The good,the bad,and the (sometimes) ugly truths: American penal goals and perspectives |
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Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">Richard?TewksburyEmail author Matthew?T?Demichele |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Justice Administration, University of Louisville, 40292 Louisville, KY;(2) University of Kentucky, USA |
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Abstract: | Conclusion Identifying correctional objectives and evaluative criteria is essential to facilitating smooth operational functioning of
the correctional system. Complicating this necessity is the tremendous growth and responsibilities of the correctional system
as budgets continue to suffer reductions or stagnations. Traditional evaluative studies producing valuable insights, have
yet to, for the most part, move beyond recidivism and incarceration rates as performance indicators. This is due mostly to
the fact that criminal justicians — scholars and practitioners — and the general public lack consensus regarding correctional
goals. Instead, what we are experiencing is an ambivalence placing an unfair burden upon the correctional system to create
and maintain effective rehabilitative programs, devise punitive strategies, and fulfill these countervailing missions with
decreased financial resources than in the past (relative to case load). To be sure, wardens and correctional administrators
are called upon today to do more with drastically fewer dollars.
The correctional system, we argue, given its unique task of incapacitating people, demands that scholars, practitioners, and
policymakers combine efforts to develop correctional goals. These goals once defined, however, are not to become fixed static
categories. Instead, they must remain flexible and imitate or adapt to social and cultural conditions, which is not to say
merely reflect public opinion. Rather, correctional goals must consider legal, normative, and other structural changes affecting
the correctional system — as many scholars recognize these variables having greater impact on incarceration (see Christie,
2000; Dilulio, 1993; Garland, 2001). This joint effort should take advantage of research-based knowledge and examples of best
practices to identify the good aspects, weed out the bad, and eliminate the ugly in the U.S. penal system.
An earlier version of this paper was presented by the first author as part of the Presidential Address to the Southern Criminal
Justice Association, September 24, 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee. |
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