According to Mays and Winfree Jr., (2009) we have learned from corrections in the past 30 years that is that we cannot tinker with one part of the criminal justice system without affecting the others. Correctional professionals painfully learned during the 1990’s, when prisons become crowded, inmates back up in local jails that are not equipped to deal with long-term populations or with serious offenders. Incarceration rates and policies that affect those rates have an impact on probation, parole, and community-based programming. Mays and Winfree Jr., (2009) list below ten changes in policies or practices that could have a positive impact on the nation’s corrections system, particularly the number of people under control.
1. Change the …show more content…
Legalize or at least decriminalize, most drugs: The nation’s prisons are full of people whose offense is drug related. Legislation may be a difficult path for the nation to accept, however decriminalization, where possession is treated as a civil rather than a criminal matter. This move can cut prison population in half. The money could be diverted from incarceration cost to community drug treatment programs and early-intervention and prevention programs. Sentencing disparities among certain groups would disappear.
3. Depoliticize the corrections system: Bad politics can interfere with good correctional practices. On the other hand it takes politicians to get the programs funded and to see the light of day. Politicians don’t want to seem soft on crime, but if they understood that good programs have the potential to make them look good, they could be persuaded to support alternatives to penal harm.
4. Abandon three-strike and truth-in-sentencing laws: The pundits predicted huge increases in the nation’s prison populations following the widespread adoption of truth-in-sentencing laws, and it came true. Three-strike provisions remain largely symbolic and so should be abandoned. Existing habitual-offender laws will continue to protect the public even in the absence of three-strike …show more content…
Increase meaningful educational and vocational programs in prisons: Money should be spent on educational and vocational programs because it is a good investment in crime prevention. Training programs for inmates are necessary if releases are to assume more meaningful roles in society. These programs should extend after release as well.
7. Return to the full use of parole: Releasing inmates on parole ensures some form of control over them and can provide a form of safety for them as well as the community. Pre-release programs can ease these returns to society. Parole is useful to prison operations as well because it can provide incentives for inmates to work towards good time and could be used as a control mechanism.
8. Treat most violations of immigration laws as civil, rather than criminal matters: In 2005, nearly 17,000 undocumented aliens were being housed in federally operated facilities, state prisons, and local jails Harrison and Beck 2006b, 10 (cited by Mays and Winfree Jr., 2009). Changing federal policy on the treatment of immigration law violations could result in a significant decrease in the nation’s jail and prison
1. Change the …show more content…
Legalize or at least decriminalize, most drugs: The nation’s prisons are full of people whose offense is drug related. Legislation may be a difficult path for the nation to accept, however decriminalization, where possession is treated as a civil rather than a criminal matter. This move can cut prison population in half. The money could be diverted from incarceration cost to community drug treatment programs and early-intervention and prevention programs. Sentencing disparities among certain groups would disappear.
3. Depoliticize the corrections system: Bad politics can interfere with good correctional practices. On the other hand it takes politicians to get the programs funded and to see the light of day. Politicians don’t want to seem soft on crime, but if they understood that good programs have the potential to make them look good, they could be persuaded to support alternatives to penal harm.
4. Abandon three-strike and truth-in-sentencing laws: The pundits predicted huge increases in the nation’s prison populations following the widespread adoption of truth-in-sentencing laws, and it came true. Three-strike provisions remain largely symbolic and so should be abandoned. Existing habitual-offender laws will continue to protect the public even in the absence of three-strike …show more content…
Increase meaningful educational and vocational programs in prisons: Money should be spent on educational and vocational programs because it is a good investment in crime prevention. Training programs for inmates are necessary if releases are to assume more meaningful roles in society. These programs should extend after release as well.
7. Return to the full use of parole: Releasing inmates on parole ensures some form of control over them and can provide a form of safety for them as well as the community. Pre-release programs can ease these returns to society. Parole is useful to prison operations as well because it can provide incentives for inmates to work towards good time and could be used as a control mechanism.
8. Treat most violations of immigration laws as civil, rather than criminal matters: In 2005, nearly 17,000 undocumented aliens were being housed in federally operated facilities, state prisons, and local jails Harrison and Beck 2006b, 10 (cited by Mays and Winfree Jr., 2009). Changing federal policy on the treatment of immigration law violations could result in a significant decrease in the nation’s jail and prison