Introduction to Corrections, Chapter 1: History of Crime and Corrections

Flashcards covering the history of crime and corrections, criminology theories, key legislation, court cases, and sentencing goals.

What is the definition of corrections?

The range of institutional and community sanctions, treatment programs, and services for managing criminal offenders.

What is a penitentiary?

A term first used to describe secure facilities used to hold offenders serving a sentence.

What is the core mission of corrections?

To protect society via surveillance/control of offenders, treatment and rehabilitation services, and incapacitation during prison sentences, as well as assisting courts with bail decisions, providing sentencing information, and imprisoning/overseeing offenders.

What is the foundational premise of the Classical School of Criminology?

It links crime causation to punishment, based on the ideas of offenders possessing free will and receiving proportional punishment.

What perspective did Cesare Beccaria contribute to criminology?

A utilitarian perspective asserting that the main purpose of punishment is preventing crime.

Who founded the idea of hedonistic calculus, and what does it mean?

Jeremy Bentham; it is an act of utilitarianism used to determine the best course of action based on the balance of pain and pleasure an action provides.

What does the Positive School of Criminology posit, and what concept did Cesare Lombroso introduce?

It posits that criminal behavior is pre-determined. Cesare Lombroso introduced the concept of atavism, which holds that born criminals are biologically primitive ('an evolutionary throwback') with a genetic disposition to crime.

What is the perspective of the Neo-Classical School of Criminology?

It holds offenders accountable for their actions while considering mitigating and aggravating circumstances.

What were four early historical responses to crime prior to modern prisons?

Corporal punishment (torture, branding), transportation (sending offenders to colonies), gaols, and pillory/stocks (wooden devices to restrain offenders for public humiliation).

What penal code changes were introduced by William Penn and the Quakers?

Eliminated capital punishment except for homicide, introduced imprisonment with hard labor instead of corporal punishment, provided free food and lodging for inmates, and replaced pillory/stocks with houses of detention.

What was the Walnut St. Jail?

The 1st U.S. penitentiary, founded under Quaker values, featuring a regimen of hard work, reflection for penance, solitary confinement, Bible reading, and making handicrafts.

What were the main characteristics of the Pennsylvania System?

It was separate and silent (for reflection), featuring 24/7 solitary confinement with inmates working alone in their cells.

What were the main characteristics of the Auburn system?

It was a congregate system where inmates performed hard labor outside of cells under strict discipline, but remained silent and forbidden to speak to other inmates.

What characterized the Reformatory Era and the Industrial Prison Era?

The Reformatory Era emphasized reformation through education and vocational programs (creating a significant financial burden for states). The Industrial Prison Era involved inmates working to produce items.

What was the impact of the Hawes-Cooper Act and the Ashurst-Sumners Act?

The Hawes-Cooper Act allowed states to ban the sale of prison-made goods on the open market, while the Ashurst-Sumners Act banned the interstate transportation of goods made in prisons.

What key ruling occurred in Cooper v. Pate?

It allowed inmates to sue for civil rights violations, which ended the hands-off doctrine.

What was Martinson's 'Nothing Works' doctrine of 1974?

A doctrine positing that rehabilitative programs do not reduce recidivism.

What does the Latin phrase 'lex talionis' mean?

Eye for an eye.

What legal precedent was set in Solem v. Helm (1983)?

It established a test of proportionality that prohibited sentences disproportionate to the crime committed.

How do specific deterrence and general deterrence differ?

Specific deterrence prevents an individual offender from committing another crime in the future, whereas general deterrence uses the fear of punishment to prevent the wider population from committing crimes.

What is selective incapacitation?

The incarceration of high-risk offenders.

What is a furlough?

An early release from prison to reside in a halfway house in order to ease transition.

What are 3 strike laws?

Laws mandating that an individual's third felony offense results in prison for life.

What is the role of drug courts in the legal system?

To target people struggling with addiction and keep them out of the mainstream criminal justice system through check-ins, testing, and random screenings.

According to the TED Talk notes, how do prisons historically differ from jails?

Prisons emerged about 240 years ago to punish convicted offenders with long-term confinement. Jails are much older and were originally used for short-term confinement to track people temporarily rather than as punishment.