NCJ Number
174120
Date Published
1998
Length
213 pages
Annotation
This book presents complex, real-life situations that corrections professionals may face during their careers; the cases presented call for ethical judgements by judges, prosecutors, probation officers, teachers, a minister, inmates, correctional officers, correctional counselors, and correctional administrators.
Abstract
An overview and seven cases address ethical problems from the perspective of court professionals; a family court judge must use discretion in a child abuse case, and other cases require deciding the appropriate purpose and limits of a presentence investigation and determining the consequences for a repeat juvenile offender. Another overview and seven cases involve correctional situations from a variety of community perspectives. The school teacher who has a disruptive student, the minister who has a parishioner who is an ex-offender, and the community halfway house director all confront correctional problems in their communities. The next seven cases and text provide insight into the world of inmates. The cases include decisions about becoming involved in illegal drug trafficking in prison, whether to report the victimization of an inmate, how to respond to the special favors being offered by an older inmate, how to respond to gang conflict, whether to participate in an inmate protest, and preparation for release. Another seven cases and text focus on some of the demands placed on the typical correctional officer. Crisis intervention skills, peer group pressures, and riot control are some of the situations presented. A variety of professional and personal situations correctional counselors typically encounter are presented in seven cases. Dealing with inmate depression, anger, and deception, as well as with the counselor's own sense of frustration are among the situations confronted by the correctional counselor. Remaining cases deal with correctional ethics in general and complex decisions confronted by the correctional administrator. Discussion questions follow each case. New to this edition are cases that address the privatization of correctional institutions, prison unions, liability of correctional personnel for offender suicides during incarceration, alternative sentencing, and the relationship between overcrowding and the threat of AIDS.