5 Major of Goals Corrections
5 Major of Goals Corrections
The courts and corrections, they have the joint obligation towards the attainment of five (5) goals: retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation and restoration (Smallbone, Marshall and Wortley, 2013, p. 16). The allocation and administration of punishment is the cornerstone of criminal justice policy because punishment is applied for retributive purposes. Although punishment may be viewed as a form of retribution, it does not in itself serve the crime prevention purpose. The recent study of Smallbone et al. (2013, p. 20) has shown that punishment is effective in suppressing target behavior, but should hold sufficient severity. At the same time, the punisher must be perceived as relevant by the person being punished. Hence, offenders should respect the decision of the court because it is part of the judiciary and empowered by the state to impose punishment.
Deterrence focuses on the onerousness of the punishment. Deterrence has two types: General and specific. According to Samaha (2011, p. 491) general deterrence can be considered as a crime control policy that is dependent on the fear of criminal penalties. In this case, prolonged prison sentence for violent crimes are aimed to convince the potential law violator that the suffering and pain associated with the offense shall outweigh the benefits. The principle of specific deterrence is the concept of punishing the offenders will have an effect on themselves where in the offenders will feel the pain of punishment and will have lesser probability of reoffending in the future (Vito, Maahs and Holmes, 2006, p.52). To illustrate, general deterrence is an outcome of the society’s perception on traffic laws that are currently being enforced and that the offender faces the risk of punishment in the event that such person shall be apprehended after violating the traffic laws. On the other hand, specific deterrence may be derived from the tangible encounters such as detection, arrest, prosecution, and punishment of the criminals. It is presumed that the work of the police enforcement is geared towards general deterrence with the intention to increase the risk of apprehension among the offenders (Samaha, 2011, p. 491).
Incapacitation deprives the offenders of the capacity to commit crimes since there is physical incapacity since they order detained inside the prison cells. Thus, when they are inside the prison, they cannot continue to commit crimes in the community (MacKenzie, 2006, p. 3). Through incapacitation, it will banish or lessen the crime rate by removing the criminal opportunities for the individual offenders. In the past, some of the methods used for incapacitation shall include banishment, exile, transportation and death of the offenders (Smallbone et al., 2013, p. 25).
Rehabilitation is directed toward changing the attitude or behavior of the offenders so that they will not continue to commit crimes in society. It is believed that community corrections will help offenders to rehabilitate their deviant behavior to provide them the opportunity correct their mistakes (MacKenzie, 2006, p. 4).
Restoration is regarded as the act of reparation for the damage caused to victims of crimes, the community, and the offender himself brought about by his own criminal act. The concept of parole, probation, community and drug courts, pre-trial release, community service and victim assistance has a strong connection to the concept of restorative justice. Restorative justice supports community corrections programs because it is based on ethics that will ensure the offenders that they achieve a certain level of dignity (Del Carmen and Trulson, 2005, p. 303).
Under the principle of restorative justice goal, it includes parole and probation. These two alternatives are considered as advantage because the offenders are given temporary freedom outside of the courts, but still subject to the supervision of the courts. Probation and parole are similar in a lot of way such a being community-based corrections programs which can be considered as an advantage and privilege on the part of the offenders. The judge or the board shall exercise their discretion in determining if the offender is qualified to avail of probation or parole.
The only disadvantage of the goal of restoration is that it may be subject to abuses. This is in relation to the principle of restorative justice wherein the current programs of the criminal justice system adhere to ethics-approach principles to provide the defendants a sense of decency. The purpose is to respond to the needs of victims and society and also work for the transformation of the defendants to contribute towards the success of the community. However, there has been no solid evidence to prove that these offenders are unlikely to re-offend in the future. Restorative justice can be considered as an endeavor to regain the losses suffered by the defendant, rather than decriminalizing them (Del Carmen and Trulson 303).
The crime control strategy that can be used alongside the five goals of corrections is by providing accurate and timely intelligence as to where and when crimes occur. It is vital to have a fast deployment of personnel and resources that will respond to crime locations. In addition, developing comprehensive and effective tactics should adapt to evolving crime trends. At the same time, relentless follow-up and assessment to ensure that the tactics accomplish the strategic goals. The rapid deployment of strategies and tactics must be able to pursue the identified crime hotspots (Solomon, 2011).
References
Del Carmen, R. V. and Trulson, C. R. (2005). Juvenile Justice. California: Cengage.
MacKenzie, D.L. (2006). What Works in Corrections. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Samaha, J. (2011). Criminal Procedure. Belmont, California: Cengage Learning.
Smallbone, S., Marshall, W.L. & Wortley, R. (2013). Preventing Child Sexual Abuse: Evidence,
Policy and Practice. New York: Routledge.
Solomon, F. F. (2011). Adapting to Order Maintenance Policing in New York City: Examining
Defendant Characteristics and Post-Arrest Outcomes. New York City Criminal Justice
Agency. Web. June 4, 2013. http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/Solomon.pdf.
Vito, G.F, Maahs, J.R. and Holmes, R.M. (2006). Criminology: Theory, Research and Policy.
2nd ed. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
