NCJ Number
80975
Journal
Contemporary Crises Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1982) Pages: 7-24
Date Published
1982
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The justice model is described, and its implementation is assessed, followed by an examination of the reason for its current popularity.
Abstract
The justice model is, in part, a reaction to the failure of the rehabilitation model. Supported by numerous empirical studies, justice theorists correctly claim that rehabilitation has not been very successful. Further, the rehabilitation model has been judged unfair because of its use of indeterminate and individualized sentences administered under the discretion of sentencing and paroling authorities. This has yielded disparity in punishment and departure from formal legal equality. The justice model argues for a criminal justice system that dispenses uniform, precisely defined sentences that punish offenders according to offense severity. The justice model has been unable to implement its reform strategy, however. In the States where it has been put into practice, the reforms have failed to conform to the dictates of just deserts. Given the failure in the implementation of the justice model, one must look further to identify the forces that fuel its continued popularity. Essentially, the justice model is an effort to provide an ideological basis for increasing social control to counter the rebellious and coping behavior of the growing numbers in the 'disenfranchised subproletariat' -- the unemployed, the young, and the poor. The necessity for increased social control under the economic and social injustice of advanced capitalism is masked under the ideology of justice in an effort to convince the majority that the state's expanded coercive measures constitute justice and not oppression. Forty-eight footnotes are listed.