PRISON OVERCROWDING.   Term Paper ID:29570 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines the issue in the U.S.... More...

16 Pages / 3600 Words 28 sources, 38 Citations, APA Format $64.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Examines the issue in the U.S. Trends in incarceration and institutional overcrowding. Increase in prison population. Emergence of overcrowding as a major public issue. Increase in violence crimes in the U.S. Development of new sentencing guidelines & mandates prison time. Costs associated with operating prisons. Approaches to reduction of criminal activity. Paper Introduction: PRISON OVERCROWDING Introduction This research examines the issue and phenomenon of prison overcrowding in the United States. The examination reviews trends in incarceration, trends in institutional overcrowding, issues associated with prison overcrowding, and potential solutions to the problem of prison overcrowding. Trends in Incarceration and Institutional Overcrowding More than 6.5 million persons (3.1 percent of the adult population of the United States) were under correctional supervision in the United States at mid-year 2001 — the most recent available data. Of this total number, 1,962,220 were incarcerated (1,330,980 in prison and 631,240 in jail), 732,351 were on parole, and 3,932,751 were on probation (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 200 Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. This systempermits a corrections officer to react quickly to behavior in a consistentmanner through imposition of a sanction commensurate with that behavior(Oregon Department of Corrections, 2 2, p. Further, within the general area of the control of socialbehaviors, the several different approaches to such control which have beenadvanced cannot be divorced from one another. B. (1995, Fall). M., & Stojkovic, S. J. Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin (NCJ 1917 2). Seeking a way out of crowded prisons. American Journal of Sociology, 1 5(5), 1357-1377.Federal Bureau of Investigation. citizens. R. It is entirely feasible that a cost shifting program for parole andprobation costs could also become a revenue-driven system. Engen and Steen (2 1, p. Social relationships as well as social perceptions affectthe propensity of an individual to engage in criminal behavior (Sherwin,2 , p. (Eds.). When probationer or parolee behavior indicates anecessity for such action or when orders issued by courts or the Board ofParole require such action, the number of personal contacts betweencorrections officers and offenders is increased. In determining the proportion of the costs of theadministration of their paroles and probations that convicted personsshould be required to pay, several states which have adopted such programshave used the ability to pay principle. M. One approach to the solution of prison capacity that is being adoptedby some jurisdictions is the privatization of corrections (Sechrest &Shichor, 1993, p. 1). Existing studies in the literature both providesupport for each approach, and find an absence of support for each of theapproaches. Playing hardball with criminals. New York: Basic Books.Hall, G. More andmore people appear to be coming to the view that behavior termed criminallydeviant by the so-called establishment is socially acceptable in their owncircles (Sherwin, 2 , p. Conversely, however, the American governmental system andlegal structure has evolved to a level where the excesses of the past wouldbe more difficult to either develop or maintain should they develop. When the law goes pop: The vanishing line between law and popular culture. The issue of sentencing severity is a highly controversialaspect of the criminal justice system. Government Printing Office, 1- 16. Retrieved from the Internet on 2 2-11-24 at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/pjim 1.pdfBureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. The number of persons incarcerated in prison in 2 1 was up 1.1percent from 2 and was up 3.6 percent from 1995. (1996, December). Thepurposes of automobile traffic fines are supposed to be the enhancement ofpublic road safety, and the control of driving behaviors. For corrections institutions, the interaction of these two factorsmeans that bad prison overcrowding is likely to become steadily worse. Parole and probation officers implement the Community correctionspolicy to control felony offenders under their supervision by concentratingthe greatest efforts on those offenders who are most likely to commit newcrimes. (1995, Winter). (2 2). In contrast, theparole population increased only 1.3 percent from 1995 to 2 1 (Bureau ofJustice Statistics, 2 2b, p. Hofer, Blackwell, and Ruback (1999, p. (1996, September). ReferencesBender, D. Journal of Consulting Clinical Psychology, 59, 619-681.Hofer, P. (1996, Spring). Theresearch also found that prison overcrowding was more pronounced in stateswith larger populations. The effect of the federal sentencing guidelines on inter-judge sentencing disparity. The second broad group of theoretical studies emphasizes therelationship between the control of social behaviors and reductions in thefrequency of occurrence of anti-social behaviors. Journal of Criminal Justice, 21(1), 91-93.Oregon Department of Corrections. D-4). As a consequence, manystates are attempting to revise mandatory sentencing guidelines to moderatethe problem (Stansky, 1996, p. 1357) found thatsentencing severity increased in relation to the implementation ofmandatory minimum sentencing laws. Breaking up prison deadlock. N., Hirschman, R., & Beutler, L. Prison and jail inmates at mid-year 2 1. Another relevant issue in the context of prison overcrowding issentencing. (1994, Winter-Spring). During this same time period, the rate of both violent crimeand property crime in the United States continued to increase in mostyears, although a steadily lower rates of increase throughout the ClintonAdministration. (1993). (1993). A., Ruback, B., & Friedman, R. Such a position by ajurisdiction, however, recalls the image of the debtors' prison and raisesquestions of constitutionality. 23). J., Jr. (2 ). L., & Steen, S. At the federal prison level, the inmate population represented 31 percentof the rated capacity of all federal prisons in the United States (Bureauof Justice Statistics, 2 2a, p. Throughout much of thenineteenth century and well into the twentieth century, however, privateprisons were widely used in the United States (Bender & Leone, 1992, p.159). 24-28). 1). "Does Prison Pay?" Revisited. 15). Other politicians, particularly at the state level, jumped onthe tough on crime bandwagon (Eckl, 1994, p. Privatization has come to play such an influential role in the routinefunctioning of the criminal justice system that the line between its publicand private functions has become quite blurred. In the 198 s criminal justicebecame a growth industry, with bond measures for prison construction, newinstitutional designs, and the operation of prisons (Platt, 1995, p. Under a cost shifting program for parole and probation costs, thesocial worker/assistance orientation of parole and probation officers istransformed from an intensive non-institutional supervised parole modelinto a surveillance/control model of managing offenders. Brookings Review, 13, 2 -25.Platt, A. Thecontemporary private prison "does not represent a continuation of the oldidea of galley slaves and workhouses" (Christie, 1993, p. Similarly,few politicians - federal, state, or local - will publicly advocate anincrease in taxes, regardless of the purpose for which such taxes would beused. 181) studied the relationship between sentencingpolicies and prison overcrowding. Social Science Quarterly, 72, 221-238.Bureau of Criminal Justice Statistics, U.S. Uniform crime reports. Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin (NCJ 195669). Contact, between corrections officers andoffenders, is progressively less frequent with less risky felons. Several states in the United States do operate systems whereinconvicted persons are required to pay a part of the costs associated withthe administration of their paroles or probations. London: Routledge.Department of Corrections, State of Oregon. 7 ). Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 9 (1), 329-411.Huang, W. Such policies have not always worked asintended, however, because some classes of non-violent offenders - notablydrug offenders - were excluded from probation programs (Piehl & DiIulio,1995, pp. Crime & punishment in American history. 329) found that offense typeand offenders' criminal histories provided the strongest explanations ofvariations in sentencing severity. Correctional crowding: The half-life of an idea in the social sciences. The diversioneases the prison crowding problem, while the intensive supervisiondiminishes the probability of recidivism (Oregon Department of Corrections,2 2, p. First, aspreviously mentioned in this examination, is the conversion of costshifting program into a debtors' prison-like program, wherein either: (1)individuals were denied parole or probation if they are either: (a) unableto meet the financial obligations imposed under such programs; or (b) areunwilling to meet the financial obligations imposed under such programs; or(2) individuals participating in cost shifting programs fail to meetprescribed payments, and are, then, placed in confinement as a consequenceof not making the required payments. Further, the policies frequently had other unanticipated(by politicians) outcomes. Most people touting the privatization of prisons concept appear tothink that they are reinventing the wheel. Criminologists have long associated the commission of crime with theopportunity for the commission of such acts. Probation and parole in the United States, 2 1. 1 9). K., & Shichor, D. One could retort that the only reasonthat the modern breed of private prison operator is any different fromearlier counterparts is that they no longer occupy a dominant position incorrections. Eachoffender is subject to a full array of sanctions and services to help holdhim (or her) accountable and in reducing the likelihood that he (or she)will commit further crimes. New York Times, A12.Rothman, S., & Powers, S. For the correctional officers responsible for theadministration of prisons, and the maintenance of prisoner welfare, theincrease in the proportion of violent offenders housed in the nation'sprison facilities has created a nightmarish situation with respect tocontrol, preservation of order, and maintenance of safety for bothprisoners and prison staff (Engen & Steen, 2 , p. 6, p. Washington: U.S. 35). (2 1, August 21). 3). The privatization approach is being promoted to anincreasing number of jurisdictions as the wave of the future incorrections. San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, Inc.Berger, R. Salem, Oregon: Oregon Department of Corrections. America's prisons. 1366). Second, the individuals against whom the costs ofparole and probation are levied may not be able to meet the prescribedpayments. Research studies, however,frequently tend to link sentence severity with offense type and offenders'criminal records (Rothman & Powers, 1994, p. (1993, September). The privatization of prisons was largely terminated in the UnitedStates because American citizens became unwilling to tolerate suchexcesses. (1991, June). Potential Solutions to the Problem of Prison Overcrowding Most of the theoretical studies devoted to the discovery of ways toreduce levels of criminal behavior emphasize one of two general ways toattack the problem. (1991, October). Some jurisdictions, in attempts to deal with the problem of prisonovercrowding, adopted liberal probation in lieu of incarceration policiesfor adult non-violent offenders. (2 , March). In states where the ability to pay principle is not considered in theestablishment of cost reimbursement levels for the administration ofparoles and probations, two major adverse outcomes occur. In 2 2, prison overcrowding remains adifficult problem that has been exacerbated by policies that simultaneouslysentence more people to incarceration and fail to build the facilitiesnecessary to house them. Corrections goes public in California. Typically, such high-riskoffenders also have serious substance abuse problems that contribute totheir criminal behavior. A12). A workable example of the intensive non-institutional supervisionmodel is the Community Corrections program of the State of Oregon, whichwas enacted into law in 1977 by the state legislature. (1994, Summer), Execution by quota? New York Times, Sec. Contacts betweencorrections officers and offenders include home visits, office visits,employment checks, and checks with other agencies including law enforcementand social service agencies. Retrieved from the Internet on 2 2- 11-25 at: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_ 1/ 1crime.pdfFrase, R. Thus, new prison cells continued to be required inincreasing numbers, and no one wanted to ask the public to pay for theirconstruction. The examination reviews trends in incarceration,trends in institutional overcrowding, issues associated with prisonovercrowding, and potential solutions to the problem of prisonovercrowding. From the mid-197 s through the mid-198 s, the American prisonpopulation increased by 84 percent (Bureau of Criminal Justice Statistics,1997, p. Government Printing Office.Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Such offenders often have served prison sentences and frequentlyhave four or more previous felony convictions. First, there are those theories which hold that theunderlying causes of anti-social behaviors (poverty, injustices-perceivedor real, and so forth) must be addressed, if the frequency of anti-socialbehaviors is to be reduced by any significant degree. Correctional populations in the United States, 1995. Hofer, Blackwell, and Ruback (1999, p.329) also found, however, that sentencing severity increased through theenactment of laws related to mandatory minimum sentences and three-strikelaws, while the relative importance of offense type and offenders' criminalhistories remained unchanged. (1993). In Oregon, manyconvicted persons are diverted to intensive supervision in communitycorrections rather that sent to prison for incarceration. Trends in Incarceration and Institutional Overcrowding More than 6.5 million persons (3.1 percent of the adult population ofthe United States) were under correctional supervision in the United Statesat mid-year 2 1 - the most recent available data. E. Social relationships often determinewhether or not an individual will have an opportunity to participate incriminal activity, and whether or not an individual will be encouraged insuch behavior. Offenders evaluated as high-risk for re-offendingare contacted personally by probation and parole officers a minimum of fourtimes each month. (1995, June). The thrust of thesetheories is that, by eliminating the underlying causes of anti-socialbehaviors, the behaviors themselves will either be eliminated or theirfrequencies of occurrence will be significantly reduced (Berger, 1991, pp.225-226). Aprecedent for this abuse may be found in automobile traffic fines. Of this total number,1,962,22 were incarcerated (1,33 ,98 in prison and 631,24 in jail),732,351 were on parole, and 3,932,751 were on probation (Bureau of JusticeStatistics, 2 2b, p. First, the wivesand children of convicted persons, who are guilty of nothing, may beseverely penalized. Proponents of prison privatization today contend thatcontemporary private prison operators are nothing like their earliercounterparts, and that the country need not worry about a return to pastconditions (Rohde, 2 1, p. Department of Justice (2 2b, August). As stated in the preceding section of this examination, since the mid-198 s, the prison population has continued to climb, however, at a slightlyreduced rate. (1994, September). Private prisons and the public interest. (1992). A growth industry cools as new York prisons thin. Crime rave. Since the mid-198 s, the prison population has continued to climb,however, at a reduced rate (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2 2a, p. At mid-year 2 1, persons incarcerated in jails in the United Statesrepresented approximately 9 percent of the rated capacity of all jails inthe United States. Whilethe crime rate has increased, and the demand for prison space hasincreased, prison capacity has remained relatively steady, increasingslightly each year but varying greatly by jurisdiction. Of the several suggested approaches toalleviating the problem of prison overcrowding without simultaneouslyendangering public safety, a rational option appears to be an intensive non-institutional supervision model administered through community correctionsprograms. Another approach tocorrections for which private operators are well suited and which may havepositive impacts on recidivism is a system of intensive non-institutionalsupervision of the type that is a part of most shock incarcerationprograms. Washington: U.S. C. Retrieved from the Internet on 2 2-11-24 at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ppus 1.pdfChristie, N. 2 ). 22). The research found that toughersentencing policies affected prison crowding over the long-term. 6, 1.Wooldredge, G. Crime control as an industry. Individual and contextual influences on sentence lengths: examining political conservatism. When such payments are not met, the typical response of thejurisdictions imposing the charges is to threaten incarceration, ifpayments are not made (Johnston, 1995, p. Their study notonly found a positive relationship between sentencing severity andoffenders' prior criminal records, they also found disproportionateincreases in sentencing severity associated with increases in offenders'records of prior convictions. 1). One school of thought holds that stiff penalties should be leviedagainst offenders, as a deterrent to both repetition of the behavior by theoffenders, and as a deterrent to non-offenders. On an anecdotal level, the severityof sentences applicable to similar offenses frequently appears to vary inrelation to (1) offender race or ethnicity, (2) victim race or ethnicity,(3) public anxiety associated with crime rates, (4) criminal justicejurisdiction, and (5) judicial prerogative. Government Printing Office. One effect of theinteraction of these three trends has been a shift in the prison populationtoward a much higher proportion of violent crime offenders, as the mostviolent and drug offenders are the groups most likely to remainincarcerated. In many, if notmost, jurisdictions in the United States, however, traffic law enforcementhas become a revenue-driven system, wherein public safety becomes asecondary objective to revenue enhancement. Theories of sexual aggression. In addition to the various sanctions and services described in thepreceding discussion, probation and parole officers under the CommunityCorrections Program can respond quickly to the violation behavior ofoffenders through a formal system named Structured Sanctions. (2 2). Per 1 thousand-population, the increase was from 129 to216. Within this group ofstudies, there are included a wide variety of approaches put forward asmeans of controlling social behaviors-running the gamut from to use ofpunishment and sentencing procedures as a deterrent to the commission ofanti-social behaviors, to the use of community involvement as a means ofreducing the frequencies of anti-social behaviors (Hall, Hirschman, &Beutler, 1991, pp. The essence of the major problem confronting criminal corrections inthe United States is the unacceptably high recidivism rate among theoffenders who are processed through the system. 1). 87). Department of Justice (2 2a, April). One outcome of all of this activity was the development of newsentencing guidelines that mandated prison time for more types of offensesand which also lengthened prison stays. Community corrections. L., & Leone, B. (2 1, April 22). The potential for suchsystems to be abused, and to become de facto debtors' prison-like systemsis widely recognized in the states operating such systems, however, and,consequently, safeguards are incorporated into enabling legislation topreclude potential abuse, and/or distortion of the intent of such systems(Christie, 1993, p. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Stansky, L. 91). 1 2). Conclusion The prison overcrowding problem in the United States developed over aperiod of almost 3 years. 1 9). Some jails were overcrowded, while others were notovercrowded. Projected revenues fromautomobile traffic fines become a major budget item in such instances. This approach, whilehighly popular among the general public and conservative politicians is notsupported by many sociologists for either adult or youth offenders.Opposing views advocate the deterrent effects of sure and substantialpenalties for antisocial behaviors as a means of reducing the crime rate.In this context, it is important to note that some studies have found thatthe sureness of the imposition of penalties is as important, as is theseverity of the punishments imposed (Frase, 1994, pp. The two general approaches to the reduction of criminal activity -attacking the underlying causes and control of social behaviors - cannot becompletely divorced. 629-631). 1). R. Death by inmate: Multiple murder in a maximum security prison. There hasbeen a significant shift from the post-Second World War emphasis by policymakers that crime control is best left to the experts to contemporarywidely shared recognition that the criminal justice system can control onlya very small portion of serious crime. (1996, May). Another report found that increasing prisonpopulations are taxing the resources of jurisdictions at all levels ofgovernment (Klofas & Stojkovic, 1996, p. 11). ABA Journal, 82, 7 - 75.Tuhus, M. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 4 (3), 181-191. The power to punish. 1). Purposes of punishment under the Minnesota guidelines. Further, offenders under the supervision ofthe Community Corrections Program are subject to frequent unannounced homevisits, searches, random urine testing for drug use, or polygraph testingto monitor compliance with conditions of supervision (Oregon Department ofCorrections, 2 2, p. Criminal Justice Ethics, 13, 11-2 .Friedman, L. At the state prison level, incarcerated populations rangedfrom 1 percent of rated capacity to 115 percent of rated prison capacity. Issues Associated with Prison Overcrowding Prison overcrowding and the costs associated with operating prisonsdeveloped as major public issues over the past 25-to-3 years (Tuhus, 2 1,Sec. Government Printing Office, 1-8. Department of Justice (1997). Public Interest (116), 3-17.Sechrest, D. Social Pathology, 2(1), 23-31.Munster, A. prison overcrowding Introduction This research examines the issue and phenomenon of prison overcrowdingin the United States. Again, this phenomenon isnot new; however, its recent growth and scope are unprecedented. J., Blackwell, K. 11). The outcome, predictably, was prison overcrowding(Piehl & DiIulio, 1995, pp. Under President Bush (George II), however, crime rates areagain increasing (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2 2, Table 2.3). The social and political context of rape reform law. M., & DiIulio, J. In the contemporary period,however, there appears to be a stronger tendency on the part of an everlarger proportion of the population to engage in any activity, criminal ornot, that provides them with some degree of pleasure at almost any time.One reason that a growing proportion of the population appears to befindings criminal behavior an acceptable alternative to non-criminalbehavior is the continuing socialization of criminal deviancy. "Information," (1997): www.doc.state.or.us/cc.htmEckl, C. In the American political environment, no politician -federal, state, or local - dared (or dares) to take any action that wouldpermit an opponent to claim that he or she was soft on crime. Requiring theconvicted person to pay for his or her parole and probation services,however, tends to overlook societal benefits derived from parole andprobation, and, in effect, acts more as an additional penalty imposed onthe convicted person. The principle upon which policies are based for requiring convictedpersons to pay a part of the costs associated with the administration oftheir paroles and probations is the benefit principle - those who benefitfrom public services should also be those who pay them. Washington: U.S. Again, existing studies inthe literature both provide support, and find an absence of support foreach of the several approaches (Friedman, 1993, pp. There are two instances of potential abuse of programs requiringconvicted persons to pay a part of the costs of administering their parolesand probations which, should they develop, would be seriously detrimentalto both society and to the convicted persons involved. W., Finn, M. Wooldredge (1996, p. The intensive non-institutional supervision model would be usedin conjunction with community corrections programs and parole programs(Sechrest & Shichor, 1993, p.3). In such asituation, public safety, the rehabilitation of convicted persons, andother goals of parole and probation would become secondary objectives toother objectives, which might be either to make parole and probationadministration self-funding activities, or enhance the general revenues ofthe jurisdiction administering the program. 398) found that thegravity of the offense and an offender's record of prior convictions werethe strongest of the factors explaining sentence severity. The increase in violent crime in the United States in the197 s, together a plea bargaining process that often appeared to favoroffenders, led to public outcries to get tougher on crime. S. 1). While the politicians were gettingtough on crime, however, the politicians and citizens - from the federallevel right on down to local politicians and citizens voting in bondelections - neglected in some cases and refused in more cases to increasespending on incarceration facilities at the levels required to meet theincreasing demand. 12). The second potentially serious abuse of cost shifting parole andprobation cost programs involves the official perception of such fees. Monthly Review, 47(2), 35-46.Rohde, D. State Legislatures, 2 , 14-19.Engen, R. Both PresidentReagan and President Bush (George I) tapped this vein of public discontentby successfully, if inaccurately, by labeling their opponents as being softon crime. Caveat emptor: Customers vs. This model of intensive non-institutionalsupervision operated by private contractors would be largely funded by theprisoners participating in such programs. Not all people, however, are supportive of the prisonprivatization concept (Munster, 1993, p. Washington: U.S. (1999, Fall). S. Prison Journal, 76(4), 398-419.Johnston, V. Retrieved from the Internet on 2 2-11-25 at: http://www.doc.state.or.us/community_corrections/ welcome.shtmlPiehl, A. Huang, Finn, Ruback, and Friedman (1996, p. R., & Ruback, R. 1 1). Christie(1993, p. Mandatory minimum sentencing and three-strikes sentencing, thus, are contributors to the increase in the prisonpopulation, which means that this sentencing is indirectly implicated inprison overcrowding. K. Public Manager: New Bureaucrat, 24(3), 11-14.Klofas, J. Federal Probation, 57(3), 3-8.Sherwin, R. 1). Living conditions in most of these facilities "were appalling," and"prisoners were little more than slave laborers" (Bender & Leone, 1992, p.159). By locking up drug users and making prisonspace by releasing career criminals and violent offenders, the policiesincreased crime rates. 1 9) termed this approach the municipal care for the poor model(Christie, 1993, p. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.