Criminal Justice Reforms and Challenges

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to criminal justice reforms and their implications, particularly focusing on mass incarceration, juvenile justice, and the impacts of recent reforms.

Mass Incarceration

Increase in the U.S. prison population leading to the highest incarceration rate in the world.

Carceral State

Widespread use of penal systems and various legal systems that control marginalized populations even without formal incarceration.

Path Dependence

Policies or practices that become entrenched over time, making reform difficult even when negative effects are recognized.

Penal Expansion

Increase in the scale and scope of the penal system, including the growth of prisons and the increasing use of incarceration.

Sentencing Reform

Changes to laws and practices that determine how long individuals are incarcerated.

Prosecutorial Discretion

The power of prosecutors to decide whether or not to bring criminal charges, what charges to bring, and whether to offer plea deals.

Bifurcation

The separation of nonviolent and serious crimes in policy discussions, often leading to reforms targeting less-serious offenses while leaving harsher penalties for violent offenses.

Decarceration

The process of reducing the number of individuals in prison through measures like alternatives to incarceration or reforms of sentencing laws.

Criminal Justice Reform

Efforts aimed at changing policies and practices within the criminal justice system to address issues like racial inequality, over-incarceration, and prison conditions.

Restorative Justice

An approach to justice focusing on repairing the harm caused by crime, involving reconciliation between victims and offenders.

Sentencing Guidelines

Rules used by judges to determine the length and type of sentences for criminal defendants.

Non-violent Offenders

Individuals convicted of crimes that do not involve physical harm to another person, such as drug offenses or property crimes.

Rehabilitation

The process of helping incarcerated individuals reintegrate into society by providing education, therapy, and job training.

Discretionary Power

The authority to make decisions based on personal judgment, as seen in the decisions made by prosecutors, judges, or parole boards.

Prison Industrial Complex

A term describing the intersection of the penal system with private companies, governments, and entities that profit from mass incarceration.

Devolution

The transfer of power from a central government to local or regional authorities, in the context of juvenile justice reform.

Net-Widening

Reforms intended to reduce incarceration may inadvertently increase the number of people in the justice system.

Privatization

The transfer of public services or operations to private companies.

Blended Sentencing

A form of sentencing where a juvenile offender serves time in both juvenile and adult systems.

Solitary Confinement

Isolating an inmate in a cell for 23 hours a day, used as a punishment in juvenile and adult correctional facilities.

Juvenile Probation

Legal status where a juvenile offender is placed under supervision in the community instead of being incarcerated.

Fiscal Conservatism

A political and economic philosophy that emphasizes reducing government spending and minimizing taxes.

Surveillance-oriented Probation

A type of probation focusing more on monitoring and controlling the behavior of juveniles rather than rehabilitative efforts.

Behavioral Inadequacies

The view that criminal behavior stems from deficiencies in an individual’s behavior or personality.