprison or suspend sentence, or probation)

– War on Drugs – (See also Wood et al web rdg. on reducing 100:1 crack vs. powder sentencing disparity to 18:1)

– Juvenile Justice System

Emphasis on Punishment and less on rehabilitation since 1970s, until very recently. Popular nationally for last 30+ years, especially California until very recently (Barkan Ch. 17; Tierney web rdg.; Doyle et al web rdg.)

California Prison System problems – huge increase in prison pop. in last 25 years, over-crowding, cuts in Rehab. Services and drastic increase in recidivism rates, and in prison violence & role of gangs (filled the vacuum). (Doyle et al. web rdg.)

But more recently, Lighter Sentences approach (in Maryland, Texas, very recently California, and elsewhere) emphasis on reducing sentences for non-violent offenders, reducing recidivism, more drug treatment, more services, etc. all for cost-savings reasons in part. Effects on crime rates & recidivism (Wood et al web rdg.)

Vs. Cost of imprisonment is $30,000 per inmate per year (Barkan, Ch 17).

Mental Illness among people in prison and jail—Huge issue, high frequency, lack of care in society generally (deinstitutionalization( incarceration), jails as new MI care system, costly… Mental Health court as alternative to jail for some low-level MI offenders, get services instead of jail, save money, reduce recidivism. This approach is lowly expanding in our area and in US.. (McCrummen et al web rdg.)

Offenders (& friends & family) Use Prosecution & Punishment System for their own ends sometimes – arrest or turn self in to get off streets when gang war, Bail system as bank, Use Threat of Report to parole or police to control a family member or romantic partner, etc. (Goffman, Ch 4)

Death Penalty –Pros & Cons --Costs of DP vs. life imprisonment; Deterrent effect of DP? Wrongful convictions? Discrimination? Quality of legal representation? Arbitrariness? (Barkan, ch. 17)

Not covered (or very little) but should also know for Test:

Impact of Punishment on crime – Deterrent effect [covered somewhat in class]? Incapacitation effect [not covered in class]? due to imprisonment – & data on that (Barkan, ch. 17)

Growth of US prison population in US since 1980 & role of drug crime enforcement & increasing sentences (Barkan, ch. 17)

Gender Inequality & imprisonment – some contradictory research findings for Juveniles (Status offenses Vs. Serious offenses) and then for adults (Barkan, ch. 17)

Lifetime chance of going to prison for Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics (Barkan, ch. 17)

How do legally compromised people create a black market for services to help offenders deal with Crim. Justice system, & who benefits (Goffman, ch, 6)?

How do fines and fees levied on poor offenders affect recidivism? (Keller et al. web rdg.)

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