AMERICAN CORRECTIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Describe the history of the jail and its
current function in the criminal justice
system.
Describe who is in jails, and why they are
there.
Discuss the kinds of jails in the United
States.
List the main issues facing jails today.
Outline the problem of bail and list the main
alternatives to bail.
6.
7.
8.
Outline the problems of jail administration.
Describe new developments in jails and jail
programs.
Critically assess the future of the jail.

Learning objective 1: Describe the history of
the jail and its current function in the criminal
justice system.
•
Jails in U.S. descend directly from feudal
practices in twelfth-century England.
– Officer of crown, reeve appointed in each shire.
– To collect taxes, keep the peace, and operate the
gaol (jail).
•
English settlers brought these traditions and
institutions with them to American colonies.
– Jails used to detain accused persons awaiting trial
and to shelter misfits.
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Jails often in Sheriff’s homes.
Reform movement of the 19th century
◦ Overwhelming majority of accused and convicted
misdemeanants were held in jail.

Learning objective 2: Describe who is in jails,
and why they are there.
•
Bureau of Census
– Nationwide census of jails
– Repeated every 5 years
– Annual survey supplements nationwide account:
• Top 1/3 largest jails
• Hold 75% of inmate population
•
National Jail Census
– 86% of inmates are men
– 2/3 under 35 YOA
– Over 2/5ths are white
– Most little education and low income

Increasing rate of incarceration for African
Americans.

Learning objective 3: Discuss the kinds of
jails in the United States.
•
Of 2,876 jails in U.S.:
– 80% have county-level jurisdiction
– Most administered by elected sheriff
•
•
•
About 600 municipal run jails
6 states run jails
Estimated 13, 500 police lockups:
– A facility authorized to hold people before court
appearance for up to 48 hours. Most run by local
police agencies.

50 largest jurisdictions hold almost 1/3 of
nation’s jailed inmates.
◦ Largest – Los Angeles, New York
 Hold about 33,300 inmates together (4% of nations
total).
 L.A. County Men’s Central Jail holds almost 20,000
people.
 Most jails much smaller, holding fewer than 50 people.

Learning objective 4: List the main issues
facing jails today.

Suicide:
◦ Hours immediately following arrest are often a time
of crisis:

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

Vulnerability
Hopelessness
Fear of loss of freedom
Sheer terror
◦ Over 1/3 of deaths occurring in jails are suicides
◦ Most happen within first 6-10 hours

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Jails lack programmatic flexibility to
accommodate range of needs of population.
Reducing anxiety:
◦ Conversation with staff
◦ Involvement in some activity
◦ Communication

Mental Health Problems:
◦ Almost 2/3 of jail prisoners have a history of
mental problems.
◦ 1/5 have a very recent history of mental disorder.
◦ Most jails lack resources to provide care.

Substance Dependency:
◦ Half of all people placed in jail were under the
influence of alcohol or illegal drug at time of arrest.
◦ Over 2/3 have a history of substance abuse
◦ More than 1/2 have history of failed drug treatment
◦ Most dramatic problem is withdraw

Medical needs:
◦ Minor scrapes and bruises to major injuries.
◦ Routine health deficiencies of lower class:
 Infections
 Poor nutrition
 Lack of dental care
◦ More than 1/3 of those in jail report physical
aliment.
◦ 60% of jails make prisoners pay for medical care

Legal needs:
◦ People locked up suffer a disadvantage preparing
for case.
◦ Likely to need public defender.

Learning objective 5: Outline the problem of
bail and list the main alternatives to bail.

Bail:
◦ An amount of money, specified by a judge, to be
posted as a condition for pretrial release to ensure
the appearance of the accused in court.

Bondsman:
◦ An independent businessperson who provides bail
money for a fee, usually 5-10 percent of the total.

Dissatisfaction with bail stems from several
factors:
◦ Many, in some cases over 90% of pretrial detainees
cannot afford bail.
◦ Money is a weak incentive for appearance in court
in many cases
◦ Human freedom can be had for a price

Release on recognizance:
◦ Pretrial release because the judge believes the
defendant’s ties in the community are sufficient to
guarantee the defendant’s appearance in court.

Day reporting center:
◦ Facility where offenders such as pretrial releases
and probation violators attend daylong intervention
and treatment sessions.
•
Pretrial Diversion:
– An alternative to adjudication in which the
defendant agrees to conditions set by the
prosecutor in exchange for withdrawal of charges.
•
Diversion controversy:
– Many offender’s crimes are caused by special
problems – vagrancy, alcoholism, emotional
distress.
– Formal criminal labeling often works against
rehabilitation.
– Diversion is cheaper than criminal justice
processing.

Learning objective 6: Outline the problems of
jail administration.
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Legal liability
Jail standards
Personnel matters
Jail crowding
Jail facility
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42 U.S.C. 1983
Lack of funds not an excuse
Injurious conduct
Jail budgets have been increased to pay for:
◦ Training programs
◦ Classification procedures
◦ Managerial policies

Important for 3 reasons:
◦ Indicate proactive criteria
◦ Provide a basis by which administrators can
evaluate staff performance
◦ Standards facilitate the planning and evaluation of
jail programs by giving program managers a target
to consider in their work.

Local corrections workers are among:
◦ Most poorly trained
◦ Least educated
◦ Worst paid employees in CJ system


Understaffing
Turnover high

Jails handle wide variety of individuals
including:
◦ Drug addicts
◦ Mentally ill
◦ Alcoholics

State correctional facilities does not
immediately accept sentenced prisoners.


Almost 90% of all jail cells are at least 50
years old
Jails expensive structures, cost:
◦ $100,000 - $200,000 per cell

Idle prisoners

Learning objective 7: Describe new
developments in jails and jail programs.
•
New generation:
– Facility with a podular architectural design and
management policies that emphasizes interaction
of inmates and staff and provision of services.
•
Podular unit:
•
Direct supervision:
– Self-contained living areas for 12-25 inmates,
composed of individual cells for privacy and open
areas for social interaction.
– Method of correctional supervision in which staff
members have direct physical interaction with
inmates throughout the day.

Therapeutic justice:
◦ A philosophy of reorienting the jail experience from
being mostly punitive to being mostly rehabilitative.

Learning objective 8: Critically assess the
future of the jail.

General trends:
◦ Many jurisdictions have renovated or replaced jail
facilities since the early 1970s.
◦ Many jurisdictions are joining together to build and
maintain a single jail to serve their collective needs.
Probation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Describe the history and development of
probation, including how it is organized
today.
Describe the two functions of probation.
Discuss the purpose and content of the
presentence investigation report.
Describe the major issues involved in the
presentence investigation.
Describe the dynamics that occur among the
probation officer, the probationer, and the
probation bureaucracy.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Discuss the different kinds of probation
conditions and tell why they are important.
Define recidivism and describe its
importance to probation.
Define evidence-based practice and discuss
its importance.
Describe what is known about the
effectiveness of probation supervision.
Discuss the revocation of probation,
including “technical” revocation.

Learning objective 1: Describe the history and
development of probation, including how it is
organized today.


John Augustus first to provide bail for
defendants under authority of Boston Police
Court in 1841
Judicial reprieve:
◦ A practice under English common law whereby a
judge could suspend the imposition of execution of
a sentence on condition of good behavior on the
part of the offender.
•
Recognizance:
– Formally recorded obligation to perform some act
entered by a judge to permit an offender to live in
the community, often on posting a sum of money
as surety, which is forfeited by nonperformance.
•
Augustus also developed:
– Presentence investigation
– Supervision conditions
– Social casework
– Reports to the court
– Revocation of probation

Today offenders placed on probation in 1 of 4
ways:
◦ Judges impose a sentence of probation (60%)
◦ Judge impose a sentence of probation that is
suspended pending good behavior (22%)
◦ For those already on probation, additional sentence
is imposed but its activation is suspended (9%)
◦ Split sentence (9%)


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Centralized or decentralized?
Administered by the judiciary or the executive
branch?
Combined with parole services or not?

Decentralized:
◦ Administered by city or county instead of a state
◦ Smaller, more flexible
◦ Better able to respond to unique problems of
community

Centralized:
◦ Larger, can train staff to take a variety of roles
◦ Can implement broader programs
•
Judiciary:
•
Executive branch:
– Probation more responsive to the desires of the
sentencing judge
– Morale of probation officers higher who work closely
with judges
– Judiciary ill prepared to manage human service operation
– Requires full attention of professional public
administrators
– Better allocation of probation services
– Increased interaction between corrections and allied
human services
– Increased access to the legislature and budgeting
process
– More appropriate service priorities


Subtle differences hard to sustain
Difference in criminal lifestyle

Learning objective 2: Describe the two
functions of probation.
•
Investigation
– Presentence investigation report:
• An investigation and summary report of a convicted
offender’s background, which helps the judge decide
on an appropriate sentence.
•
Supervision
– 3 steps
• Probation officer establishes relationship with offender
and defines the role of officer and offender.
• Officer and offender establish supervision goals to
help offender comply with conditions.
• Officer decides how to terminate probation.

Learning objective 3: Discuss the purpose
and content of the presentence investigation
report.

Purpose:
◦
◦
◦
◦
Help judges select an appropriate sentence
Help classification decisions
Facilitates treatment planning and parole decisions
Document for systematic research
•
Contents:
– Verification:
• PSI information is cross-checked with some other
source for accuracy.
– Objectivity:
• Avoiding vague conclusions about the case.
•
Victim impact statement:
– Descriptions in PSIs of the costs of the crime for the
victim, including emotional and financial losses.

Learning objective 4: Describe the major
issues involved in the presentence
investigation.

Recommendations
◦ Person without authority is suggesting what the
sentence should be
◦ Congruence of PSI and sentences range from 70 to
90 percent

Disclosure:
◦ Williams v. New York (1949)
 Judge imposed a death sentence on basis of evidence
in PSI despite jury’s disclosure
◦ Cleansing:
 Confidential comments from a private citizen that
might endanger the citizen
 Clinical statements or evaluations that might be
damaging to the offender if disclosed.

Private PSIs
◦ Client-specific planning:
 Private investigative firms contract with convicted
offenders to conduct comprehensive background
checks and suggest to judges creative sentencing
options as alternatives to incarceration.
◦ Court hires private investigator to provide report
◦ Private reports likely more costly than traditional
alternatives

Learning objective 5: Describe the dynamics
that occur among the probation officer, the
probationer, and the probation bureaucracy.
•
The Officer:
– Officer role conflict:
• Enforcing the law
• Helping the offender
– Power:
• The ability to force a person to do something he or she
does not want to do.
– Authority:
• The ability to influence a person’s actions in a desired
direction without resorting to force.
•
The Offender
– Response to supervision strongly influences the
overall effectiveness of probation.
– Offenders may see the officer as occupying a
commanding role.
– Officers decide on style, supportive or controlling
– Probationers commonly resent their status
•
The Bureaucracy
– Imposes both formal and informal constraints

Learning objective 6: Discuss the different
kinds of probation conditions and tell why
they are important.
◦ Standard conditions
 Constraints imposed on all probationers
◦ Punitive conditions
 Constraints imposed on some probationers to increase
the restrictiveness of painfulness of probation,
including fines, community service, and restitution.
◦ Treatment conditions
 Constraints imposed on some probationers to force
them to deal with a significant problem or need, such
as substance abuse.

Learning objective 7: Define recidivism and
describe its importance to probation.

Recidivism:
◦ The return of a former correctional client to
criminal behavior, as measured by new arrests or
other problems with the law.
 Important because it reflects the effectiveness of a
probation strategy.

Learning objective 8: Define evidence-based
practice and discuss its importance.
•
Using correctional methods that have been
shown to be effective by well-designed
research studies.
– Important characteristics:
• Focus the program on high-risk probationers (risk
principle).
• Provide greater levels of supervision to higher-risk
clients (supervision principle).
• Provide treatment programs designed to meliorate the
problems that produce the higher risk level (treatment
principle).
• Make referrals to treatment programs (referral
principle).

Learning objective 9: Describe what is known
about the effectiveness of probation
supervision.
•
•
•
Generally no difference among different
probation strategies, but compare probation
against itself.
Probation works more than doing nothing.
Probation works better than most people
suspect.
– New York study:
• Prevented new arrests
• Probation more effective than jail

Learning objective 10: Discuss the revocation
of probation, including “technical” revocation.
•
Probation ends in 1 of 2 ways:
– Person successfully completes the period of
probation
– Person’s probationary status is revoked because of
misbehavior
•
Revocation results from:
– New arrest
– Conviction
– Rules violation

Rules violations that result in revocations are
referred to as technical violations.
◦ Technical violation:
 The probationer’s failure to abide by the rules and
conditions of probation (specified by the judge),
resulting in revocation of probation.
 Technically not illegal behavior:
 Changing residence without permission
 Failure to attend therapy program
 Neglecting to report to probation office
Intermediate Sanctions and
Community Corrections
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Describe the rationale for nonincarceration
penalties.
Describe the rationale for intermediate
sanctions.
Illustrate the continuum-of-sanctions
concept.
Explain some of the problems associated
with intermediate sanctions.
List the various types of intermediate
sanctions and who administers them.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Describe what it takes to make intermediate
sanctions work.
Assess the role of the new correctional
professional.
Explain how community corrections
legislation works and describe its
effectiveness.
Critically assess the future of probation,
intermediate sanctions, and community
corrections.

Learning objective 1: Describe the rationale
for nonincarceration penalties.


Enormous cost of imprisonment
Other reasons:
◦ Imprisonment is too restrictive for many offenders
◦ Traditional probation does not work with most
offenders
◦ Justice is well served by having options in between

Most sanctions in Western democracies do
not involve imprisonment
◦ For every offender in prison, 3 are on probation or
parole.

Prison not effective in most cases
◦ Public sentiment
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Probation may not work with serious
offenders.
Intermediate sanctions can improve
supervision in 2 ways:
◦ Can intensify supervision
◦ Can provide specialized programs better suited to
address the offender’s needs

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Limited sentencing choices
Intermediate sanctions allow a closer tailoring
of the punishment to the offender’s situation.

Learning objective 2: Describe the rationale
for intermediate sanctions.

Continuum of sanctions:
◦ A range of correctional management strategies
based on the degree of intrusiveness and control
over the offender, along which an offender is
moved according to his or her response to
correctional programs.

Learning objective 3: Illustrate the
continuum-of-sanctions concept.

Advantages:
◦ Increases corrections system’s flexibility
◦ Decreases prison and jail overcrowding by moving
selected offenders to less-restrictive options
◦ Allows more-responsive management of individual
offenders
◦ If person not reporting, a brief home confinement
can be followed by a return to probation
◦ Costs less than other alternatives

Learning objective 4: Explain some of the
problems associated with intermediate
sanctions.
•
Selecting agencies:
– Correctional agency administrators argue they
should administer sanctions:
• Critics say these agencies cannot support midrange
activities
•
Selecting offenders:
– Stakes:
• The potential losses to victims and to the system if
offenders fail; stakes include injury from violent crimes
and public pressure resulting from negative publicity.

Widening the net:
◦ Potentially the most damaging
◦ Implementing intermediate sanctions has 3
consequences:
 Wider nets
 Stronger nets
 Different nets

Learning objective 5: List the various types of
intermediate sanctions and who administers
them.


Pretrial diversion
Fines:
◦ Day fine:
 A criminal penalty based on the amount of income an
offender earns in a day’s work.

Forfeiture:
◦ Government seizure of property and other assets
derived from or used in criminal activity.

Community service and restitution:
◦ Community service:
 Compensation for injury to society, by the
performance of service in the community.
◦ Restitution:
 Compensation for financial, physical, or emotional loss
caused by an offender, in the form of either payment
of money to the victim or to a public fund for crime
victims, as stipulated by the court.
•
Day reporting (treatment) centers:
– Probation center:
• Residential facility where persistent probation violators
are sent for short periods.
– Restitution center:
• Facility where probationers who fall behind in
restitution are sent to make payments on their debt.
•
Intensive supervision probation (ISP):
– Probation granted under conditions of strict
reporting to a probation officer with a limited
caseload.

Home confinement:
◦ Sentence whereby offenders serve terms of
incarceration in their own homes.

Electronic monitoring

Shock incarceration:
◦ A short period of incarceration followed by a
sentence reduction.

Boot camp:
◦ A physically rigorous, disciplined, and demanding
regimen emphasizing conditioning, education, and
job training. Designed for young offenders.

Learning objective 6: Describe what it takes
to make intermediate sanctions work.


Sanctions to be successful must be carefully
planned and implemented
Potential obstacles:
◦ Sentencing philosophies and practices
◦ Offender selection criteria
◦ Surveillance and control methods

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Most important issue
Principle of Interchangeability:
◦ The idea that different forms of intermediate
sanctions can be calibrated to make them
equivalent as punishments despite their differences
in approach.

The target group:
◦ Intermediate sanctions have 2 general goals:
 Serve as a less-costly alternative to prison
 Provide a more-effective alternative to probation
◦ Wrong target group
◦ Applied to non-prison cases
◦ Low risk clients

Problems of bias
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Tough aspects of intermediate sanctions may
not be totally positive.
Widening the net
Costs of stricter measure outweigh the
benefits?

Learning objective 7: Assess the role of the
new correctional professional.

Three major shifts in the working
environment:
◦ Nongovernmental organizations have emerged to
administer community corrections programs.
◦ Increased emphasis on accountability has reduced
individual discretion.
◦ Relationship between the professional and the
client has become less important than the
principles of criminal justice that underlie the
relationship.

Learning objective 8: Explain how community
corrections legislation works and describe its
effectiveness.

Reducing reliance on prison:
◦ Local justice systems have little incentive to keep
their own offenders in local corrections.
◦ Funded by state tax revenues
◦ Centralized, state-administered punishments seem
to be more expensive than local corrections.


Evaluation of community corrections
legislation:
Three aims:
◦ To reduce the rate and number of people sentenced
to state correctional facilities
◦ To reduce tax revenues spent on corrections by
transferring both the costs and the funding to lessexpensive local correctional facilities
◦ To reduce prison populations

Learning objective 9: Critically assess the
future of probation, intermediate sanctions,
and community corrections.

Three recurrent problems:
◦ Some way must be found to overcome the
seemingly immutable tendency of the CJ system to
resist placing in less-restrictive options and to keep
increasing the level of corrections.
◦ Community support must increase
◦ Purposes of sanctions must be clarified