CJA/234
January 1, 2013
The Principal Objectives of Punishment with the U.S. Corrections System The Department of Corrections has continuously changed their goals and objectives throughout the history of corrections. The continuous changes to policies have many contributing factors beginning with the Attorney General, Governors, and appointed directors of the incarceration establishments. With changing laws, new problems arising and changing political stand points based on campaign agendas prisons themselves have been forced to adapt. When asked what the objectives of punishment are here in the U.S., my first thought would be that the goal of punishment would be to enforce society’s laws and ensure the public’s safety. Punishment is also used as a deterrent in the hope it will persuade possible future offenders against committing criminal acts. The objectives of punishment vary between the state and the federal objectives on corrections.
State Department of Corrections State Department of Corrections has four goals in which each goal has subcategory objectives which support the goals. First goal is to protect the public, staff, and inmates. Second goal is to develop staff committed to professionalism and fiscal responsibility. Third goal is to ensure victims and stakeholders are treated with dignity, sensitivity and respect in making and executing administrative and operational decisions. Fourth goal is to prepare inmates for appropriate institutional adjustment, transition, and re-entry to the community (Department of Corrections, 2005). With the set standard operating procedures emplaced the state corrections department will operate more efficiently as well as adequately.
Federal Department of Corrections The Federal Corrections Department operates on a very similar scale. The Federal Department of Corrections has the same goals as the State Department of Corrections with the same rehabilitation programs in
References: Federal Bureau of Prisons. (2011). About the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved from: http://www.bop.gov/news/PDFs/ipaabout.pdf Floyd, John. (2011). Criminal Jurisdiction. Retrieved from: http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/08/what-is-the-purpose-of-federal-sentencing/ John Howard Society of Alberta. (1996). Prison Overcrowding. Retrieved from: http://www.johnhoward.ab.ca/pub/C42.htm State Department of Corrections. (2005). Agency Goals and Objectives. Retrieved from: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/LRPP/2010/03-GoalsObjectivesOutcomes.pdf The Sentencing Project. (2011). The Expanding Federal Prison Population. Retrieved from: http://www.asca.net/system/assets/attachments/2811/inc_FederalPrisonFactsheet_March20112.pdf?13