class17: introduction to corrections

Think: Why do we Punish? (i.e., What’s the point?) How do we decide the right amount to punish?

• to prevent people from doing it again “wound them” enough so they never do it again

• deterrence

• public safety - they got the scary person out (incapacitate)

• victim prosper (justice)

• society feels validated/safe

• desistance

• moral order/policy mo

why i ask you to learn some philosophy

• helps us define out terminology so we dont talk past one another

• help use to use logic to address moral questions

2 main philosophies of punishment (late 1700 early 1800)

• retributive

• utilitarian

retributive

Punish because of Moral Culpability; form of punishment should “fit” the crime → “Just Deserts”

• society has norms + morals - responsibility to enforce

• punishment is for this purpose

  • ex. taking candy bar → shouldn’t go to jail for rest of your life

utilitarian

Punish to increase the common good; all punishment is “evil” so we only do as much as needed to produce the desired result → “parsimonious: i.e. stingy

• morally justified if permitting common good

• austermias - punishment is veil so it need to promote good

• parsimonies → punish little to produce desired effect

• rehabilitation forms of punishment (sometimes)

retributive v utilitarian

• the pains of imprisonment (retributive)

• the panopticon (utilitarian)

the pains of imprisonment (retributive)

Immanuel Kant

the panopticon (utilitarian)

Jeremy Bentham

• panopticon

  • under watch at all times

  • prisoners dont know it guard is looking at them/guard is in the tower

• connect to UT: the prison architecture, help initiate self power + control → internalize → become apart of internal monitoring system → out in rule world “guard tower is still there”

The Point:

Punishment Philosophy is about intent rather than outcome– some punishment can be justified with either philosophy

retributive: is associated with

harshness, but can be used to justify more lenient sentence (punishment = crime)

• Drug possession charge where nobody got hurt?

• punishment is a “categorical imperative”

• punish less

• quote:

  • bad actions: bad person (no)

  • you have to punish we all share in legal violation → we have to punish morally

utilitarian: is associated with

lenience but can be harsh: treatment is not necessary a “soft” sanction

• Think of how the death penalty could be justified with utilitarianism

• in theory: could justify death penalty

• punishment should be prohibited

  • is it mischievous? no consensus; no punishment

  • shouldn’t punish if it doesn’t stop mischief

    • ineffective punishment is not evil

  • punishment is more expensive than mischief itself (bang for your buck) → of no, no pun

• wants to be super careful with punishment - revenge shouldnt happen

utilitarian quote uses

monetary words (can we more easily stop this behavior wo pun)

ex. teen incarcerated/troubled should instead be provided resources that help than imprisoning them

The two most dominant philosophies of punishment are

Retributive and Utilitarian: these are about the intention of the punish

corrections has a

kinda utilitarian name

jail

1. Length of stay: Shorter term incarceration

2) Who stays: People awaiting trial/court processing/plea bargaining; people serving a sentence for a misdemeanor case (*awaiting trial/misdemeanor)

3) Who operates: local counties (like sheriffs or police) (*counties pay for jails)

4) Security: tends to be lower level of security (* a little more stable)

prison ( a little more stable)

1) Length of stay: longer term (1 year and greater)

2) Who stays: People convicted of felonies

3) Who operates: Typically run by state or federal government, sometimes private companies

4) Security: tend to vary greatly based on facility, ranging from very high to very low

Mass Incarceration (2-part definition) Garland (2001):

1. “Mass imprisonment implies a rate of imprisonment and a size of

   prison population that is markedly above the historical and

   comparative norm for societies of this type..

• pun more than did in past; compare ourself to similar countries (punish more than ourself and rate)

2. The other feature is the social concentration of imprisonment’s

effects. Imprisonment becomes mass imprisonment when it ceases to be the incarceration of individual offenders and becomes the systematic imprisonment of whole groups of the population.”

• not evenly dispersed around society as a whole

1a. historical

state prison incarceration rate select states and all 50 states

• lousiana being very high

• some other states having a spike but still below all 50 states: cali, ny, minnesota

1b. comparative

incarceration rates US v founding Nato countries

• US 614

• closest next is UK: 144

1b. comparative incarceration as default in us

• 70% of convictions result in confinement in the U.S.

• diff from ex of germany, finalnd, england and wales where they mostly give fines

control of freedom punishment

probation

2. Imprisonment of Whole Groups

In sum: dramatic increase in race/class disparities in incarceration during the era of mass incarceration

What crime are most people serving time for?

violent crimes

Mass incarceration has a specific, multi-part definition, having to do with

rates historically, rates comparatively,

and the social concentration of incarceration.

• Violent crime constitutes the plurality of prison population;

we punish violent crime with longer sentences than most

similarly situated countries and commit slightly more

violent crime

Walker’s Indefinite

“Organic Ethnography”

 emotions as a principal pathway to understanding jail

 three “voices”: “Michael the subject”; “Michael the narrator”;

“Michael the sociologist”

Key Themes in Indefinite

• How jail operates:

• total institutions; (racial) Classification; Objectification

• Rehab in punishment?