intro to criminal justice final

History of corrections

• Mostly physical punishment pre-1800

• Enlightenment (1685-1815)

  • Led to the idea for a penitentiary, John Howard said we should make a place where we can both punish and reform criminals

  • The U.S. began to form their first prison in Pennsylvania 

• 1787 – philadelphia society for alleviating the miseries of public prisons (first prison reform group)

History of corrections – the Pennsylvania system

• The first penitentiary

• 1790-1835

• Walnut Street Prison in Philadelphia, PA

  • Separate confinement

  • Very small cells

  • Prisoners were not allowed to communicate at all (if they did, they would spread further corruption)

  • Believed silence and solitary confinement was the best punishment bc people are naturally social creatures

  • Complete darkness, lasted until 1838 bc high rates of disciplinary problems (guards beating prisoners to death) and extreme overcrowding

• Eastern state penitentiary

  • 1829-1970

  • Created due to lobbying from the reform group

  • Overcrowding ends separate confinement 

History of corrections – The NY System

• Auburn Correctional Facility, 1819

• Created for a better way to punish and rehabilitate people instead of separate confinement

• Congregate system: isolation at night but work in shops during the day, things they made were sold by the state, still silence but allowed to be around other people

  • The warden came up with the:

• Contract labor system: prison labor sold to private employees (legal due to the 13th amendment) 

History of corrections – The South

• Lease system: prisoners were leased to contractors and work was exchanged for food and clothing

• Worked prisoners to death, way worse than previous systems

  • Majority Black prisoners

  • railroad work

• Anti-Contract Law of 1877

  • Didn’t end contract prison labor, just said you’re not allowed to kill them / work them to death

History of corrections – reform (reformatories)

• Prisons became overcrowded, understaffed, a free for all → reform movement

• Cincinatti, 1870

  • Indeterminate sentence (range of sentence): prisoners would get released based on whether they were seen as reformed 

    • Came up with concept of parole

  • Proof of reformation 

• Elmira reformatory

  • The first reformatory

  • For 1st time offenders between 16 and 30

  • Interviewed to see what they needed to be reformed ,then assigned a personalized form of work during the day

  • At night would go to an educational program

  • Mark system: points to reduce sentences (through good behavior, labor, education)

    • Didn’t work, didn’t actually do all these things they said they’d do, the programs were bad, still violent

History of corrections – reform (women’s prisons)

• The Women’s Prison Association

  • Before 1844 women were housed in the same facilities as men

  • Goal was to separate women from men to improve their treatment

• Indiana Women’s Prison, 1873

  • First all women’s prison where the staff were also all women

Rehabilitation model (1930-1970):

• restoring them back to a productive member of society

  • Problem – diagnosing a prisoner to determine what they needed to be rehabilitated (medical model)

  • Circled back around to positivist thinking, institutions staffed by doctors trying to diagnose and cure criminality 

  • Not achieving its goals, discredited by 1970

Community mode (1970s):

• incarceration was hindering people from engaging in a crime-free lifestyle, most people were sentenced to probation and few were incarcerated

  • Political environment began to change, people abandoned the idea that people can change in favor of locking everyone up

Crime control model (1980-present):

• “get touch on crime,” war on drugs, highest record of people ever being in prison and parolees returning to prison

  • Prisons were getting rid of programming, returning to separate confinement, getting rid of tvs, exercise equipment, went backwards 

  • Now – increasingly implementing more programming and rehabilitative efforts

Federal corrections system

• 5 levels of prisons

  • Minimum security – non violent and first time offenders, dorm style not cells, unfenced, lots of free time, job, classes, move around freely, socialize

  • Low security – same thing but fence and higher supervision

  • Medium security – violent/sex offenses, cells, multiple fences, and armed perimeter guards, restricted movement

  • High/maximum security – strictest of all the gen pop prisons, most violent offenders, cells, multiple fences, and armed guard towers/patrols (lots of guards per inmate)

  • Administrative – for prisoners deemed unsuitable for previous facilitations (medical institutions, escapees, ADMAX, and supermax [prisons for most dangerous inmates of all like Ted Bundy]) 

• Probation and parole

  • Federal system offers probation and parole for federal offenses

State corrections system

• Community corrections

• State prison system

  • Differs from state to state (size, locations, security, design)

  • All are divided in 3 sections: minimum, medium, maximum (operate same as federal prisons)

  • Only diff between state and federal is that the state prisons are much more overcrowded bc way more state crimes than federal crimes

• Women’s state prisons 

  • More lax than men’s prisons bc women usually commit nonviolent crimes 

  • DC has 1 jail and no prisons, houses pre trial offenders, people who are convicted and waiting to be transferred since we don’t have a prison

Private prisons

• Run by a third party contracted by the government

• Non-government run facilities

• Created in the 1980s due to overcrowding

• “For-profit prisons”

  • $3 billion a year industry; the more inmates, the more money the organization makes so no incentive to provide programming or rehabilitation 

  • Run insanely cheaply, pay their staff significantly less

• Corruption 

  • Judges take bribes to send people there

  • Owners donate money to political campaigns for people to advocate for them

  • Black and brown people are 2x as likely to be sent to private prisons

  • Private prisons cost less for the government to run but cost the taxpayers the same amount of money to run 

“Kids for Cash”

PA – judges accepted millions of dollars from owners of private prisons to send thousands of children to enforce harsher punishments for minor offenses, 1 in 4 youth went to a private facility

Jails

• Facilities for those awaiting trial, transfer, or those sentenced to one year or less

  • Increasingly used for holding undocumented immigrants waiting for deportation

• Services are minimal bc high turnover

• Overcrowding bc they serve large regions but are small facilities 

The law and corrections

• Prior to the 1960s prisoners didn’t have rights, hands off policy, courts were told not to interfere with correctional facilities

• Cooper v. Pate (1964)

  • Prisoners have constitutional rights

• 1st amendment

  • Reading, writing, religious practices

  • Most of these cases are won 

• 4th amendment

  • Searches and seizures are reasonable to maintain safety and security, cannot be used to humiliate those who are incarcerated, no strip searches in front of other prisoners  

• 8th amendment 

  • Decent treatment and minimum health standards (ex. 1 doctor for every 300 inmates)

• 13th amendment

  • Slavery legal in prison

• 14th amendment

  • Right to due process and equal protection (right to an attorney, right to go to trial, right to protection – race and gender)

Corrections personnel - warden & COs

• Warden – highest ranking correctional officer, responsible for policy enforcement, staff supervision, manage budget, inmate discipline, running programming, overall security

  • Face a lot of political pressure

  • Staff shortages, facility overcrowding, balancing security with inmate rights

• Correctional officers (guards) – broad jobs, inmate supervision, security enforcement, conflict resolution, patrolling, conducting searches for contraband, monitoring inmate behavior, enforcing rules, responding to violence, medical emergencies, transporting inmates, high rate of stress and burnout, highest rates of PTSD and depression

  • 20% experience physical assault 

  • Most are understaffed, dangerous working conditions, overtime

other corrections personnel

• Counselors and case managers: work directly with inmates to assist with rehabilitation, plan for parole by connecting them with jobs ahead of time, behavioral assessments, educational programs

• Medical and mental health staff

• Specialized units: handling prison riots, extreme violence, hostage situations

corrections personnel challenges

• Challenges

  • Psychological and physical stress

    • Correctional officers face stress levels similar to those of soldiers in combat

    • PTSD, depressions, substance abuse

  • Corruption and ethical dilemmas 

    • Bribes, excessive use of force

  • Staff shortages and overcrowding

Case study – Robert McCartney

• Had been working as a correctional officer for 27 years in MD

• Escorted an inmate back to his cell after substance abuse treatment, the inmate had a shenk and stabbed him to death

• Inmate was serving a life setnence for killing his 2 year old child in the 1980s

• He walked him alone bc of short staffing so only found after already dead

Case study – Ghost face gangsters

• In 2022, members of a white supremacist prison gnag were ordering hits on correcitonal officers, planing violent attacks, running drug trafficking rings, communicating outside of prison walls, plotting murders of state officials

• Biggest plan was to kill and decapitate the prison warden, that’s when they got caught

Other prison population

• Elderly

  • 22% over 55

  • Costs about $70k more a year than a younger inmate bc of medical care

  • Some states have opened specific geriatric prisons or separate wings for elderly 

  • We have the highest rate of elderly prisons ever now bc in the 1980s we handed out so many life sentences 

•  Health issues

  • Prison have high rates of HIV and AIDS mainly bc of intravenous drug users sharing needles, 2x as high in prison than general population, but are decreasing

  • Hotspot for covid during the pandemic 

• Mental illness

  • 64% of jail inmates, 54% of state prisoners, and 45% of federal prisoners have a mental illness

  • ⅓ of people with a mental illness receive treatment

  • 20% of all suicides occur from people who are released from incarceration within a year from their release

Women in prison

• Sexual misconduct

  • Female inmates are 5x more likely to be sexually abused by correctional staff and other inmates, often little recourse due to fear of retaliation

  • 1 in 4 women in the U.S. prison were raped, half of those came from staff

  • Usually began with unnecessary strip searches or bodycad searches (state sanctioned sexual violence)

  • 2012 – DOJ found Black and LGBTQ+ women were 2x higher (than the 5x) of being targeted for sexual abuse

  • Prison rate elimination act in 2003 – mandates the reporting and protection measures but never enforced

  • Increasing female staffing in prisons has helped

• Medical care

  • Women have much less access to quality healthcare, not screened for breast or ovarian cancer, goes undetected until fatal

  • Many are pregnant with no access to prenatal care

  • Mothers are spearated from infants immediately after birth, sometimes get up to 48 hours → high rates of post partum depression, trauma, suicide 

  • Some offer nursing programs, mothers can live with infants for up to a year or 18 months

• Programs

• Mothers 

  • 60% of women in prison are mothers, 75% have children under the age of 4 

  • Can be very far from their kids so limited visitation

  • Most give birth in cells in bathroom

  • Used to be forced to be shackled to bed during birth, now illegal

Case study – Tiana Hill

• Didn’t know she was pregnant when she entered the facility, asked to see a doctor, they didn’t believe her 

• Went into labor at 6 months, the doctors didn’t believe she was in labor, she gave birth in her underwear while staff watched and didn’t intervene

• Was in a co-ed facility, male inmates watched too as she suffered

• Correctional officers took the baby away after she gave birth, baby died 5 days later and they didn’t tell her that or where the baby’s remains are

• Instead of giving mental health support, they put her in solitary confinement and on suicide watch, now she’s a huge advocate for prison reform

Prison programs

• Educational programs

  • Many offer GED programs, sometimes college classes

  • Inmates who participate in these programs are less likely to recidivate / reoffend

• Vocational training programs

  • Computer programming, welding, carpentry

• Substance abuse treatment programs

• Mental health programs

  • Very rare, therapy, counseling, medication management

  • underfunded and inadequate 

• Religious and faith based programs 

• Prison work programs 

• Parenting and family programs

  • 60% of incarcerated women are mothers, 40% of men are fathers

• Therapy and behavioral programs

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy, anger management, trauma therapy, sex offender treatment programs

• Challenges

  • Overcrowding – little resources so can’t provide programming to everyone

  • Higher security prisons don’t offer any programs

Mt. Tamalpais College

• San Quentin prison created a college program in the 1990s, started by volunteers teaching college level classes inside the prison 

• An independently accredited liberal arts college inside of a prison

• Offer associates of arts degrees and college prep coursework 

• Tuition free for incarcerated students, textbooks and supplies are provided, long waitlist bc 300 people per year, faculty from universities outside of the prison teach

  • Took a while bc of barriers – riots breaking out, notes getting handwritten and then lost in the mail, hard in execution

Violence in prison - types

• Inmate on inmate: for every 100 inmates, 3 assaults took place per day, mostly stabbings, beatings, extortion, often related to gang rivalry or debts over contraband, sexual violence

  • 2015 Baltimore, the Black Gorilla family gang controlled sections of the facility, took hostages, overlapped into inmate on staff, correctional officers were raped, violent 

• Inmate on staff: 20% of correctional officers experience physical assault, some inmates retaliate for perceived mistreatment, others just do it just cuz. 

  • Delaware – inmates took correctional officers hostage, several died

• Staff on inmate: reports of excessive force, abuse of power, solitary confinement for minor infractions → 78% increase in likelihood of suicide

• Riots / group violence: stem from poor conditions, leadership struggles between gangs

  • 2018 South Carolina – deadliest prison riot, 7 inmates were killed in gang violence that lasted over 7 hours

• Gangs

Violence in prison - causes

• Overcrowding

  • U.S. has the highest incarceration in the world

  • Fights over space, resources, power

• Organized violence

  • 200k belong to gangs

• Contraband and drugs

• Lack of mental health services

Violence in prison - consequences

• Injuries and fatalities

  • 300 inmates die a year in prison 

• Increased recidivism

  • Exposure to violence reinforces criminal behavior

• Trauma

• Legal/financial

violence in prisons - reduction efforts

• Training

• Separation of violent offenders

• Mental health care

• Reduce overcrowding

most common gangs in the U.S.

• Aryan brotherhood

  • San Quentin 1960s

  • Organized hits, drug tracking, extortion

  • 15k members in and outside of prison

• La Eme – Mexican mafia

  • 1950s

  • Drug trade, racial conflicts, ordering killings from inside prison

• Black guerilla family

  • 1960s

  • Radical political ideology, organizing riots, drug trade

• Ms-13

  • LA, spread internationally

  • Extreme violence, brutal retaliation against other games, hitting law enforcement

• Texas syndicate

  • CA 1970s

  • Violence against other gangs esp La Eme

Rikers – “Fight Night”

• Correctional officers were forcing inmates to fight each other in gladiator style system, took bets

• Those who refused to fight were beaten, denied privileges

• Some would volunteer to gain favor or ask for favors (ex. Bring in contraband, look away when they do things wrong)

• Supposedly no longer happening but got caught again recently 

guest speaker - correctional facility officer

• Worked at a correctional facility for 9 years 

• ADX – Most secure facility in the U.S. 

• Inmates involved in domestic and int’l terrorism (ex. 9/11 conspiracy, unabomber), espionage, organized crime, murderers (father of woody harrelson, tupac)

• drowned his problems with alcohol

• read Ted Kasinsky’s book, he thanked him for being a decent officer

Charles “Sonny” Burton

• Sentenced to the death penalty for 2nd degree murder

• The actual shooter is not on death row, some of the jurors said they wouldn’t have gone for the death penalty if they had known that

• Even the victim’s family wants him to have life in prison instead

• Sentenced to death via nitrogen gas

• Days before his execution, the governor stepped in and commuted his sentence to life in prison without parole

Intermediate sanctions

sanctions that are less harsh than jail or prison but more harsh than just being released

probation is a common type of this

Probation

• conditional release of a person convicted of a crime back into the community under the supervision of a probation officer

  • Can be combined with other punishments

  • Seen as a rehabilitative approach 

• Control varies on a state basis 

• Follow a set of specific conditions 

  • Ex. curfew, stay sober, drug testing, stable employment, not contacting victims or co-conspirators, mandated therapy/mental health sessions, travel restrictions, meeting with probation officer

• Less expensive than imprisonment ($4k vs $35k)

• Intensive supervision probation: higher monitoring and support (ex. Meet with probation officer every day, stricter set of conditions, go to more support groups)

• Some people fear that people will reoffend though, releasing dangerous offenders back on the streets, even though reoffending is less common

Technical violation spiral

ex. missing a weekly meeting or not passing the drug test. You get a written violation, sometimes it’s enough to revoke probation and put you back in jail for breaking the rule. A huge proportion of our jail population are people on probation who receive this

Risk assessment

• Determine who is most likely to recidivate and how to prevent it

  • Environment they live in, home life, personal history

  • Prior offenses, marital status, employment

• Determine the right amount of supervision and conditions

• COMPAS – AI program

  • Good thing bc can be more consistent across people instead of having different people getting different analyses but can still have biases, can be too broad or general, not case specific enough (doesn’t include child abuse, family criminal history) 

Probation officer

• Supervision and enforcing conditions

  • Conduct visits, help clients with rides to drug tests or therapy appointments

  • 90k probation officers in the U.S., 54% were women

• Pre trial investigations

• Issues

  • Huge caseloads (83 on average per officer)

  • Low pay ($49k on average), work a lot of overtime, often have to be on call for 24 hours

  • Safety threats – high crime areas, assigned to violent offenders, most are not allowed to carry a firearm depending on state/county, not allowed to make arrests (55% experience workplace violence)

Davis Martinez

• A man stabbed him, a parole officer, to death

• A bill was introduced in his name to improve the safety of probation and parole officers, like allowing them to carry some kind of weapon, holding govt bodies accountable for when they get hurt

• Most probation officers work alone

• Cases like this are very rare though, most people on parole/probation don’t commit violent crimes

Home confinement

• An offender must remain inside their homes during specific times – only leave for employment, school or some kind of treatment, must have a set schedule and be in contact with parole office about it

  • Way of imprisoning someone without having to feed or house them 

• Can be assignment at any point during the justice process

• GPS monitored (e-carceration)

  • The government doesn’t pay for ankle monitors, $30-100 per week paid by the offender

  • If you can’t afford it you’re assigned something else, usually jail time

• Supervised by probation or parole officer

  • You can be assigned house arrest at any stage of the process, could be when waiting for trial, could be after trial

Day reporting centers

• Live at home but report to a center during the day

• Provide treatment, help finding jobs, education programs, etc.

• ~8 hours a day

boot camps

• Short term sentence followed by probation

• Usually for first time or young offenders

• Physical regimens to develop discipline

intermittent confinement

Jailed only on weekends or evenings

community service

• Serve unpaid labor in the community 

• Can be instead of incarceration/probation or during

  • Ex. picking up trash

other intermediate sanctions

• Fines – sum of money to be paid to the state

  • $100 to a millionaire is nothing, $100 to an unhoused person is impossible

• Restitution – repaying the victim (usually monetarily)

• Forfeiture – seizure of property and other assets derived from (ex. You stole a TV) or used for criminal activity (ex. You used your car in a hit and run)

Reentry

• the process of leaving incarceration and returning to society – not a single moment but a constant adjustment to life on the outside over time

  • Starting to use this word more

  • Move into a completely different life

Reintegration

• returning back to previous life

  • Going back to the same life you had before

  • Move back into the house you lived in all your life

reentry facts

• 2.1 million incarcerated

• 5 million under correctional supervision (ex. Probation, house arrest)

• 1 in 38 adults under supervision – reentry is happening constantly, not rare

• 37% of recidivism takes place within the first 6 months

  • Overdose often happens right after release 

  • Someone with a job and education might be worse off after prison but someone with no job or education might be (relatively) better off after, they might have a GED now

• Not reentering a neutral environment, reentering a world that is actively working against you

Barriers to reentry

structural, psychological, social, systemic, adjusting to a whole new world

structural barriers

• Housing – often banned from public housing, no where stable to go → live on streets, return to unstable environments, housing is the foundation of our lives - without it, everything else falls apart

• Employment – even if you’re qualified, if you’ve committed a felony then you’ll get rejected. First degree murder is a felony but so is major speeding. Can’t pay rent, supervision fees, support themselves → reoffend 

  • = survival crime: steal because you have no choice

• Documentation – People often leave prison without an ID, SSN, birth certificate, no access to any kind of benefits, need all these things for jobs, housing, welfare

psychological barriers

• Leaving prison is a mental transition – Usually have already experienced childhood trauma, abuse, violence before prison. Experience more in prison → leave with compounded trauma. Being institutionalized – your schedule and movements are controlled, every decision is made for you, but once you’re released you have to make your own decisions and navigate an unstructured environment. 

• Loss of autonomy and identity – Labeled as an offender, ex-con, inmate (labeling theory). Might not immediately stop seeing yourself that way, might just believe this is who you are.

social barriers

• Family strain – trust w/family might be broken, resentment, emotional distance. Come home to tension and fear instead of their support.

• Stigma – even after finishing sentence, society might assume you’re dangerous, untrustworthy, that you’ll reoffend, this affects everything – jobs, housing, relationships

• Peers – released into the same neighborhood/peer group. Go back to a neighborhood where crime is the norm, surrounded by the same influences. Even if someone wants to change, that environment might not be supportive of that.

systemic barriers

• Supervision conditions – curfew, drug test, visits, travel restrictions

• Technical violations – go back to prison not for a crime but for breaking a rule like not paying a fee, missing/failing a drug test, missing a meeting. 

• Financial burdens – required to pay for your own ankle monitors, own drug classes, own drug tests, fees, restitution. Just got out of prison, no jobs, trying to get stable, but have to pay money every step of the way. 

adjusting to a whole new world

• People are reentering a completely different world than the one they left, even just a year later. Ex. technology, like no AI to AI. No laptops to laptops. → frustration, embarrassment, anxiety, not wanting to ask for help. A world that moved on without you. 

economics of control vs. support

• Politicians prefer short term timelines

  • Incarceration costs 25-85k per year. Reentry programming costs 5k per year. Logically we should invest in reentry bc it’s cheaper and more effective but politicians don’t operate on long term deadlines, just their 2-4 year terms. Immediate costs not long term savings → short term political survival outweighs long term public safety. Reentry programs might take 10 years, voters want to see immediate results even if the other option will save them money in the long run. 

• Favor cheap, visible control strategies

  • Electronic monitoring, strict supervision, technical violations. Cheaper up front and easier to explain to voters, look like you’re being tough on crime. Control is politically popular, support is politically risky.

Fear based policy, “Parole panic effort”

All it takes is one visible failure → stricter laws, one visible failure outweighs millions of invisible successes

incentives

• Counties are receiving funding based on how many people they’re incarcerating but not receiving the same funding for support programs, housing → incentivizes keeping the prisons full. 

• Private prisons – companies are investing in prisons, probation, electronic monitoring → lobby for policies that keep people from reentering. When profit is tied to punishment, failure becomes a business model. 

• If a politician supports early release reentry programs but there’s one failure, the politician will be blamed.

media and public perception

• Media shapes how we perceive crime – sensational crimes, not by data

  • The public mostly doesn’t experience crime directly, they experience through the media. If they shape what we see, they shape what we fear/believe. Not just reporting facts but framing them in the way they want them to be framed, picking what’s emphasized, what’s left out, how they tell us the story, tells us how we should feel about what happened. Not new – happening since the beginning of journalism. 

  • Ex. Matthew Broderick headlines more empathetic than headlines for a Black man or a woman who did the same crime of killing people

• Focus on rare, extreme cases

• Fear → public opinion → policy

• Perception =/= reality

Willie Horton

• Horton murdered a boy in a robbery, stabbing him – ads used this as an example to show Dukakis as weak on crime. 

• Dukakis was framed as weak on crime, against death penalty, while Bush was framed as tough on crime, supported the death penalty

  • Prison weekend passes were incredibly successful but after one failure (Horton) the program was immediately shut down.

The “super predator” myth

• “Superpredator” – term used to claim there was going to be a wave of violent young kids, juvenile crimes. Lawmakers enacted tough legislation on juvenile offenders, especially Black kids. But they were wrong, but once it was out there there was no reeling it in and it led to many policies. 

• Not a party issue, sensationalized crime is bipartisan (Hilary Clinton used the term superpredator too).

Ready for Life program

• Opening of facilities to house those released from jail, Ready For Life reentry program operated by a nonprofit, has stipends, counseling, job training, and 12 months of housing at the complex

• Nearly 30 million in funding came from philanthropic organizations, designed and operated by formerly incarcerated people

History of Juvenile Justice System - early days

• Originally, juveniles were just sent to regular prisons with adults

• 1825 – first juvenile facility, New York House of Refuse

  • Houses of Refuge – primary place where juveniles were held but same issues as adult prisons – overcrowded, deteriorating, abuse of staff, juveniles weren’t given education

• Reform / industrial / training schools

  • Penitentiary but the focus inside was education

  • San Francisco Reform School — one of the most famous, notorious for its corruption and abuse

first juvenile courts

• 1899 – first juvenile court established in Illinois; they were the first to think maybe kids are different

  • Informal, purely discretion based

  • No representation

  • Probation, rehabilitation, treatment facilities (no jails)

• 1920s – every state had established juvenile courts, eventually juvenile detention centers became a thing but juveniles had no due process (legal representation, no formal court process, were getting crazy long sentences and thrown into detention centers for minor crimes)

juvenile rights

• 1967 – in re Gault. Gerald Gault was taken into custody for making a prank phone call, no lawyer, parents not notified, no formal charges, but sentenced to 7 years (would’ve been $50 fine if charged as an adult). 

  • The Constitution protects juvenile due process, they have most of the same rights – right to attorney, confront witnesses, charges have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, right to be protected from double jeopardy. 

• 1971 – juveniles do not have the right to trial by jury 

  • The one right they don’t get to have is the right to trial by jury because a jury is supposed to be a jury of your peers but you can’t have a jury of children. Also, it is difficult for adults to decide to put children in jail.

The Juvenile Justice Process - first two steps

• Arrest / referral

  • If they break a law in school, the school sends a referral to a judge. After the arrest/referral, they have an intake meeting with an officer:

• Juvenile intake

  • Dismissal: dismiss the case completely 

  • Diversion

  • Petition: or delinquency petition will be filed.

the juvenile justice process - 3rd and 4th steps

• Petition

  • Status offender: crime was illegal only because they are juveniles (ex. Gambling, drinking, truancy). 

  • Juvenile offender: committed a crime that is still a crime when committed by an adult.

• Detention hearing

  • First appearance: goes in front of the judge for the first time (~arraignment)

  • Judge determines pre trial custody – either stay detained or released into custody of their guardian, bail is not a thing for juveniles

the juvenile justice process - 5th, 6th, 7th steps

• Fitness hearing

  • Determine whether to transfer to adult system if more serious 

• Adjustication

  • Trial: prove beyond a reasonable doubt

• Disposition hearing: punishment is determined

Causes of Juvenile Crime

• Family environment

  • Substance abuse, family incarceration, Low parental monitoring

• Trauma and adverse childhood experiences

  • ACEs: physical, emotional, sexual abuse; neglect, witnessing violence, household instability

  • 90% of delinquents have experienced an ACE, most common is over 4 ACEs

  • Trauma changes brain development

• Peer influence

  • Kids are more likely to commit crimes in groups than alone and more likele to take risks in the presence of peers

  • Part of brain responding to reward is more active as a kid

• School experience

  • Students who are expelled, suspended, drop out are more likely to engage in criminal behavior, often first place where they’re treated like a criminal

• Neighborhood & opportunity

  • Neighborhoods with high poverty, community violence → criminal acts, PTSD, aggression

  • In some places crime is more accessible, visible

Reena Virk

• 14 year old girl, constantly bullied by a group of teenagers, they invited her to meet them under a bridge, beat her up

• Two teens followed her and murdered her

• The group allowed the violence to escalate, snowball – when you’re in a group, responsibility feels shared, less accountability, some of the teens wanted to just fit in

• Most were charged with aggravated assault, the 2 were charged with 2nd degree murder.

juvenile crime in school

• Most common crimes committed in schools

  • Bullying 

  • Fighting

• School to prison pipeline

  • Policies that encourage police presence in schools and harsh punishments resulting in suspensions and/or arrests

• School resource officers

  • They are sworn law enforcement officers whose job is to protect students and staff. Their impact heavily depends on the context, training, and clarity of their role. 

  • Respond to serious threats, often build positive relationships with students, serve as mentors. 

  • When police are managing behavior and not safety is when it’s a problem. Kids get arrested for things that could be handled by the school. Disorderly conduct – fake charge given to kids (ex. Talking back to teachers, throwing a paper airplane, etc), kids as young as 5 years old are increasingly getting arrested.

Kaia Rolle

• 6 years old in Florida, had a tantrum, was kicking and hitting her teacher 

• Instead of handling through school discipline (calling a parent, deescalating), the school resource officer was called in who put zip ties on her and took her to the police station, charged her with battery, took a mugshot/fingerprints and put her in the system. Eventually the charges were dropped and the SRO was fired. 

Ahmed Mohamed

• 14 years old, loved technology, wanted to be an engineer

• He built a clock at home so he brought it to school. His teacher panicked and thought it looked suspicious and called the SRO, who removed him from class, arrested him, and took him to a juvenile detention center. He was also suspended

• Later, the case was dropped bc no crime was committed

• Media attention, got an invite to the White House under Obama

• Later his family filed a lawsuit against the school district and won

Blaine Gaskill

• 2018, a student brought a gun to school, shot 2 classmates, the SRO jumped on him and locked him with his body, prevented more harm

• SROs are meant for rapid response to a crisis, preventing additional casualties, not for disciplining normal behavior

• positive case

Juvenile Corrections

• Rights

  • Education, outdoors time, activities, religious practices, access to families

  • Same due process rights as adults – no unreasonable search and seizures, access to medical care

• Issues with juvenile incarceration

  • Not a deterrent

  • Higher recidivism

  • Impact on education (less likely to graduate from high school)

  • Impact on employment

  • Damage to health (suffer from physical health issues – illnesses, injuries and mental health – PTSD)

    • Proven that spending time in a juvenile facility slows down brain maturation (important things for not committing crimes)

  • Abuse (physical, mental, sexual)

    • 29 states in the past 20 years have gotten in trouble for abuse of juveniles in their facilities (mainly Florida, New Hampshire, Texas)

  • Bias 

    • Much higher number of Black and Brown kids in juvenile correction facilities 

Diversion

• Redirect juvenile offenders through programming, supervision, and supports

  • Education, victim awareness classes, job training, mental health treatment, etc

• First time and minor offenders (if the kids don’t care, the program doesn’t work)

• Advantages

  • Reduces premature involvement in the juvenile justice system

  • Avoid labeling

  • Cheaper than incarceration and out of home placement

  • Keep youth in the community

• Disadvantages

  • Net widening: kids go into the program and their case would have otherwise been dismissed

  • Recidivism: some kids don’t take the program seriously 

  • Bias (racial)

What doesn’t work - Drug abuse resistance education (DARE)

• Police coming to school to educate students on drug use

• Does not have an effect on drug use or attitudes, actually leads to higher use

  • Idea is prevention through education, but it doesn’t work

  • Adolescents are more reward seeking and focused on peers over long term consequences so teaching them about the later bad impacts of drugs doesn’t work

  • Exposing kids to detailed information about drugs actually increases their curiosity about drugs

scared straight

• Exposing (at-risk) kids to prison environment

• Increases likelihood of committing crime afterward, fear doesn’t prevent crime

  • Badge of honor effect: some kids feel validated instead of scared

  • Also normalizes prison instead of it being a scary abstract concept 

  • Identity formation – if they’re already at risk, this pushes them further into that delinquent identity

boot camps

• Military style discipline to reform delinquent youth

  • Physical exercise, constant supervision, break them down

• Similar outcomes to traditional incarceration

  • No significant reduction in recidivism, some kids have died in bootcamps bc heatstroke, physical exertion, abuse by staff

  • Bootcamps produce obedience in a controlled environment but don’t teach any real world skills so when the structure is removed they go back to the previous environment

  • Ignore root causes – poverty, mental health, etc.

These all assume kids make rational, calculated decisions, which they don’t

what do we do instead?

• Youth advocate programs

  • Education, job training, rehabilitative services

• Mentorships

  • Especially useful when the mentor has had experience with the juvenile justice system or comes from the same neighborhood

• Intensive therapy

  • Multisystemic therapy, functional family therapy – identifies root causes

• Wrap-around programs 

  • Hire case coordinator to address their needs, connect them with services

• Youthbuild

• Restorative justice

  • Will come in at some point

• Community programs

  • Church puts on, the school, the neighborhood

    • School shootings

terrorism definition

• FBI definition: The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social goals

• US has 4 definitions making it difficult

terrorism cont.

• Terrorism is a tactic used to influence behavior through intimidation

• Ideology – help us make sense of the world

  • Appeals to a higher moral good – religious, political – to justify the killing of innocents

  • Ideology helps us understand the world, who is responsible, what should be done about it, but they also provide justification for violence

• Victims are secondary

  • They don’t choose their victims bc of who they are as individuals, usually at random, the victims just represent a group, they are harmed to send a message, the real goal is to draw attention to their cause, make the public feel unsafe/vulnerable, provoke govts into acting harshly 

  • That harsh response leads to cracking down on civil liberties, which is often what those orgs wants

  • Cause people to lose trust in their leaders, rally more support to the terrorists’ cause

Madrid Train Bombing (2004)

• Terrorist is not a senseless crime bc it serves a purpose, they justify it as a means to an end

• The bombings killed over 200 people and caused major political fallout, 3 days later voters ousted the conservative government and elected a socialist government that withdrew troops – what the terrorists wanted

• While evil, it is often effective

Hamas

• October 7 attack on Israel

• Over 1,000 people were raped and murdered, more than 200 taken hostage, Israel responded with overwhelming military force, experts say this is what Hamas wanted

• Goals

  • Stay politically relevant

  • Fend off more extreme rivals with Palestine

  • Trade prisoners in Israeli jails

  • Provoke other Arab nations and win sympathy with Western governments 

Domestic terrorism

• The unlawful use, or threatened use, of violence by a group or individual based and operating entirely within the US (or its territories) without foreign direction committed against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives  

• Transnational terrorism – operate in multiple countries, like Al Qaeda

• Americanization of groups: increased inclusion of civilians

  • 63 American citizens were arrested, since 2007, 50 US citizens were arrested for trying to join

Omar Hammammi

• US born jahidist who became the most prominent western member of Al Shabbab

• Served as a commander, recruiter, then propagandist

• Became group’s western facing voice bc he was fluent in both Arabic and English

• Criticized Al Shabaab’s leadership, asked to come back to the US, wanted protection in exchange for secrets, the US said no, then was murdered by Al Shabaab militants

Terrorists vs Freedom Fighters

• Freedom fighter: wars of national liberation, massive support

  • Trying to push out foreign occupancies, overthrowing oppressive regimes, have the support of a major part of the population

• Terrorist: to achieve ethnic or ideological goals, or to correct injustice

  • Hardly ever topple an entire government

  • The way we label a group often relies on politics rather than objective criteria 

  • Ex. Some people who were labeled as supporting acts of terrorism like Nelson Mandela later won the Nobel Peace Prize

• Different tactics

  • Civilians vs military 

  • Freedom fighters might occasionally attack a civilian but try to avoid it, rely on public support. If they target innocent people, they lose public support. Terrorists by contrast are aiming at noncombatants directly, spreading fear (bombing marketplaces, schools, etc)

Global reach of terrorism

• 73 recognized terrorist organizations, many Islamic

• Terrorist list requirements

  • Foreign

  • Active

  • Pose a threat 

• Surge after 1960-

  • Cold War

  • Easier bc

    • Technological advances – the Internet, cellphones, email, can coordinate attacks across the world

    • Modern transportation hubs provide a large amount of high value target

    • Weapons are becoming cheaper, smaller, and easier to hide

• Global terrorism index (GTI)

• The US has the most terrorism related deaths in all western countries: 76%

  • Most common – bombings, explosions; then also armed assault, hostage taking, attacks on infrastructure, assassinations

2023 terrorism

• 3,350 attacks, 8k deaths

• Less attacks but are becoming increasingly more deadly

• Sahel region – half of all deaths

• Deadliest groups:

  • Islamic State (IS)

  • Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM)

  • Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TPP)

  • Al-Shabaab

Al Qaeda

• Worldwide/transnational 

• Not a group but the base organization for a number of Sunni organizations

• Began under Osama bin Laden in late 1980s, expanded in the 1990s

• Opposed the stationing of non Muslim troops in Saudi Arabia, contains 2 of the holiest sites in Islam, bc of this he was exiled from Saudi Arabia and went to Sudan, then exiled from there and moved his org to Afghanistan, found protection of the Taliban

• Set up trading camps there, from those camps terrorists were dispatched all over the world

• After 9/11, Bush demanded that they get turned over, they denied and scattered

• Called bin Laden called for a jihad (war), urged Muslims to kill Americans wherever 

• Eventually found him in a compound in Pakistan and killed him

US Right Wing Terrorism

• Biggest current US domestic threat – steadily increasing

  • 73% of US extremist deaths are by right wing

• Most common ideologies

  • Radical libertarian – anti govt, tax resistance

  • White supremacy

  • Anti semitism

  • Christian fundamentalism

  • Government overreach conspiracies – Zionist occupation

top right wing groups

• Top groups

  • Proud Boys

  • Oath Keepers – anti govt militia style ideology, conspiracy theory driven armed standoffs

  • Aryan Nations – white supremacists, anti semitism, anti govt, paramilitary training, attacks against minorities

  • KKK – anti Black nativists, lynchings, intimidations campaigns

  • The Boogaloo Bois – anti govt anti police accelerationists 

proud boys

• Western chauvinists – anti communism, anti LGBTQ+, anti feminism

• Semi independent – no main central leader, chapters all over the place

  • Technically exclusively male but not necessarily

• Engage in a lot of political violence, esp against left wing and progressive groups

US left wing terrorism

• Typically involve revolutionary socialist beliefs

  • Fighting against capitalism and imperialism, of the people

  • Reject traditional political system

  • Believe true change comes from revolution 

  • 1960s-80s posed serious threat

  • But have dismantled a lot of their networks, the collapse of communism stripped them of their support and financial backing

left wing top groups

• The Wreather Underground – Marxist group target banks, corporate offices, military sites

• May 19 Communist Organization – more radical, bomb US miltiary facilities, alliances with foreign terrorist groups

• Revolutionary Armed Task Force – recruited minority parolees and prsioners who were victims of capitalism and systemic racism, got them to commit robberies, bombings, drug trafficking

• Animal Liberation Front – eco terrorist group

Animal Liberation Front

• eco terrorist group, established in UK in 1970s, decentralizaed group, leaderless resistance model, individual cells are in charge of direct actions to prevent animal suffering

• 1985 – Britches raid, infiltrated a lab at UC Riverside, rescued a baby Makaw Britches, subjected to sensory deprivation tests for water exploration, complete darkness and silence for hours at a time, released hundreds of other animals and enacted property damage

Earth Liberation Front

• Focus on the environment as a whole not just animals

• No centralized leadership

• Economic sabotage – set fire to the Bailes ski resort in 1998, caused 12 mill in damages, to protest the resort expanding to cut down the habitat in the area

• In 2001, the US declared them as the #1 domestic terrorist group in the US despite never killing anyone bc they caused tens of millions of dollars in property damage through arson, vandalism, etc so they fit they definition of terrorism

  • Many people criticized this bc other groups are actively committing mass shootings and bombings 

lone actors

• “Lone wolves” (don’t use this term anymore bc it inspires ppl)

• Acts of politically or ideologically motivated violence committed by individuals acting alone, without direct orders or support from a group

• Self-radicalization – influenced by extremist ideology by the internet, books, manifestos

• Types

  • Chaos terrorism – one time large scale act (Ex. suicide bomging)

  • Career terroist – ongoing campaign of smaller attacks (mass shootings)

  • Risk averse – avoid detection (one every year, decade)

  • Risk seeking – willing to die/be caught

• Growing concern

  • Difficult to detect

  • Often no group affiliation, often low tech

  • Inspirational acts

• Typology

  • Socially isolated, paranoid, grievance

  • Ideological, revenge, ego, mental illness

Ted Kaczynski

• A child prodigy admitted to Harvard at 16, PhD in math, taught at UC Berkeley before abruptly resigning, bought a cabin in Montana and became a recluse

• 1978-1995 engaged in a nationwide bombing campaign, targeted universities, airlines, scientists = Career terrorist 

• Sent 16 homemade bombs through the mail

• Called the Unibomber bc of the FBI case code

• Believed modern tech was destroying human freedom, saw industrial society as oppressive, wanted to rescue humanity by stopping progress

• Demanded his manifesto be published to stop the bondings, FBI pressured WaPo and NYT to publish it

• Avoided the death penalty with a plea deal, sentenced to life, committed suicide there in 2023

• Longest and most expensive manhunt in FBI history 

Theories of terrorism

• Form in response to some sort of perceived injustice

  • Ex. Hamas – attack on Israel due to perceived oppression from Israel occupation 

  • Terrorists are not typically mentally ill or thrill seeking psychos, often avoid recruiting people with obvious mental illnesses, want to be seen as stable or reliable

  • See themselves as morally righteous crusaders fighting for justice

• Moral disengagement – override ethics

  • Override their own ethical standard to commit acts of violence, ex. “Violence for the greater good”

  • Dehumanize targets, call them pigs

  • Dismiss victims as collateral damage, sacrifice for the greater good

• Cognitive dissonance – cause is moral

  • Killing is immoral but they believe their cause is moral, cause outweighs the individual 

Cognitive Stages: Miller (1951-)

• 2011

• Four stages

  • It’s not right – something is morally wrong w/the world (poverty, oppression, immorality)

  • It’s not fair – perceive others as living a better life than they are

  • It’s your fault – have identified the cause of this injustice and it’s another group

  • You are evil – take that group and dehumanize them