NCJ Number
102006
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 3 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1986) Pages: 231-239
Date Published
1986
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This essay contends that the American correctional system has never abandoned its emphasis on punishment, but that the vast institutional system has always undone any attempts at rehabilitation and reveled in 'just desserts,' at least until problems like overcrowding made bureaucratic control difficult.
Abstract
It critiques a paper exploring the dangers of creative sentencing and maintains that most so-called alternative programs have simply spread the net of social control by involving minor offenders in more restrictive programs. It also refutes the paper's criticisms of probation and parole conditions and diversion programs on the basis that they confine themselves to the extreme polarities which typify corrections. Other issues examined in the essay include the juvenile system, pardons and clemency, community service, and restitution. The author suggests that academic critics are too far removed from the day-to-day vagaries of sentencing and tend to throw up their hands in despair at the prospect of doing anything positive with those who get into trouble.