Current Justice Model and the Medical Model of Earlier Years Relative to Corrections - Research Paper Example

Running Head: Explain how…. Topic: Explain how the Current "Justice Model" has replaced the "Medical Model" of Earlier Years Relative to Corrections Order#: 439628 Topic: Explain how the Current "Justice Model" has replaced the "Medical Model" of Earlier Years Relative to Corrections Introduction: When a criminal is constantly nagged and abused, condemned and ostracized by society, he turns into a viler and bitter individual. Even showering pity will not help him one bit. Heartfelt care and concern, an understanding approach and tender regard for his feelings are necessary prerequisites to heal his inner wounds. Coupled with this we need to learn to forgive and forget his past in order to help him build a new identity. The inner core of every human being is essentially sound even that of the worst villain. It needs to be revealed to him to help him align himself with his true personality. All efforts of the society should be directed to arrest one’s downward march to destruction to be replaced by an upward march making one a worthy individual and citizen. The question is, how do we do this? What sort of circumstances and mind-set pushes an individual onto the track of self and societal destruction? How an individual can free himself from the evil tendencies and negativities? How to lead a criminal to the path of willing acceptance for shaping as a lawful citizen? Normally an intensely shattered personality lies within the prison environment and one’s psyche needs constant care. The society does not easily allow the friendly assimilation of an acquitted or reformed prison inmate. Whether guilty or not guilty, the prison stamp remains forever. One important question incidentally—does the reformation measures bring rich dividends for the jail administration and contribute to the improvement of prison discipline and create a relaxed atmosphere amongst the prison community? How to mitigate the most systematic suppression caused to the spirit and freedom of an individual from the day of capture, and in the course of his encounters with the police, administration and the slow-moving justice system? Moreover, all laws, just because they are the laws of the land, are not faultless aphorisms. A difficult law implemented in a worst manner is the ultimate calamity for the prisoner. Any method, any procedure, must aim to change the criminal thought process of a prisoner. The wise saying goes, when the thoughts are changed, the mind is changed; when the mind is changed, the man is changed; when the man is changed the society is changed. Society created a bad individual and sent him to the prison; the ultimate gift to the society is a reformed individual, who will not revert to criminality again! Harsh punishments can never usher in an era of a crime-free society; dedicated reformation and rehabilitation measures, to a great extent, will contribute to the solution of this vexed issue. History of corrections-punishment or rehabilitation: The history of correctional thought, originated during the mid 1990s in America, has been one of learning and unlearning process. The focus shifted from punishment of offenders to rehabilitation. The objective was to secure the offenders an honorable re-entry into society and peaceful settlement in life. The final objective of the various prison models is the same-provide a hope for the future to the offenders and the reduction of the crime rates. Justice Model and Medical Models are intended to work in this direction. Any model cannot be defended out and out as the sole benefactor of the prisoners. Throwing more light on the prison life Gresham M. Sykes writes, “In attempting, then, to understand the meaning of imprisonment, we must see prison life as something more than a matter of walls and bars, of cells and locks. We must see the prison as a society within a society.”(1999, p.xii) The medical model: The medical model goes into the causes of the criminal behavior, like social, psychological or biological deficiencies and the need and mode of their treatment. The goal is, once the illness of criminals is diagnosed and treated, and the offenders will be cured of their ailment and will not revert to the criminal acts again. To start with, this idea on paper seemed brilliant and it had an agreeable emotional appeal. In 1929, the institutions with the avowed objective of rehabilitations as their prime objective began to take shape. The necessary infrastructure was already there in the existing prisons—only the applications and the style of functioning needed to change. The issue before the authorities was to diagnose and treat the patients. In theory the prospectus looked perfect. “Since its inception in 1930, and particularly during the administration of Director James V. Bennett (1937-1964), the Federal Bureau of Prisons emphasized the goal of rehabilitating offenders through a series of "individualized treatment" programs that included counseling, education, vocational training, and work. The rehabilitation philosophy reached its zenith in the 1960s.”(UNICOR….) Justice Model Instead of the expected decrease, crimes increased in the late 1980s. The punch in the community correction model was gone. Realizing the futility of the medical model, serious re-thinking on the subject was done. The tools of rehabilitation, probation, parole, treatment programs and indeterminate sentencing, proved ineffective. Some penologists argued that putting the criminals behind the bars is the best solution, as they can be prevented from committing crimes during the period of their detention. The federal government and many state governments introduced mandatory sentencing and life terms. The administration came with heavy hands on the habitual criminals, to whom committing crimes was a way of life. Parole, probation and time off for good behavior were more strictly scrutinized and monitored. Burt sharp differences of opinions as for the suitability of the above models to the present American conditions exist. “Locking up more people only reduces crime if those being locked up are serious criminals, experts say.”If its a serial rapist, that makes an impact on crime," explains Marc Mauer, assistant director of the Sentencing Project, a research and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. "But if its a kid selling crack on the corner that just creates a job opening for someone else." Most experts agree that a combination of other factors, including the until-recently strong economy, more effective policing, and the decline of the crack trade have done far more than incarceration to cut crime.”(Prisons….) Conclusion: To find fault with a particular model will not serve any purpose. Nor a single model can be made applicable to the entire prison population. Writing on the subject of education John Dewey opines that problems of readjustments in an educational institution differ according to the child’s social status. What is a prison? It is a place where prisoners are handed over to the prison administration for safe-custody, pending completion of the trial, or till the completion of their sentences, in respect of the convicted prisoners. A prison official becomes a caretaker as well as a teacher in case the medical model is followed in the prison. Dewey writes, “The teacher’s role is not passive; instead, the teacher is actively exploring how to construct experiences and adapt material so it connects to the interests and capacities of the learner. The mutual adaptation between the learner and the material to be learned is what allows an experience to be educative.”(1998, p.153) In a prison, applying the same principles, the prison administration needs to look into the interests and capacities of the prisoners, because the prison population is of various profiles. Prisoners are from the rural, urban and metropolitan areas. Illiterate, literate, petty thieves, intelligent cheats, murderers, smugglers, drug peddlers and some of them innocents too, trying to extricate themselves from the legal web in which they have been entangled. No cut and dry formulas are there to make any model a success. The materialistic civilization impacted by industrialization and internet revolution has brought about substantial changes in the crime situation. So, the models need to be constantly reexamined and updated on an on-going basis. ******************* References: Dewey, John. Experience and Education: Google Books, 1998. Prisons: A Bad Investment Governor Gary E. Johnson …. Retrieved on May 8, 2010 Sykes, Gresham M. The Society of Captives: a study of a maximum security prison: Princeton University Press, 1999. UNICOR Online | About UNICOR | History | Medical Model and... Retrieved on May 8, 2010 Read More