Deck 16: Section 1: Corrections: Sentencing, Imprisonment, and Alternatives

Question 1

Describe the four goals of imprisonment.

Answer 1

Main points:
There are four goals of imprisonment:
• incapacitation (keeping someone behind prison walls to prevent him or her from doing any harm to society outside of the prison);
• deterrence, which is subdivided into specific deterrence (deterring the person who is imprisoned from further crimes when he/she gets out because of the unpleasantness of prison) and general deterrence (deterring other people from committing crimes because they know they could end up in prison for their crimes);
• retribution (taking revenge on the criminal for the harm he or she has done by making him or her suffer in prison); and
• rehabilitation (improving people during their stay in prison, often through special programming, general or religious education, and treatment).

Question 2

What was the goal of determinate sentencing and how does it work? What are the main problems with mandatory sentencing in general and with one of its versions - three-strikes laws - in particular?

Answer 2

Main points:
• Determinate, or mandatory sentencing was intended to make sentences more uniform and unbiased, and thus reduce sentencing disparities based on race and gender. Only seriousness of the offense, prior criminal history, and some offense characteristics (e.g., the use of a gun) are supposed to dictate the length of sentence within a narrow sentencing range.
• Unfortunately, the downsides of determinate sentencing turned out to be too serious: its excessive rigidity, complex nature, and inability of judges to take some important characteristics of the defendant into account led to its repeal in the 2005 case of United States v. Booker.
• The three-strikes laws are an especially highly criticized version of mandatory sentencing because they are inefficient and very costly: Offenders are sent to prison at the end of their "crime careers," for longer than necessary periods of time, sometimes for trivial third offenses, and their imprisonment is much more expensive than some equally or more effective alternatives to incarceration.

Question 3

Discuss three alternatives to prison.

Answer 3

Main points:
Any three of the following four can be discussed:
• Restitution (often in the form of community service) is when the criminal compensates the victims and/or the society for the harm done as a result of his or her crime.
• Probation (suspended sentence) involves meeting with a probation officer on a regular basis as the main point of contact with the criminal justice system. This is a way to supervise the convicted person, make sure he or she is drug-free and employed, etc. Studies show probation to be more effective in reducing recidivism and much less costly than imprisonment.
• House arrest involves electronic monitoring through ankle or wrist bracelets.
• Halfway houses are places where offenders live in a communal environment and attend therapy. This is a more structured environment than probation as it involves living away from home and under more close supervision.