The Support of Society for the Criminal Justice System and the Criminal - Research Paper Example

?Corrections Criminal justice system implements different correction techniques such as deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation and retribution tochange the behaviour of a criminal. It is not necessary that these correction techniques may succeed always. For example, hard core criminals like Osama Bin Laden or Mullah Omar may never change their criminal attitudes even if they undergo any of the correction techniques. However, there are many instances in which criminals change their behaviour after they went through the correction techniques. Probation, pardon and parole are some kind of the most common corrective measures implemented by criminal justice system to test the behaviour of the criminals who are sentenced. These mechanisms are normally performed to evaluate the success of the correction measures. This paper evaluates the differences between parole and probation and the extent to which probation is successful in correcting a criminal. Hertfordshire printer Frederic Rainer, a volunteer with the Church of England Temperence Society (CETS), writes to the society of his concern about the lack of help for those who come before the courts. He sends a donation of five shillings (25p) towards a fund for practical rescue work in the police courts. The CETS responds by appointing two "missionaries" to Southwark court with the initial aim of "reclaiming drunkards". This forms the basis of the London Police Courts Mission (LPCM), whose missionaries worked with magistrates to develop a system of releasing offenders on the condition that they kept in touch with the missionary and accepted guidance (Timeline: A history of probation) The history of probation started from England as explained above. Probation conditions have been changed or modified periodically based on the feedbacks received from the experiences. Many people do not have awareness about the differences between probation and parole. Probation is a corrective measure in which the sentenced criminal is allowed to stay in the community for a specified period of time. On the other hand parole is the conditional release of a criminal. In other words, a criminal on parole may always be under the control of the parole officer. He should report to the parole officer periodically and should obey certain other conditions prescribed by the parole officers. On the other hand, a criminal on probation may have less supervision from the probation officers. Parole and probation are granted based on the Pre-Sentence Investigation report (PSI) prepared by a probation officer. The practice of preparing PSI has started in 1920. “Its original purpose was to provide information to the court on the defendant’s personal history and criminal conduct in order to promote individualized sentencing” (The History of the Pre-sentence Investigation Report, p.1). This report normally contains the background information of the criminal such as his crime history, crime tendency, family history, juvenile adjudications, description of the crime, the defendant's work history, marital status, financial status, length of residence in the community, educational background, medical history, substance abuse history, etc. Based on these information probation officers decide about the corrective measures needed for the criminal. For example, a criminal who has the history of series of criminal activities may normally get parole whereas first time criminals may normally get probation. Probation is the most liberal corrective mechanism. A judge can decide about the probation of the criminal after reviewing the nature of the crime and the character of the criminal. Fresh criminals may get probation in most of the cases. “A violation of probation gives rise to a hearing on whether or not probation should be revoked” (Kaman). If a criminal violates the conditions of probation, the judge or the probation officer has the right to withdraw the probation. In such cases, the criminal may get sentencing. On the other hand, parole is granted at the end of a prison term or in between the prison term. It is a corrective measure of conditional liberty. If a criminal violates the terms of his parole, he could be sent back to the prison. It is difficult for such criminals to get any parole in future. Austin (n.d) has pointed out that Success rates are higher for Pre-trial Probation compared to parole. About 60% of probation cases are successful whereas only 45% of parole cases yielded similar results. He has also pointed out that public risks (crime) are much lower for probation or pre-trial release (Austin p.2). As mentioned earlier, probation is normally given to the first time offenders. For example, juveniles who commit some kind of traffic violation may get probation initially. Such people will try to change their criminal behaviour because of their awareness about possible severe punishments in case of repetition of the activity. Austin has pointed out that “Most of the parole and probation failures related to multiple technical violations and/or drug and property crimes (85%)”(Austin, p.5). A drug or alcohol addict may repeat his criminal activity even after the corrective mechanisms such as probation. Addiction normally creates certain physiological changes in the body and therefore the culprit may succumb to the pressure exerted by the body for drug use. In the last two-and-a-half decades, the prison population has undergone what the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics director Jan Chaiken last year called "literally incredible" expansion. Chaiken reported a quadrupling of the U.S. incarceration rate since 1975. That rate, more than 600 prisoners for every 100,000 people, is by far the highest in the industrialized world. The U.S. incarcerates its citizens at a rate six times higher than Canada, England, and France, seven times higher than Switzerland and Holland, and ten times Sweden and Finland (Street). The above statistics clearly suggest that criminal activities are increasing day by day in America despite of the corrective measures taken by the authorities. In other words, corrective measures are not yielding the desired level of success in United States. This is because of the fact that United States is a diverse country unlike England, Canada, Sweden, or Switzerland. People from different parts of the world are immigrating to America because of the better living standards and lavish life styles available there. This diverse population comes from different cultural backgrounds and they may not integrate into American culture easily. Poverty rate among black community in America is increasing day by day which is another reason for the increasing rate of criminal activities in America. Even though racism abolished by law in America, it is still visible in many other forms. “According to the Institute on Crime, Justice, and Corrections, just 9% of prisoners are currently engaged in full-time job-training or education activities” (Street). This is because of the fact that in many of the Americans states, authorities cancelled the right of prison inmates to take the college courses. Because of financial crisis, America is currently reducing its expenditure on all non-productive sectors. The education of prisoners is not a big issue for the authorities now and as a result of that prisoners are not getting any grants for continuing their education. It should be noted that education of the criminals is necessary to implement corrective measures properly. Criminals will get proper awareness about the consequences of their activities through education only. In other words education is an activity which complements corrective mechanisms like probation and parole. “80% of America's prison inmates are parents. Researchers estimate that children of prisoners are five times more likely to experience incarceration than those who never experience the pain of having one of their parents imprisoned” (Street). Heredity and environment play an important role in the making of a criminal. Children of criminals may show more tendencies to commit crimes than others. In other words, parents pass their criminal behaviour to offspring through certain biological mechanisms such as gene transfer. “In Illinois, 36% of ex-offenders and a staggering 48% of Black ex-offenders return to prison within three years. What they need most are jobs. What they find instead," Davis has learned, "are cold stares, unreturned phone calls, and closed doors” (Street). The society plays a major role in forcing the criminals on probation to repeat crimes. Society always treat ex-criminals are second class citizens. What the society supplies to them are not demanded by them and the things which are supplied to them are not demanded by them. In other words, criminals on probation needs better employment and living standards; however, the society provides harassment and discrimination to them instead of employment. Thus criminals on probation forced to lead a miserable life in the society which may sometimes worse than the prison life. Under such circumstances, criminals may try to take revenge upon the society which denies them equal opportunities with others. "As more people acquire a grounded knowledge of prison life, the power of prison to deter crime through fear is diminished. Thus, prison has become so routine in some neighbourhoods that going in can be an opportunity for reconnecting with friends"(Street). Criminals may become well accustom to prison life after some time. The initial fear of prison life may not be there for a criminal when he enters the prison for a second or third time. The stories of prison life spread outside may not be correct always and the criminal may think that sometimes prison life is better than other life. It should be noted that in prisons, both rich criminal and poor criminal treated with a single status. On the other hand, in the society, rich people enjoy better status than the poor people. So criminals on probation may often think that it is better to lead a life inside the prison than in the normal society which discriminates them. In my opinion, criminals should be treated with utmost care while allowing probation and parole. During the probation period, the criminal will assess the response of the society. If the society shows any discrimination towards him, he may develop vengeance towards the society. In other words, his criminal behaviour may become intensified if the society fails to respond positively to a criminal on probation. Society should realise that criminal behaviour is inherited in the minds of all people and because of circumstantial pressure or momentary loss of control over emotions, people commit crimes. Society should treat the criminals sympathetically and hear their needs with a positive attitude. At the same time, violent offenders who are not ready to change their criminal behaviour should be imprisoned till they may become ready to change or correct their behaviour. I will never support capital punishment like brutal punishment activities. Capital punishment is not a suitable way of punishment to a civilized culture like ours. The ultimate aim of any punishment should be to correct the antisocial behaviour of the criminal. The tendency to perform criminal activities is inherited in the blood of all people. According to Holy Bible, the first human on earth; Adam committed the first crime and since then criminal tendency started to spread all over the world. It should be noted that the first killing was performed by the elder son of Adam; Kane. In other words, criminal tendency is an inherited behaviour in our bloods and we should try to counter it with the help corrective measures rather than brutal punishment such as death penalty. To conclude, probation is a corrective measure taken by the criminal justice system to rectify the deviant behaviour of a criminal. The ultimate aim of probation is to force the criminal to change his behaviour in a controlled environment. Criminals on probation and parole will always be under the supervision of parole or probation officers. Probation is normally granted to first time criminals or to criminals who committed minor crimes. On the other hand, parole is given to criminals who committed more serious crimes. Parole allows conditional freedom to the criminal whereas probation allows unconditional freedom to the criminal. The support of society is necessary for criminal justice system and the criminal to make the corrective measures successful. If society shows double standards to criminals on probation or parole, they may become more serious criminals in future. Correction should be the ultimate aim of any punishment in order to achieve that aim society should cooperate with the criminal justice system. Works Cited Austin, James. Ph.d. “NIJ Pretrial Research Meeting”. Web 14 December 2011. Kaman, John M. What are the Difference Between Probation Violation Procedures and Parole Violation Procedures? Web 14 December 2011 Street, Paul. “Race, Prison, and Poverty”. Web 14 December 2011. “The History of the Pre-sentence Investigation Report”. Web 14 December 2011. “Timeline: A history of Probation”. Guardian.co.uk. Wednesday 2 May 2007. Web 14 December 2011. Read More