Correctional Reform Research Articles

California Jails under Realignment and Proposition 47

Author(s): Grattet, Ryken; Bird, Mia; Nguyen, Viet; Tafoya, Sonya | Abstract: This article considers how recent correctional reforms in California, which downsized the state prison system, have impacted county jails. Jails have long been overlooked by researchers and, yet, as the state shifts authority for managing certain types of offenders to counties, jails have become an even more important part of the state’s correctional options. Using detailed data from twelve counties, we examine how jails are changing in terms of types of individuals that move through them as well as how long they stay in custody and how they are released. We find that the jail population is increasingly comprised of more serious types of offenders, many of whom are staying in custody for relatively long periods of time. These changes highlight the need for policymakers to consider a variety of options to improve outcomes for offenders when they return to the community as well as the need for additional research to inform to better inform who should be held in custody, what they do while being held, and who might be safely released.

Strengthen Educational and Teaching Reform in a Social Demand-oriented Approach

Along with the advent of higher educational popularization, the number of graduates will be on the rise with increasingly salient contradictions between the employment of students and social demands. Therefore, before the popularization stage of higher education, it is of prime importance to properly handle the contradiction between employment of students and social demands. From the perspective of the social demands, this paper offers a detailed study of seeking the correct reform approaches through the analysis of the social demands for talents and educational and teaching reform with a view to alleviating the employment pressure of graduates.

Restoring Human Capabilities After Punishment: Our Political Responsibilities Toward Incarcerated Americans

Why should non-incarcerated Americans invest in the wellbeing of incarcerated Americans? To date, our public discourse about penal reform has avoided this question, focusing on pragmatic reasons for facilitating “prisoner reentry” and “reintegration” while shelving unresolved, and deeply contested, philosophical questions about criminal justice and punishment. As a result, we as a society have engaged in much data-driven policy talk about the economic costs and benefits of reducing recidivism, but little normative reflection about the rights and responsibilities held by incarcerated adults who are at once human beings, members of society, persons convicted of crimes, victims of inhumane punishment – and, often, survivors of poverty. Thus, my first task is to clarify the individual and collective obligations that apply within our context of mass incarceration: the moral responsibilities that are held by and toward incarcerated Americans, non-incarcerated Americans, and our shared public institutions. My second task is to draw out implications for policy and discourse: to explain not only what reform measures we should prioritize, but how we should frame and assess them. In particular, I call for systemic changes that would provide all incarcerated Americans with opportunities to pursue higher education and to develop redemptive self-narratives; and I argue that we should frame and assess such measures not primarily as cost-saving devices, but as ethically significant efforts to secure capabilities that are essential to human flourishing and required by justice. In setting forth these arguments, my purpose is to spark deeper ethical reflection about correctional reform, and specifically to invite meaningful engagement with one key normative question: What do we, as a civilized society with a history of social and penal injustice, owe incarcerated Americans? Ultimately, I wish to underscore that the people confined in our prisons have legitimate moral claims upon us – insofar as they remain human beings and members of society and, as such, bearers of rights as well as responsibilities. Equally, I wish to establish that, in our collective efforts to repair the harms of mass incarceration, we can and should empower those Americans most directly harmed by our penal system to lead the way in transforming it.

Correctional Reform in Red States: Missouri’s Role

Correctional Reform in Red States: Missouri’s Role

Good Enough to Be Getting on with? The State of Federal Sentencing Reform Legislation, December 2015

This Article addresses the current status of the push for federal sentencing and corrections reform, and describes and analyzes all of the major pieces of sentencing and corrections reform legislation pending in the United States Congress at the close of 2015. In particular, it considers the Justice Safety Valve Act of 2015, the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015, the SAFE Justice Act of 2015, and the most likely candidate for passage -- the Senate's Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 (SRACA) and its counterpart in the House. The Article discusses the merits and deficiencies of each bill, and estimates the likely effect of each on the population of current and future federal defendants and inmates. The Article notes that the legislative proposals have become less expansive as the session has progressed, with each succeeding bill more cautious than the last. The final section of the Article considers whether the result of Congress's efforts will be worthy of support by those who favor significant federal sentencing and corrections reform. It concludes that, on balance, the front-end sentencing provisions of the legislation most likely to pass (SRACA) are good enough to be getting on with, but that the back-end corrections measures with the most current legislative backing ought to be reconsidered and improved.

Rehabilitation in a Red State

Research SummaryBased on a 2013 survey of 1,001 likely voters in Texas, public support for correctional reform in a “red state” was examined. Four major conclusions were revealed. First, the respondents displayed strong support for rehabilitation. Second, at least for nonviolent and/or drug offenders, the sample members showed a clear preference for the use of alternatives to incarceration as opposed to imprisonment. Third, when asked about a specific policy reform that used treatment rather than prison for nonviolent drug offenders, more than eight in ten Texans approved of the measure, and strong majorities endorsed various rationales for it. Fourth, with some minor variation, the respondents revealed substantial consensus across demographic groups in their embrace of rehabilitation and correctional reform.Policy ImplicationsWith the growth of mass imprisonment arguably at its end, the existence of strong public support for correctional reform even in the major red state of Texas, suggests that a new “sensibility” about crime control has taken hold. There is now an emergent national consensus that the overuse of incarceration is unsustainable and that low‐risk offenders no longer should be sanctioned with a prison sentence. The American public, in Texas and beyond, is willing to support a policy agenda that includes offender treatment, prison downsizing, and alternatives to incarceration. The challenge for elected officials is to take advantage of this ideological space and to pursue this agenda. Notably, politicians in Texas and in other red states are using this opportunity to implement correctional policy reforms. The data in this study indicate that they will face no public backlash and, if anything, will gain political capital for their efforts.

Corrections Reform in Kosovo: A Qualitative Study of Canadian Corrections Advisers’ Experiences in a Post-Conflict Environment

This case study of corrections reform in Kosovo contributes to the growing academic literature on corrections reform during peacebuilding missions in post-conflict environments. Fourteen Canadian corrections advisers who were deployed to Kosovo between 1999 and 2006 were interviewed about the dynamics and challenges they experienced abroad. Interview transcripts were coded and analysed using NVivo10. Five key themes emerged from the data: the importance of understanding the local context; the prevalence of corruption; the lack of attention and resources devoted to corrections reform in post-conflict Kosovo; the challenges of providing safe and secure confinement for prisoners detained in facilities staffed by police and military personnel; and the challenges of working with ‘experts’ who seemingly lacked expertise and genuine concern for developing local capacities. These themes are summarized followed by a discussion of the limitations of the study, the directions for future research and the policy and practice implications of the findings.

프랑스 교정행정의 개혁과 과제

프랑스 교정행정의 개혁과 과제

Misdiagnosis: Incomplete Cures of Financial Regulatory Failures

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, U.S. authorities are attempting to improve financial regulation and supervision. This involves a three-step process: (1) diagnosis of what went wrong, (2) design regulatory and supervisory reforms that address these defects, and (3) implement the corrective reforms. In our paper, we argue that ongoing efforts to enhance U.S. financial regulation and supervision have faltered along each of these three dimensions. We support our arguments with several specific example that highlight deficiencies in the diagnosis of and policy response to the financial crisis. The focus is on regulatory and supervisory reforms since 2009. It is documented that the U.S. authorities misdiagnosed the causes of the crisis both by over-emphasizing factors that did not play decisive roles in causing the onset or the severity of the crisis and by under-emphasizing factors that did. As a result of the misdiagnosis, we explain how many of the reforms advanced by the authorities will do little to fix problems with the regulations and supervision of financial markets and institutions and improve the safety and soundness of the U.S. financial system.

Evaluation of the California Parole Violation Decision-Making Instrument (PVDMI)

As part of correctional reform in California, the Division of Parole Operations implemented a structured decision-making tool for responding to violation of parole known as the Parole Violation Decision-Making Instrument (PVDMI). The tool considers both parolee risk, as measured by a validated risk assessment tool, and the severity of the parole violation in recommending an appropriate response. This paper presents findings from a pilot study in four parole units across the state. Findings suggest that the tool did not increase consistency in parole agent responses nor reduce the percent of parolees who were returned to prison as a result of a violation. In addition, recidivism rates for parolees whose violations were handled with the PVDMI did not differ from those parolees handled under routine parole revocation practices. A discussion of implementation issues highlights factors affecting full adherence to the structured sanctions model.

Framing Organizational Reform: Misalignments and Disputes among Parole and Union Middle Managers

Any time organizations undertake change processes there are questions about mobilizing support for the change (Vallas 2003). Two essential factors for mobilizing support are (1) how organizational change is framed by both the organization and its employees and (2) whether or not the change is framed in a way that aligns in any meaningful way with actors' interpretations. This article considers middle managers as first‐line interpreters of organizational policy changes and offers a look at their patterned response to reform mandates. Middle managers' interpretation of changes in organizational policy or practice provides vital information for workers about how the reform fits with larger organizational and personal goals. Using data collected in three years of ethnographic fieldwork with parole personnel in California during correctional reform, I argue that organizational and union middle managers' differing definitions of, and solutions for, policy reform create an outlet for intraorganizational frame misalignments and disputes with the potential for restricting or halting change.

Reforming the Criminal Justice System in the United States

Correctional policy in the United States has alternately emphasized rehabilitation and punishment (Irwin, 2007). The current “tough on crime” era has led to steadily increasing numbers of imprisoned Americans and unsustainable costs (Garland, 2001; Lacey, 2010). Overcrowded prisons and bloated correctional budgets have drained money from educational and social programs, reaching unprecedented levels in the 1980s and becoming completely untenable in times of diminished resources. In response, many advocacy groups have called for correctional reform, including the Human Rights Watch, the Sentencing Project, the Justice Project, the Vera Institute of Justice, the Council of State Governments, the Pew Center for the States, and the Northpointe Institute for Public Management. The voices of these reformers have decried the overuse of incarceration and its costliness, compared with other sentencing alternatives that generally yield greater dividends with respect to community safety and offender rehabilitation. Within the federal government, the most reasoned and resonant voice for prison reform belongs to Senator James Webb (D-Virginia), who has encouraged a bipartisan approach to criminal justice changes through his proposed National Criminal Justice Commission (NCJC).

Corrections Reform——Where Are the News Media?

163 Federal Sentencing Reporter, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 163–165, ISSN 1053-9867 electronic ISSN 1533-8363. ©2010 Vera Institute of Justice. All rights reserved. Please direct requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/fsr.2009.23.2.163. Corrections Reform—Where Are the News Media?

Cents and sensibility: A case study of corrections reform in Kansas and Michigan

The analytical framework developed by the “new penology” describes the content of corrections reform as relatively homogenous, largely driven by forces internal to corrections departments. This article examines the ongoing process of penal reform in the correctional systems of Kansas and Michigan over the last decade and argues that the new penology's analytical framework has the potential to obscure the relationship between penal practices and their immediate institutional environment. Using case studies of corrections reform in Kansas and Michigan, this article shows that the nature and scope of reforms in both states were determined not just by internal considerations and adaptations, but by a number of forces operating outside the penal bureaucracy including the interests of external actors, economic crises, and high profile events. These external forces both constrained and encouraged correctional reforms and led to evolving reform rationales that often conflicted with the practices of the new penology.

A Retrospective View of Corrections Reform in the Schwarzenegger Administration

148 Federal Sentencing Reporter, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 148–153, ISSN 1053-9867 electronic ISSN 1533-8363. ©2010 Vera Institute of Justice. All rights reserved. Please direct requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/fsr.2010.22.3.148. A Retrospective View of Corrections Reform in the Schwarzenegger Administration*

Offender Rehabilitation and Counselling Dynamics in the South African Correctional Environment: Systems and Prospects

This article provides a theoretical overview of the correctional reform as well as rehabilitative and counselling landscape within South African Correctional Centres. Key challenges being faced in this arena include corruption/collusion of correctional staff, poor and failing infrastructure, high staff turnover, deficient mental health care, overcrowding, inadequate social integration and development services. Building of internal staff capacity, ensuring humane, safe and healthy inmate living conditions, and ensuring needs-based/driven development and reintegration programmes may address some of these challenges.

Organizational Culture and US Intelligence Affairs

Both US intelligence officials and intelligence studies scholars claim that ‘organizational culture’ is a cause of ‘intelligence failure’ and the proper locus of post-9/11 intelligence reform efforts. This essay uses a postmodern perspective to demonstrate how the dominant discourse of ‘organizational culture’ shapes stakeholders' understandings of accountability and what constitutes necessary, correct, or effective intelligence reform. By exploring institutional struggles over the meanings of ‘culture’ and ‘accountability’, this essay calls for reconsideration of the ways US intelligence officials and intelligence studies scholars talk about ‘organizational culture’ vis-à-vis post-9/11 intelligence reform.

Another One Bites the Dust: Recent Initiatives in Correctional Reform in New Zealand

Since the end of the 19th century, New Zealand has experimented with a variety of correctional ideas, the majority of which have imitated progressive initiatives taken overseas. However, none of the earlier attempts proved effective in reducing recidivist rates. Undeterred, in recent years, two new and quite different programs, the first known as He Ara Hou; the second as Integrated Offender Management, have been trialled by correctional authorities. This article explains the philosophy and application of the latest two programs, and discusses why they also failed.

Making the Most of California's Correctional Education Reform: A Survey and Suggestions for Further Steps

This paper surveys California's correctional education reform, arguing for expanded services on the grounds that improved education reduces recidivism, saves money, and facilitates prisoner reentry. People with educational difficulties are more likely to end up members of the incarcerated population, and those who improve their educational status while incarcerated are less likely to commit future crimes. After exploring the widespread consensus that effective education for incarcerated individuals yields tangible and demonstrable benefits and examining national data on the educational deficits observable in incarcerated populations, the paper turns to an analysis of the current programming reform in California, advocating for careful data collection and analysis, universal assessment and programming participation, and the consideration of computer-facilitated education.

Handbook of Correctional Mental Health

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewFull AccessHandbook of Correctional Mental HealthAngela M. Vuotto D.O.Angela M. Vuotto D.O.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Nov 2006https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2006.57.11.1662AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Mental health providers face significant challenges in providing care to underserved and misunderstood patient populations. Populations in correctional settings present particular challenges.Handbook of Correctional Mental Health is the collaborative effort of experts in the fields of mental health and the law. Thought provoking and intellectually stimulating, this text is a guide to professionals at any level of expertise who are interested in correctional mental health. The opening chapters explain the language used in correctional mental health—such as distinctions between jails and prisons and between misdemeanor crimes and felony crimes—as well as the theories of punishment and inmate classification. The book has a smooth transition from definitions and theories of correctional mental health to the psychosocial dynamics encountered within the correctional culture. Ken L. Appelbaum thoroughly explores the practice of psychiatry within such a culture. The authors provide a detailed review of mental health assessment, screening, and referral. In this section the authors also explore the use of unaided clinical violence risk assessment, actuarial violence risk assessment instruments, and risk assessments based on professional judgment.Individual chapters on suicide, psychopharmacology, and malingering in correctional facilities help identify key points pertinent to successful treatment outcomes in the correctional environment. The book covers therapeutic interventions, such as dialectical behavior therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy, and recreational therapy. The authors provide tables organizing the group therapies and desired treatment outcomes to assist the reader in developing a solid understanding of such interventions.This clinical guide has a section on special populations of inmates, such as female offenders and those with developmental disabilities. This section offers a solid understanding of clinical and political atmospheres surrounding the delivery of mental health care to such special populations.Maximum and super-maximum security settings for people with mental illnesses are introduced in a delicate manner. The authors discuss the harsh realities found in such settings while encouraging the reader with hope that further correctional reform will continue so that safety and security can be ensured in a more humane fashion.The penultimate chapter offers an understanding to outpatient management of offenders. The authors explain mental health courts, court ordered medication management, and management of insanity acquittees within the community. The final chapter reviews the legal aspects of correctional mental health and is a perfect ending to this clinical guide. Constitutional rights surrounding mental health treatment and prevention are discussed under specific topics such as right to treatment, confidentiality, and right to refuse treatment.As an educational tool this is an excellent clinical guide. The book has chapters that end with highlighted key points, discussion of relevant landmark cases, as well as tables and clinical case vignettes that assist the reader in achieving a richer and fuller understanding of important issues.Ms. Vuotto is a forensic psychiatrist at the Anne Klein Forensic Center, Special Treatment Unit, Avenel, New Jersey. FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byNone Volume 57Issue 11 November, 2006Pages 1662-1662PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES November 2006 Volume 57 Number 11 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 November 2006 Published in print 1 November 2006