SOCI 146 summers - midterm

Prison

An institution for the incarceration of people convicted of crimes, usually felonies

Jail

A facility authorized to hold pretrial detainees and sentenced misdemeanants for periods longer than 48 hours. Most jails are administered by county governments; sometimes they are part of the state government.

Corrections

The variety of programs, services, facilities, and organizations responsible for the management of individuals who have been accused or convicted of criminal offenses

Social control

Actions and practices of individuals and institutions, designed to induce conformity with the rules and norms of society

Emile Durkheim

Argued that crime is normal and that punishment performs the important function of spotlighting societal rules and values

System

A complex whole consisting of interdependent parts whose operations are directed toward common goals and are influenced by the environment in which they function

Federalism

A system of government in which power and responsibilities are divided between a national government and state governments

Street-level bureaucrats

Public service workers who interact directly with citizens in the course of their work, granting access to government programs and providing services within them

Technology

A method of applying scientific knowledge to practical purposes in a particular field

Exchange

A mutual transfer of resources based on decisions regarding the costs and benefits of alternative actions

Lex talionis

Law of retaliation -- the principle that punishment should correspond in degree and kind to the offense ("an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth")

Secular law

The law of the civil society, as distinguished from church law.

Wergild

"Man money" -- money paid to relatives of a murdered person or to the victim of a crime to compensate them and to prevent a blood feud

Benefit of clergy

The right to be tried in a ecclesiastical court, where punishments were less severe than those meted out by civil courts, given the religious focus on penance and salvation

Galley slavery

Forced rowing of large ships or galleys

House of corrections

Detention facility that combined the major elements of a workhouse, poorhouse, and penal industry by both disciplining individuals who were housed in the facility and setting them to work

Transportation

The practice of transplanting individuals convicted of crimes from the community to another region or land, often a penal colony

Hulks

Abandoned ships that the English converted to hold convicted people during a period of prison crowding between 1776 and 1790

Corporal punishment

Punishment inflicted on the convicted person's body with whips or other devices that cause pain

the Enlightenment/Age of Reason

A cultural movement in England and France during the 1700s, when concepts of liberalism, rationality, equality, and individualism dominated social and political thinking

Cesare Beccaria

Argued that the true aim and only justification for punishment is utility: the safety it affords society by preventing crime

Classical criminology

A school of criminology that views behavior as stemming from free will, that demands responsibility and accountability of all perpetrators, and that stresses the need for punishments severe enough to deter others

Jeremy Bentham

Accused individuals were childlike or unbalanced, lacking the self-discipline to control their passions by reason

Utilitarianism

The doctrine that the aim of all action should be the greatest possible balance of pleasure over pain, hence the belief that a punishment inflicted on a person convicted of committing a crime must achieve enough good to outweigh the pain inflicted

John Howard

Concerned about conditions among the poor

William Penn

Adopted the "Great Law"

Penitentiary

An institution intended to isolate individuals convicted of a crime from society and from one another so that they could reflect on their past misdeeds, repent, and thus undergo reformation

Separate confinement

A penitentiary system developed in Pennsylvania in which each convicted individual was held in isolation from other people, with all activities, including craft work, carried on in the cells

Congregate system

A penitentiary system developed in Auburn, New York, in which prison inhabitants were held in isolation at night but worked with others during the day under a rule of silence

Contract labor system

A system under which the labor of convicted individuals was sold on a contractual basis to private employers that provided the machinery and raw materials with which prison residents made salable products in the institution

Lease system

A system under which people who were convicted of crimes were leased to contractors who provided these individuals with food and clothing in exchange for their labor

Mark system

A system in which prison residents are assessed a certain number of marks, based on the severity of their crime, at the time of sentencing. Individuals could reduce their term and gain release by reducing marks through labor, good behavior, and educational achievement

Reformatory

An institution for young individuals convicted of crimes that emphasized training, a mark system of classification, indeterminate sentences, and parole

Positivist school

An approach to criminology and other social sciences based on the assumptions that human behavior is a product of biological, economic, psychological, and social factors and that the scientific method can be applied to ascertain the causes of individual behavior

Medical model

A model of corrections based on the assumption that criminal behavior is caused by social, psychological, or biological deficiencies that require treatment

Community corrections

A model of corrections based on the assumption that reintegrating the convicted individual should be the goal of the criminal justice system

Crime control model of corrections

A model of corrections based on the assumption that criminal behavior can be controlled by more used of incarceration and other forms of strict supervision

Retribution

Punishment inflicted on a person who has infringed on the rights of others and so deserves to be penalized. The severity of the sanction should fit the seriousness of the crime

General deterrence

Punishment that is intended to be an example to the general public and to discourage the commission of offenses by others

Specific deterrence

Punishment inflicted on convicted individuals to discourage them from committing future crimes

Incapacitation

Depriving a person of the ability to commit crimes against society, usually by detaining the person in prison

Selective incapacitation

Making the best use of expensive and limited prison space by targeting for incarceration those people whose incapacity will do the most to reduce crime in society

Rehabilitation

The goal of restoring a convicted person to a constructive place in society through some form of vocational or educational training or therapy

Restoration

Punishment designed to repair the damage done to the victim and community by a person's criminal act

Indeterminate sentence

A period of incarceration with minimum and maximum terms stipulated so that parole eligibility depends on the time necessary for treatment; it is closely associated with the rehabilitation concept

Determinate sentence

A fixed period of incarceration imposed by a court, it is associated with the concept of retribution or deserved punishment

Presumptive sentence

A sentence for which the legislature or a commission sets a minimum and maximum range of months or years. Judges are to fix the length of the sentence within that range, allowing for special circumstances

Mandatory sentence

A sentence stipulating that some minimum period of incarceration must be served by people convicted of selected crimes, regardless of background or circumstances

Good time

A reduction of a person's prison sentence, at the discretion of the prison administrator, for good behavior or for participation in vocational, educational, and treatment programs

Intermediate sanctions

A variety of punishments that are more restrictive than traditional probation but less severe and costly than incarceration

Probation

A sentence allowing the convicted individual to serve the sanctions imposed by the court while he or she lives in the community under supervision

Shock probation

A sentence by which an individual is released after a short incarceration and resentenced to probation

Felon disenfranchisement

A term used to describe laws that either temporarily or permanently restrict the voting rights of individuals convicted of felony offenses

Presentence report

Report prepared by a probation officer, who investigates a convicted person's background to help the judge select and appropriate sentence

Sentencing guidelines

An instrument developed for judges that indicates the usual sanctions given previously for particular offenses

Sentencing disparity

Divergence in the lengths and types of sentences imposed for the same crime or for crimes of comparable seriousness when no reasonable justification can be discerned

Wrongful conviction

A conviction that occurs when an innocent person if found guilty by either plea or verdict

Constitution

Fundamental laws contained in a state or federal document that provides a design of government and lists basic rights for individuals

Statute

Law created by the people's elected representatives in legislatures

Case law

Legal rules produced by judges' decisions

Precedent

Legal rules created in judges' decisions that serve to guide the decisions of other judges in subsequent similar cases

Regulations

Legal rules, usually set by an agency of the executive branch, designed to implement in detail the policies of that agency

Hands-off policy

A judicial policy of noninterference concerning the internal administration of prisons

Civil liability

Responsibility for the provision of monetary or other compensation awarded to be a plaintiff in a civil action

Habeas corpus

A writ (judicial order) asking a person holding another person to produce this person and to give reasons to justify continued confinement

Least restrictive methods

Means of ensuring a legitimate state interest that impose fewer limits to prisoners' rights than do alternative means of securing that end

Compelling state interest

An interest of the state that must take precedence over rights guaranteed by the First Amendment

Clear and present danger

Any threat to security or to the safety of individuals that is so obvious and compelling that the need to counter it overrides the guarantees of the First Amendment

Rational basis test

Requires that a regulation provide a reasonable, rational method of advancing a legitimate institutional goal

Totality of conditions

The aggregate of circumstances in a correctional facility that, when considered as a whole, may violate the protections guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment, even though such guarantees are not violated by any single condition in the institution

Procedural due process

The constitutional guarantee that no agent or instrumentality of government will use any procedures other than those procedures prescribed by law to arrest, prosecute, try, or punish any person

Equal protection

The constitutional guarantee that the law will be applied equally to all people, without regard for such individual characteristics as gender, race, and religion

Ombudsman

A public official who investigates complaints against government officials and recommends corrective measures

Mediation

Intervention in a dispute by a third party to whom the parties in conflict submit their differences for resolution and whose decision is binding on both parties

Situational client

A person who in a particular set of circumstances has violated the law but who is not given to criminal behavior under normal circumstances and is unlikely to repeat the offense

Career criminal

A person who sees crime as a way of earning a living, who has numerous contacts with the criminal justice system over time, and who may view the criminal sanction as a normal part of life

Sex crimes

Sexual acts prohibited by law, such as rape, child molestation, or prostitution, motivated by economic, psychological, or situational reasons

Sex offender registry

A public website that lists the names, addresses, and crimes of people who have convicted specific sex crimes; sometimes neighbors are notified when a person living nearby is on such a website

Drug abuse

the disruption of normal living patterns by the use of illegal chemical substances to the extent that social problems develop, often leading to criminal behavior

Alcohol abuse

The disruption of normal living patterns caused by high levels of alcohol use, frequently leading to violations of the law while under the influence of alcohol or in attempting to secure it

Deinstitutionalization

The release of a mental patient from a mental hospital and his or her return to the community

Developmental disability

The inability to learn or develop skills at the same rate as most other people because of a problem with the brain

Long-termer

A person who serves a lengthy period in prison, such as 10 years or more, before his or her first release

Classification systems

Specific sets of objective criteria, such as offense histories, previous experiences in the justice system, problems in life circumstances, and substance abuse patterns, applied to all clients to determine the best correctional programs

Fee system

A system by which jail operations are funded by a set amount paid each day per person held

Lockup

A facility authorized to hold people before court appearances for up to 48 hours

Regional jail

A facility operated under a joint agreement between two or more government units, with a jail board drawn from representatives of the participating jurisdictions and having varying authority over policy, budget, operations, and personnel

Bail

An amount of money, specified by a judge, to be posted as a condition for pretrial release to ensure appearance of the accused individual at trial

Release on recognizance (ROR)

Pretrial release option used when the judge believes the person's ties in the community are sufficient to guarantee his or her appearance in court

Day reporting center

A facility where people under pretrial release or with probation violations can attend daylong intervention and treatment sessions

Electronic monitoring

Community supervision technique, ordinarily combined with home confinement, that uses electronic devices to maintain surveillance

Pretrial diversion

An alternative to adjudication in which the accused person agrees to conditions set by the prosecutor (for example, counseling or rehabilitation) in exchange for withdrawal of charges

Widening the net

Increasing the scope of corrections by applying a diversion program to people charged with offenses less serious than those of the people the program was originally intended to serve

Absconders

People who fail to appear for a court date for no legitimate reason

Preventive detention

Detention of an accused person in jail to protect the community from crimes that he or she is considered likely to commit if set free pending trial

Public safety assessment

A check-off system that provides an objective rating of a person's likelihood to fail to show up for court hearings and the likelihood that the person will be rearrested before those court hearings

New-generation jail

A facility with a podular architectural design and management policies that emphasize interactions with staff and provision of services

Direct supervision

A method of correctional supervision in which staff members have direct, continual physical interaction with people confined in the jail

Therapeutic justice

A philosophy of reorienting the jail experience from being mostly punitive to being mostly rehabilitative

Community model for jails

An innovative model for jail administration that promotes a sense of community across the board, while using community to promote rehabilitation