Jails
Sentenced to less than a year
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Jails | Sentenced to less than a year |
| Prisons | Sentenced to more than a year |
| Probation | Supervision instead of incarceration |
| Parole | Supervision after early release and sentenced to 4 years, after two years... released and assigned a parole officer. |
| The Code of Hammurabi | - One of the earliest written legal codes - Based on lex talionis or "an eye for an eye" - If someone cuts your hand, their punishment is also to have their hand cut now. - Emphasized retribution and proportional punishment |
| Beccaria's Main Ideas | - Human beings' rationality and free will; Crime is the result of free will - Crime can be prevented through deterrence: Offenders should be punished - Punishment should be proportionate to the harm done, should be identical for same crimes, and should be applied without reference to the social status of either offender or victim |
| Certainty of Punishment | - The likelihood that people will be caught and punished if they commit a crime - Most effective deterrent according to Beccaria |
| Swiftness of Punishment | - How quickly the punishment follows the crime - The faster a person is punished, more deterred in the future - Punishment should not be delayed |
| Severity of Punishment | - How harsh or painful the punishment is - If punishment is severe enough, people will be discouraged from committing the crime |
| Positivism School of Criminology | - Crime is caused by factors beyond a person's control - Humans are not free agents who alone are responsible for their actions - Rehabilitation over punishment |
| Classical School | - Human beings are rational decision-makers who are responsible for their own actions - People engage in criminal activities to increase their pleasure and reduce pain - Offenders should be punished - Punishment should fit crime |
| Positivism School | - Human beings are not rational decision-makers - Crimes and deviance are caused by individual factors and social factors - Offenders should not be punished but treated |
| Retribution | - Just desert's philosophy - Punishment is justified because the offender deserves it for breaking the law - Criminal punishment must match degree of harm |
| Deterrence | - Prevention of future crimes by the threat of punishment - Types of deterrence: -- General -- Specific |
| General Deterrence | - Aims to discourage others in society from committing crimes by making an example of the offender - Punishing one offender sends a message to society: "if you commit this crime, you'll face the same punishment" |
| Specific Deterrence | "John, who serves jail time for burglary, may think twice about breaking into another house because he doesn't want to go back to jail." |
| Incapacitation | - Punishment removes offenders' ability to commit further crimes against society by restricting their freedom |
| Mandatory Minimum Sentencing | Fixed minimum sentences for specific offenses |
| Truth in Sentencing Law | Require offenders to serve 85% of their prison sentence before being released on parole |
| Three-Strikes-and-you're-out Law | - First implemented in Washington State, 1993 - Life imprisonment for offenders with third-felony convictions |
| Rehabilitation | - Process that helps offenders change their behavior, so that they can return to society as law-abiding citizens - Crime is caused by problems (addiction, lack of skills, trauma) that can be treated - Focus is on treatment and education |
| Reintegration | - Prepare criminals to reenter society after serving their sentence - Concrete programming for successful reentry into society |
| General Deterrence | Punishment discourages other from committing crimes |
| Specific Deterrence | Punishment discourages the SAME OFFENDER from reoffending |
| The First Jails | - Jamestown, Virginia in 1606 - Boston, Massachusetts in 1635 - Maryland, 1662 Purpose: - Detention before trial - Detention before punishment |
| The First Jails or Goals | - Short term detention, not long-term punishment - Mixed population - men, women, and juveniles housed together - No emphasis on rehabilitation - Fee system |
| Pillory | Wooden frames with holes to secure the head and hands, set up in a public place. |
| Stock | A seated version of the pillory with wooden frames with holes for the person's hands and feet |
| Branding | Marking a criminal's body with a hot iron on his or her forehead with a letter denoting the offense to publicly identify him or her as an offender |
| Capital Punishment | Burning, hanging, or buried alive |
| William Penn (1644-1718) | - Pennsylvania colony governor - Not a fan of harsh punishments for minor offenses - Creation of the Great Law in 1682: penal code that emphasized rehabilitation over retribution - Great Law Characterizes: -- Limitation of the death penalty or capital punishment -- Emphasis on imprisonment and labor |
| John Howard (1726-1790) | - Published a book: "The statute of prisons in England and Wales." - Recommendations: -- Cleanliness and sanitation of jails -- Segregation of inmates -- Abolition of the fee system |
| Jeremy Bentham | - A circular building with individual cells arranged around the perimeter and a central watchtower from which guards could observe all inmates - Windows in the tower were designed with blinds or screens to inmates could not tell if they were being watched - Individual cells |
| Enlightenment Period | - Punishments before Enlightenment Period - Enlightenment period reformers - Advocated for more humane and structures approaches to crime and punishment |
| The Walnut Street Jail | - Originally constructed in 1773 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Remodeled in 1790 into the first penitentiary; a wing of the jail was designed as an official penitentiary. |