Ethical Treatment of Prisoners incarcerated throughout the United States Maxine Houston SOC120: Introduction to Ethics & Social Responsibility (ACG1238C) Instructor: David Strand October 7th, 2012 When there are millions of people incarcerated throughout the United States, the ethical treatment of prisoner’s rights must be analyzed. People have paid for crimes through being locked away from society for centuries. At first, punishments for prisoners were considered a corporal punishment such as, whipping, beheading, dismembering, torture or even death. Prior to coming to a decision upon a course of action, the utilitarian is asked to consider its effects on the entire population over an infinite period of time (Mosser, 2010). Our society’s ethical values have changed.
When it comes to the programs typically administered by probation departments, intensive probation supervision is noted by anybody who carries out a violation, they might be incarcerated to a prison or admitted to serve probation time by the court system. Truth of the matter is a defendant could be sentenced to a great degree of guidance through probation. IPS is an immensely disciplined order of events, and the prisoner must obey all terms of tough probation. Prisoners are under house incarceration and they are substantially watched by teams consisting of a parole officer and a surveillance officer. They monitor the prisoners by conduction of house visits four times per week for first phase offenders.
There were several reasons behind this. One reason was to divert ones who would normally have no issue in committing a crime and for ones who have already committed crimes after their release not likely to return and serve a sentence. Penitentiaries also serve as a place to face punishment when one has committed a crime as well as encourage any type of personal reform for their actions. Penitentiaries are especially used to protect innocent people from these one who have committed crimes (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2011). American prisons have two different types of models.
Probation is carried out by the traditional criminal justice system and parole by the correctional system. While on probation many people are at home or with a family member unsupervised. On parole many individuals are made to go to halfway houses and other forms of rehabilitation. As a probation officer one ensures that adult or juvenile offenders meet conditions stipulated by the court to avoid jail time. To become a probation officer you have to have at least a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice or social work.
Physical force was used instead of jail. Jails housed offenders who were awaiting trial and individual who could not pay their debts. Various forms of punishments exercised during the 1700s were mutilation of all or some body parts, whippings, branding, and torture. Some people could be cast out or exiled from their neighborhood or country. The most serious crimes resulted in capital punishment.
An adults sentence is to punish the offender for the crime he or committed. Once a juvenile enters the correctional system he or she could serve time in juvenile hall or boot camps. The juvenile system believes that with the right kind of help and guidance the juvenile can be rehabilitated, this why the juvenile system focuses on rehabilitation. The adults that are put into confinement are not often rehabilitated, because that is not what the adult system is about, it is about punishment for the crime that he or she has made on society. The juvenile system is more lenient than the adult system also.
In this paper I will tell you what justice means to me in general as well as what it means to me as a future juvenile probation officer. In general, justice to me means that a criminal must be punished for the crime that he/she has committed. To be just and fair, the punishment must fit the crime. For instance, you would not want to seek the death penalty for someone who only committed burglary and you would not want to give someone only one to two years in prison for murder. The punishment should also increase for repeat offenders.
There has to be a consequence for breaking laws and committing crimes for anyone. However, there is also a big difference between a non-violent crime and a violent crime. Someone who is arrested for drug possession verses someone arrested for murder is like night and day so should they be punished alike for such different crimes? I think the whole drug epidemic needs to be overhauled and corrected. Rather than put these people in jail where they just sit till they get out why not have a different type of jail where they are housed and rehabilitated with appropriate treatment and awareness?
Less serious offenders, such as those convicted of misdemeanor offenses, may receive a short term sentence to be served in a local city or county jail, or to alternative forms of sanctions such as community corrections (halfway house) or house arrest. Different U.S. prisons operate at different levels of security, ranging from minimum-security prisons—that mainly house non-violent offenders—to super-maximum security prison facilities (supermax) that house the most dangerous criminals. The federal government, states, counties, and many individual cities have facilities to confine people. Generally, "prison" refers to facilities for holding convicted felons (offenders who commit crimes where the sentence is at least one year). Individuals awaiting trial, being held pending citations for non-custodial offenses, and those convicted of misdemeanors (crimes which carry a sentence of less than one year), are generally held in county jails.
I have concluded that substance abuse is a huge contributor to crimes being committed. The lack or decrease in moral intuition and character can cause a person to make bad decisions. This would cause people not to understand the benefits of to abiding to common social values. A person demographics can also play a role in determining whether or not an individual will turn to a life of crime. Government officials, politicians, and courts employees have concluded that individuals commit crimes for private alternatives and they should be punished and held responsible for their actions and conduct.