The number of people under correctional supervision in the US has continued to climb despite declines in crime rates. This is due to get-tough-on-crime laws, the War on Drugs, and parole authorities' fear of liability. There are now over 500 incarcerated per 100,000 people. Corrections involves prisons, jails, probation, parole, and alternative sentencing programs. The growing corrections population has led to an expanding workforce of over 750,000 nationwide. Corrections aims to achieve justice through the criminal justice system, which includes the police, courts, and corrections.

1. Chapter 1
Corrections:
An Overview
McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved.

2. The Corrections Explosion
 While serious crime in the United States
consistently declined throughout much of
the 1990s, and while such declines
continued into the early years of the 21st
century, the number of people under
correctional supervision in this country—
not just the number of convicted offenders
sent to prison —has continued to climb.
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3. The Corrections Explosion
 Causative Factors:
 Get-tough-on-crime laws.
 Three-strikes, two-strikes, zero tolerance
 The War on Drugs.
 Parole authorities’ fear of civil liability and
public outcry.
 The growth dynamic of the corrections
boom.
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4. Current Trends
 The current rate of imprisonment is over
500 per 100,000 persons, with no sign of
declining.
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5. Correctional Clients
 Prison inmates
 Probationers
 Parolees
 Offenders assigned to alternative
sentencing programs
 Offenders held in jails
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6. Careers in Corrections
 Growing correctional populations have
led to an expanding workforce
 Uniformed officers in prisons alone
estimated at more than 215,000
 Including juvenile detention, probation,
parole, administrators, jail personnel,
and others boosts that number to
nearly 750,000 nationwide.
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7. Types of Crime
 Felony: A serious criminal offense; specifically
one punishable by death or by incarceration in a
prison facility for more than a year.
 Misdemeanor: A relatively minor violation of
the criminal law, such as petty theft or simple
assault, punishable by confinement for one year
or less.
 Infraction: A minor violation of a state statute
or local ordinance punishable by a fine or other
penalty other than incarceration, or by a
specified, usually very short term of
incarceration.
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8. Other Types of Crime
 Violent Crime: Interpersonal crime that
involves the use of force by offenders or results
in injury or death to victims, e.g. murder, rape, or
robbery.
 Property Crime: Burglary, larceny, automobile
theft, and arson, as reported by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime
Reporting Program.
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9. Measuring and Reporting Crime
 FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.
 Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime
Victimization Survey (NCVS).
 These can aid in projecting the need for
detention and rehabilitation services and
facilities.
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10. Criminal Justice
 As Process: the process of achieving justice
through the application of criminal law and
through the workings of the criminal justice
system. Also, the study of the field of criminal
justice.
 As System: the collective agencies that
perform criminal justice operations,
administration, and technical support functions.
The basic divisions include police, courts, and
corrections.
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11. Entering the System
 Arraignment: An appearance in court prior to
trial in a criminal proceeding.
 Preliminary Hearing : A pre-trial hearing that
may follow arraignment to determine whether
there is probable cause to believe that the
accused committed a crime within the
jurisdiction of the court.
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12. Judicial Procedures
 Nolle Prosequi : A prosecutor’s action to drop
criminal charges after the charges have been
filed. When the action is taken, a case is said to
be “nolled” or “nollied.”
 Nolo Contendre : To accept a penalty without
admitting guilt. The judge may accept or reject
the plea.
 Adjudication: The process by which a court
arrives at a final decision in a case.
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13. Sentencing Options
 May include:
 Death
 Incarceration
 Probation
 Fines
 Restitution
 Community Service
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14. The Correctional Subsystem
 Institutional Corrections : A report by the
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) says it is that
aspect of the correctional enterprise that
“involves the confinement and rehabilitation of
adults and juveniles convicted of offenses
against the law, and the confinement of persons
suspected of a crime awaiting trial and
adjudication.”
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15. The Correctional Subsystem -
Continued
 Non-institutional Corrections (also called
community corrections) : BJS calls this that
aspect of the correctional enterprise that
includes “pardon, probation, and parole
activities, correctional administration not directly
connectable to institutions, and miscellaneous
[activities] not directly related to institutional
care.”
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16. Corrections
 All the various aspects of the pretrial and
post conviction management of individuals
accused or convicted of crimes.
 This definition is convenient for discussion
purposes but also encompasses the fourteen
elements listed in the text.
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17. Corrections Defined
 Mores: Cultural restrictions on behavior that
forbid serious violations of a group’s values.
 Folkways: Time-honored ways of doing things.
Although they carry the force of tradition, their
violation is unlikely to threaten the social group’s
survival.
 Criminal Law: body of rules that define public
offenses.
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18. Professionalism
 Profession: An occupation granted high social
status by virtue of the personal integrity of its
members.
 Corrections Professional: A dedicated person of
high moral character and personal integrity who is
employed in the field of corrections and takes
professionalism to heart.
 Certification: A credentialing process, usually
involving testing and career development
assessment, through which the skills, knowledge,
and abilities of correctional personnel can be
formally recognized.
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19. Core Traits
 Expanded on in the text, these four traits have
been identified as essential to effective work in
corrections
 Accountability
 Strong Writing Skills
 Effective Presentational Skills
 A Logical Mind and the Ability to Solve Problems
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20. Training
 Virtually every state now requires at least
120 hours of pre-service training for
correctional officers and 40 hours on in-
service training.
 Specified basic administrative policy
support requirements for training
programs.
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21. Standard-Setting Organizations
 American Correctional Association (ACA)
 American Probation and Parole
Association (APPA)
 American Jail Association (AJA)
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22. Credentialing
 The ACA’s program for certifying officers is part
of a process called credentialing.
 Discussed in detail in Chapter 13, ACA’s
accreditation program certifies a facility’s or
program’s quality through meeting industry-set
standards.
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23. Evidence Based Corrections
 Application of social scientific techniques to
Corrections
 Focuses on what works
 The “evidence” is evidence of a program
working, not criminal evidence
 As contrasted with opinion-based policy
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24. Social Diversity in Corrections
 Race
 Racism
 Ethnicity
 Gender
 How these aspects of social diversity
impact the field, its personnel, clients,
and issues
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