Sample Syllabus: 16-Week Course ............................................................................................................... v

i Instructor’s Manual for Corrections

Third Edition Leanne Alarid Philip Reichel 1 / 4

iii Table of Contents To the Instructor ........................................................................................................................................... iv Sample Syllabus: 16-Week Course ............................................................................................................... v Sample Syllabus: 10-week Course ............................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: An Evidence-Based Approach to Corrections............................................................................. 1 Chapter 2: Why Do We Punish? ................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 3: Correctional Practices from Ancient to Contemporary Times .................................................. 11 Chapter 4: Sentencing ................................................................................................................................. 18 Chapter 5: Probation and Community Supervision .................................................................................... 24 Chapter 6: Jails and Pretrial Release ........................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 7: Managing Prisons and Prisoners ............................................................................................... 34 Chapter 8: Prison Life ................................................................................................................................. 40 Chapter 9: Special Correctional Populations .............................................................................................. 46 Chapter 10: Reentry Programs and Parole .................................................................................................. 50 Chapter 11: Legal Issues in Corrections ..................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 12: Capital Punishment ................................................................................................................. 61 Chapter 13: Juvenile Corrections ................................................................................................................ 66 Chapter 14: Revisiting Evidence-Based Practices and What Works .......................................................... 73 2 / 4

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Chapter 1: An Evidence-Based Approach to Corrections

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

The primary goal of this chapter is to introduce the evidence-based approach as a key concept in this book’s content and organization. This is done by first setting the corrections system in the context of the broader criminal justice system. As the focus turns to corrections specifically, a distinction is made between community-based corrections and institutional-based corrections.Because they will receive more complete coverage in later chapters, only brief comment is made about the U.S. incarceration rate and media’s influence on public opinion and correctional policy. The chapter concludes with an explanation of evidence-based practices and a description of criteria used to determine “what works.”

CHAPTER LEARNING OUTCOMES

1.Describe how corrections is part of the criminal justice system that is dependent on decisions made earlier in the process by the police and the courts.

2.Compare and contrast both institutional and community-based corrections.

3.Explain the effect that rising incarceration rates between 1970 and 2010 had on racial and economic disparity.

4.Analyze the relationships among mass media, public opinion, and the making of correctional policy.

5.Characterize the meaning of evidence-based practice and explain how it can improve the correctional system.

LECTURE OUTLINE

CORRECTIONS: AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

•Figure 1-1 shows the criminal justice system in a flow chart with the corrections system identified as the final part of the system.Police oThe criminal justice process begins with the report to the police of a crime by a victim or witness or, with the observation of a crime by the police.oAfter investigation, and depending on the seriousness of the offenses, the police may issue a warning or a citation, or make an arrest.oFollowing an arrest or citation, the case moves to the courts.Pretrial/Courts oProsecutors examine quality of evidence and determine whether to charge the suspect with a crime or to dismiss the case.oWhen the decision is to charge the suspect, the person will enter a plea of guilty or not guilty and go before a judge to be sentenced (when the plea is guilty) or to have a trial date set (when the plea is not guilty).oProsecutors may make plea offers to defendants that could encourage a guilty plea or that can result in a sentence recommendation that prosecution and defense feel is most appropriate given the facts of the case. 3 / 4

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Preadjudication Diversion

• Early in the court process, the judge may offer diversion or deferred adjudication to

misdemeanor or first-time felony defendants.

• Diversion (e.g., deferred probation supervision) allows defendants to be supervised in

the community before pleading guilty. With successful completion of diversion, charges are dropped and there is no formal record of conviction.

• Defendants not qualifying for diversion may be offered a plea agreement wherein the

defendant pleads guilty in return for a favorable sentence.

CORRECTIONS AS COMMUNITY -BASED OR INSTITUTIONAL

• Final case disposition lies with the judge who has available a continuum of sanctions from which to select the sentence.• Figure 1-3 shows the continuum of sanctions as falling into either community-based or institutional.

Community Corrections

• Sanctions that rely on resources available in the community are referred to as

community corrections.

• Examples include probation and residential community corrections facilities.

Institutional Corrections

• Sanctions that require the offender to live in an institutional environment apart from

their friends and family are referred to as institutional corrections.

• Examples include jail and prison.

INCARCERATION RATES

• The United States has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world.• The war on drugs greatly increased the number of prisoners in the federal system.• Latinos and African-Americans are incarcerated disproportionately and this may be the result of police targeting minorities for closer attention or possibly that minorities are more likely to engage in behavior for which incarceration is the appropriate sanction.

MEDIA INFLUENCE ON PUBLIC OPINION AND CORRECTIONAL POLICY

• Much of the public’s view about the criminal justice system is determined by the mass media.• With their focus on maximum and supermaximum units, the media present a one- dimensional and incomplete picture of prison life.

Crime Control Policy

• Affected by media influences and public opinion.
• Fear of crime, whether based in fact or on selected media reports, may result in more

punitive crime policies that lead to more reliance on imprisonment.

• Research suggests that the more punitive states tend to also have higher rates of

poverty, more persons who are African-American, lower percentage of voter turnout, and less generous welfare payments for impoverished persons.

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