CJ 3520 – Punishment and Corrections Exam #2 Study Guide

Vocabulary flashcards covering specialty courts, probation operations, prison socialization models, correctional staff issues, and administrative management theories for CJ 3520 Exam #2.

Problem-solving court

A specialized court that addresses the underlying root causes of criminal behavior (such as addiction or mental illness) using a collaborative team approach, differing from traditional adversarial courts.

Drug courts

Specialty problem-solving courts that handle nonviolent substance-involved offenders through intensive judicial supervision, mandatory drug testing, and structured treatment plans.

Mental health courts

Specialty problem-solving courts designed to connect criminal offenders suffering from mental illness with community treatment services while monitoring compliance and public safety.

Veterans courts

Specialized problem-solving dockets established to address the unique needs, combat-related trauma, and rehabilitation of military veterans in the criminal justice system.

Domestic violence courts

Specialty problem-solving courts focused exclusively on processing domestic violence cases to enhance victim safety and enforce offender accountability.

Intermediate sanction

A spectrum of community-based penalties that are more restrictive than standard probation but less severe than full incarceration (textbook pg. 150).

John Augustus

A Boston shoemaker known as the father of probation who began bailing out offenders in the 1840s; his early practices face criticism for lack of formalization and selective benevolence.

Ex Parte United States (1916)

A landmark 1916 Supreme Court decision that invalidated the judicial practice of indefinitely suspending sentences without statutory authorization, prompting statutory probation legislation.

National Probation Act of 1925

Federal legislation enacted in 1925 that formally established the federal probation system and authorized federal judges to appoint probation officers (textbook pg. 137).

Community Corrections Act (CCA)

State-level statutory frameworks that provide financial subsidies and guidelines to local jurisdictions to develop community-based sanctions and reduce prison commitments.

Recidivism

The repetition of criminal behavior or return to correctional custody, typically measured via rearrest, reconviction, or reincarceration rates.

Dual functions of probation

The two primary operational responsibilities carried out by probation officers: investigation (presentence evaluations) and supervision (managing offenders in the community).

PSI (Presentence Investigation)

An inquiry and formal report prepared by a probation officer before sentencing to provide the court with an offender's criminal history, social background, and risk level.

Role conflict

The psychological and occupational strain experienced by correctional and probation officers when required to simultaneously balance conflicting duties, such as law enforcement versus rehabilitation.

Motivational interviewing

A client-centered, evidence-based communication method utilized by probation officers to resolve offender ambivalence and enhance intrinsic motivation to change.

Statistical risk assessment

An objective, actuarial evaluation tool that calculates an offender's statistical probability of reoffending to guide supervision levels and intervention targets.

Evidence based supervision

Probation supervision practices and intervention models that are systematically guided and validated by empirical research to maximize recidivism reduction.

Petersilia’s recommendations for effective ISP

Empirical guidelines developed by Joan Petersilia emphasizing that Intensive Supervision Probation programs must combine rigorous surveillance with meaningful treatment interventions to be effective.

Prison classification

The formal risk and needs assessment process that stratifies inmates into distinct custody levels, establishing differences between facilities ranging from minimum to maximum security.

Inmate code

The informal, unwritten subcultural value system and code of conduct governing inmate interactions, peer solidarity, and relations with correctional staff.

Donald Clemmer (1940)

The sociologist who in 1940 pioneered the concept of prisonization through his classic institutional study of inmate subculture.

Prisonization

The process identified by Donald Clemmer whereby an incarcerated individual gradually adopts and internalizes the folkways, norms, and culture of the penitentiary.

Importation model

The theoretical perspective positing that prison subcultures and inmate behavioral norms are imported into the institution from pre-existing street cultures rather than generated inside.

Deprivation model

The theoretical perspective asserting that inmate subcultures develop internally as a collective psychological adaptation to the systemic deprivations or 'pains of imprisonment.'

Erving Goffman – Total Institutions

A sociological concept describing an enclosed, strictly regimented social environment where inmates are segregated from society and all daily activities occur under a single bureaucratic authority.

Adaptive prison roles

The behavioral patterns, coping strategies, and social identities that incarcerated individuals adopt to survive and navigate institutional life.

Null strategy

A strategy to reduce prison overcrowding based on doing nothing and waiting out demographic fluctuations in the prison population under the premise that it will resolve itself.

Ethnography

A qualitative research method centered on in-depth fieldwork, immersive observation, and direct engagement within a specific cultural setting, as discussed by Dr. Butler.

Argot roles

Specialized social roles, labels, and argot descriptions identified by Gresham Sykes that reflect an inmate's behavior and adaptation within the informal prison hierarchy.

Street level bureaucrat

A public service worker, such as a correctional officer, who directly enforces public policy through day-to-day interactions and personal operational discretion.

People work

The occupational reality of correctional work centered on managing, supervising, communicating with, and processing human beings rather than physical objects.

Attrition

The rate at which employees depart an agency or department through resignation, retirement, or dismissal, posing severe operational and staffing challenges in corrections.

Steiner and Wooldredge study

Empirical research highlighted in lecture exploring the workplace factors, organizational environments, and behavioral outcomes of correctional officers.

Burnout

A state of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment resulting from chronic, unmanaged occupational stress among correctional staff.

Boundary violations

Unprofessional or illicit infractions where correctional staff cross ethical lines with inmates, such as trafficking contraband, forming personal relationships, or engaging in sexual misconduct.

Abu Ghraib

A military detention facility in Iraq (textbook pg. 197) that represents a notorious case study of extreme staff misconduct, abuse of power, breakdown of command, and boundary violations.

The Defects of Total Power

Gresham Sykes's sociological observation (textbook pg. 207) that prison administrators cannot exert absolute power through force alone and must rely on informal negotiation and inmate cooperation.

John DiIulio

A political scientist and criminologist who argued that penology historically placed excessive focus on informal inmate culture rather than on sound institutional management and administrative leadership.

Administrative Control Model

A prison management theory championed by John DiIulio asserting that institutional order, safety, and amenities depend primarily on sound governance, firm leadership, and professional administration.

Clark and Duwe (2017)

A research study investigating the beneficial impacts of prison visitation on reducing inmate institutional infractions and post-release recidivism rates.