Corrections/Both Institutional and Community Assignment | Get Paper Help

Unit III Assignment For this assignment, you will apply the information in this chapter as well as focus a bit on your own thoughts in regards to corrections, both institutional and in the community. In this two-part assignment, you will address the questions below. Each part must be at least one page in length. Part 1: Go through the sentencing trends over the past 5 decades. First, identify them and briefly explain them. Then, wrap this section up by explaining how you think these have all changed corrections and sentencing today. Part 2: Pick two types of community supervision that interested you in this unit. Explain what each is, how it is used, and then detail its benefits. Be sure you focus on the benefits in the community, the offender, and the victim. Wrap this section up with your thoughts on these and if you think they are a benefit to society as a whole. Make sure that you explain yourself fully. The assignment must be at least two pages in length. You must include a cover page and reference page, which do not count toward the minimum page requirement listed. You must include one other source besides the textbook from an academic source. The Waldorf Online Library provides many academic source options. Adhere to APA Style when constructing this assignment, including a title page, and in-text citations and references for all sources that are used.

Unit Lesson This unit contains two chapter readings from the textbook. We will discuss aspects from each chapter in more detail. In Chapter 4, you will learn a little more about sentencing and its process and types. In Chapter 5, you will learn more about community corrections and all of the different types of sentencing that can result in the offender being in the community, rather than in prison. Be sure that you have read both chapters before doing your assignment. Chapter 4 went over the coverage of sentencing, severity of sentencing, and punishment types, as well as what a presentence report entails. Pay close attention to the section that goes through sentencing systems, which include the terms listed below: · indeterminate, · determinate, and · structured. UNIT III STUDY GUIDE Sentencing of Offenders CRJ 2200, Theory and Practices of Corrections 2 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title Also of interest is a section in the chapter that explains how we are reducing sentences by use of jail time, good time, and concurrent sentencing. While these follow the sentencing systems, they are used to prevent overcrowding and get offenders back into the community. On page 55 of your textbook, Alarid and Reichel (2018) have a visual aid that will help you to see the differing views on punishment. It shows you public perception of severity, then focuses in on three different states. After reading about sentencing, various states and changes in sentencing, turn your attention to trends in sentencing over the last few decades. Figure 4-11 on page 68 of the textbook gives you a timeline for these trends. Look these over before you continue on in the unit lesson. With the United States increasing the prison population 500% over the last 40 years, changes in sentencing policy have been attributed as the largest cause (The Sentencing Project, 2018). Most people would think that we have more criminals and crime, but, as you previously learned, our crime rate has been going down. Despite having less crime, we are experiencing more prison overcrowding and spending more money on prisons. Between 1985 and 2017, the United States spent $59.8 billion dollars on corrections (The Sentencing Project, 2018). Let’s look a little closer at the key years from the timeline. 1973: Drug laws come into effect creating minimum sentences for drug offenders. This began in New York, but spread to many states throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s. This created a dramatic growth in our prison population. People spend more time in prison for drugs than many other types of crime, with the exception of murder. At the state level, more than half of the people that are incarcerated are violent offenders, but at the federal level, almost half are drug offenders. In 1986, most federal drug offenders served an average of 22 months in prison. Fast forward to 2004, and that sentence increased. Through mandatory minimums, the average sentence became 62 months (The Sentencing Project, 2018). 1984: The first truth-in-sentencing law was enacted in Washington. This required violent offenders to serve a majority of their sentence. Truth-in-sentencing laws were created not only for punishment but to ensure the safety of the community (Alarid & Reichel, 2018). Think of it this way, seeing a violent offender put away for a long period of time makes many feel as if they are safe. It also makes people feel as if the justice system is doing what it is supposed to, locking up offenders. 1994: California passes a three-strikes law. This created a mandatory minimum sentence for the third felony conviction an offender got (Alarid & Reichel, 2018). Very simply put, offenders have two chances, which may or may not result in prison or jail time, based on the crime, but for the third one, there is no chance or option to lower the sentence. Consider what this did for California’s prison population. From a logical standpoint, this should have deterred offenders and prevented crime, but, instead, it caused a surge in their prison population. 1999: Three-strikes laws were adopted by 24 states, and another 29 states now have a truth-in-sentencing law. Many states felt that this would cause crime to go down, they would lock up fewer people and that overall it would be beneficial. However, research showed that the longer sentences were not deterring people and were not reducing our recidivism rate (Alarid & Reichel, 2018). 2002: Michigan became one of the first states to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses. Under this legislation, many offenders became eligible for parole (Alarid & Reichel, 2018). This was done, in part, to help the quickly increasing prison population that Michigan was dealing with. In 2002, they had almost 50,000 offenders and were spending an average of $28,000 per offender (The New York Times, 2002). By CRJ 2200, Theory and Practices of Corrections 3 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title paroling some early and preventing future offenders from being subject to such long sentences, this allowed the state to save money and use it toward other parts of their state budget. 2012: By this point about 17 states have repealed or lessened their mandatory sentencing laws with more states looking into doing the same (Alarid & Reichel, 2018). Based on the success of other states in budgeting and decreasing prison overcrowding, more states could be moving towards this today. The Federal Government also voted to reduce sentencing, specifically for drug-trafficking, in 2014. Remember, each state still has the power to set their standards, so it can vary from state to state. Having discussed these in more detail, you can see that the correctional system went from being tough on crime, specifically drugs, to moving back to sentencing that fits the crime and is less severe in length of sentence. As you noticed in the reading, this applies mostly to low-level drug offenses. Part of the reason this shift and timeline is important for you to learn is that it leads us to Chapter 5, “Probation and Community Supervision.” With less prison time mandated, the chance of offenders serving all or part of their sentence under supervision in the community has grown exponentially over the past decade. Be sure you have read the history of community corrections included in the chapter. This will help you see how probation and community corrections came to be. We are less focused on the history in this unit lesson, and more focused on the benefits. Keep in mind that not all the benefits may apply to all crimes and offenders. These are general for the use of community corrections and supervision. Community corrections includes probation, parole, community service, restitution, fines, electronic monitoring, day reporting, and drug treatment, as well as other components. Most of these are sentenced through probation conditions, which you learned about within the readings in the unit. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits more closely. Be sure you think of benefits as you go through the reading. Some may stand out to you that you did not know about or had not thought about prior to this unit. One of the largest benefits of community corrections is that the offender can be reparative to the victim and the community. If you remember from Unit I, restoration is a sentencing philosophy. Probation conditions could require a person to complete community service, therefore helping the community. Many community agencies lack money, workers, or time to do things that can be done through community service. Typically, the service is done for non-profit institutions. Other times, it could be specifically focused on what the person did. For example, a youth could create graffiti in a park, and part of their sentence could be to repaint over their graffiti and other tags in the park. Therefore, it restores the community to what it was, before the crime. It also helps, because by making them paint over other graffiti (from those not caught), they have someone doing work that perhaps the community does not have the funds or manpower to get to. An obvious benefit is that it cuts the amount of money taxpayers, states, and the federal government are investing in prisons and jails. Without sentencing every offender to imprisonment, this frees up our jails and prisons for more violent offenders as well. Being in the community and having a job and working, while under correctional supervision, has multiple benefits in and of itself. If a person does not have a job or is coming into the community on parole and therefore not currently employed, they will work toward employment. A typical condition of probation and parole is that the offender will maintain employment or actively be seeking employment. CRJ 2200, Theory and Practices of Corrections 4 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title Benefits of Community Corrections The next benefit of community corrections that we will look at is treatment. While in prison or jail, there are opportunities for treatment on some level, but in the community, there are typically far more ways to help an offender. From drug treatment to parenting classes to therapy for sexual offenders, there are a multitude of options. This is the part of community supervision where a probation officer serves as a social worker. Based on the crime and the presentence report, probation officers work towards helping the offender and linking them with community resources. While these are some of the benefits, also think of potential drawbacks to having offenders in the community. It could increase fear that people have. It could be viewed as a slap on the wrist. Many people feel like if you commit a crime, you should be in jail or prison. Your discussion board for this unit will allow you to discuss this concept with your peers. Having read this unit, the chapters, and given some thought to the Thinking Points, you will be prepared now for your assignment. In the next unit, we will talk in more depth about prisons and jails. This will allow you to compare community supervision, a less-thought-about part of corrections, to the typical sentence most people envision: being locked away. References Alarid, L. F., & Reichel, P. L. (2018). Corrections (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Pearson. The New York Times. (2002, December 12). Michigan to drop minimum sentence rules for drug crimes. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/26/us/michigan-to-drop-minimum-sentence-rulesfor-drug-crimes.html The Sentencing Project. (2018, June 22). Trends in U.S. corrections. Retrieved from https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/trends-in-u-s-corrections/