Sentencing and Corrections System - Research Paper Example

In the era of conventional societies, the punishment was just one of the art forms of obtaining retribution, rehabilitation, incapacitation, and deterrence of those who had forgone the set of boundaries of social cohesion (uplink.com, n.d). The central idea of retribution is that those who commit misdemeanors must experience some suffering for their miss deeds. In the United States, retribution, however, has become the ideal objective of punishment, while rehabilitation also is equally taken into account. Even though rehabilitation is one of the listed purposes of sentencing, its capability to achieve the goals has been questioned at length. On the contrary, incapacitation unlike the other retribution methods is the severest form of punishment that reduces the possibility of the criminal’s reversion for a specific period of time.

According to Mackenzie (2001), the world has been witnessing enormous changes in the philosophy and practice of sentencing and corrections during the last thirty years. The early twentieth-century justice systems emphasized more on rehabilitation more, whereas, by the end of the century emphasis was given to fairness and justice, considering sentences as necessary. With the changes of time, the concept of sentencing was altered into a crime-control method that focused on incarceration intending to reduce the amount of crime in the community.

According to Mackenzie (2001), the four essential and fundamental goals attributed to the sentencing process are retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence, and incapacitation. Retribution is based on the basic principle that those who break the law must be prosecuted. However, deterrence focuses on the hardness of punishment. As a result, offenders are discouraged to commit any further crimes considering rationally the cost of punishment which is too hard.

The process of Incapacitation physically confines the person into prison, providing him no further chance o commit any crime. On the other hand, rehabilitation tries to develop the offender’s behavior thinking which may prevent persons from continuing to commit crimes. The sentences frequently meet several of these objectives in practice emphasizing their priority of them. However, the emphasis on the methods is given to protect the public and the mechanisms are expected to provide public safety. The objectives and goals of punishment have been changing with the passage of time, and the number of persons under correctional supervision in the United States has been enlarging rapidly.

Variations in the philosophy and practice of sentencing and corrections can create significant impacts on the imprisonment rates. In the opinion of Mackenzie (2001), some of the issues during the mid-twentieth century were the arguments for abandoning the rehabilitation model as well as the demand for increased crime control through incapacitation and deterrence.  Proponents asked for limitations on the authority of judges and correctional administrators on moderate criminal offenses and to bring minimum mandatory sentences. However, everyone agrees with the notion that crime prevention with the help of incapacitations is a major justification of justice.

The overall impact also considers the impact on individual offenders, who are restricted by several Federal and State laws that deny the right to vote, hold offices, and engage in particular occupations. Sentencing has been affecting the state and federal corrections systems throughout the years. The sentencing principle focused more on incarceration, having greater impact on the total legal structure of the nation.  As Blumstein (n.d) points out, 12 percent of the increase in incarceration rates was due to more offenses being committed.

Variations in the philosophy of sentencing and correction have a dramatic impact on the criminal justice system. Even when some States did not alter to a determinate sentencing procedure, they undertook the changes to specify the individualization of sentences and correctional judgment. In the opinion of Kopel (1994), while the amount of money paid by the American taxpayers just went steeply high, the fraction of the population sentenced to prison has tripled during the last 15 years. Today, violent crimes flourish at intolerable rates. This situation poses questions about the people’s safety as well as the failure of State and Federal legal systems. Such failures of strategies affect the overall structure of the judicial system.

Therefore, a special body of research teams must be placed to effectively reduce criminal activities. The Federal Government must support such treatment programs against crimes, especially those connected with drugs.