NCJ Number
85683
Date Published
1982
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This history of offender classification discusses historical antecedents of classifications, the rise of the modern prison, classification between 1790 and 1900, and classification in the 20th century.
Abstract
Historical antecedents of classifications consisted of social stratifications that defined how persons were treated in society. This occurred immediately after the beginning of agriculture in ancient prehistoric times when land became important, permanent settlements developed, and the market economy emerged. When the penitentiary movement began in 1790 at the old Walnut Street jail under the leadership of the Quakers, rudimentary classification systems were introduced. Women were separated from men for the first time in American prisons; children were separated from adults; work was assigned according to a variety of abilities; and special institutions for defective delinquents developed. The first National Congress on Penitentiary and Reformatory Discipline (now the American Correctional Association) adopted the following classification principles in 1870: the progressive classification of prisons based on the nature of the work provided and the character of offenders; the division of programs into punitive separate imprisonment, the reformatory stage of progressive classification, and the probationary stage; and the classification of prisons according to the age, sex, and incorrigibility of offenders. A modern classification system serves on a statewide basis to achieve some homogeneous grouping in institutions and to protect some younger from older inmates. Within the institution, classification becomes a delivery system by which treatment resources are brought to the inmates. Classification is the nerve center for assignment of inmate personnel, a referral system for various forms of treatment, and a process for evaluating and reporting on case progress. Twenty-six references are provided.