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Punishment
Court overload
◦ Plea bargaining
◦ Other contributing factors
Frivolous litigation
◦ Prisoners’ lawsuits
◦ But exaggerated
Racial disparity in sentencing (et al)
Gender disparity in sentencing (et al)
◦ Muncy Act (1913)
 “a class of women who lead sexually immoral lives”
 NOW appeal by Jane Daniel; PA SC struck down (‘68)
◦ Modern gender differentials
 Still less likely to be sentenced,
but not sig diff in sentence length
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SOC355 – Criminology
@ CSUN w/ Ellis Godard
Courts
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◦ Models & Modernization
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◦ Types, Issues, and Trends
Punishment
Applications towards Reduction
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SOC355 – Criminology
@ CSUN w/ Ellis Godard
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Types of law
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Judicial – stare decisis (precedent)
Administrative – agency rules/guidelines
Procedural – “the law’s law”
Constitutional – pinacle of common law
Civil & Criminal Courts – priv. vs public
Trial & Appelate Courts – case vs. review
State Courts – inc. w/ lim. jurisdiction
Federal Courts – district, circuit, supreme
SOC355 – Criminology
@ CSUN w/ Ellis Godard
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Selection – inc. Missouri Plan
◦ 6-12 yrs then unopposed election to
retain?
Qualifications
◦ Little formal relevant educ
◦ No social science required
Salaries
◦ Above average, but below private practice
Bias
◦ Mostly white men
◦ Discretion, regardless
SOC355 – Criminology
@ CSUN w/ Ellis Godard
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Purposes
◦ Rehabilitation & Deterrence
 dominant but decreasing (on sketchy support)
◦ Incapacitation & Retribution
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 Increasing (esp. on public outcry)
Types
◦ Indeterminate – min & max only
◦ Determinate – fixed sentences
 May be raised/lowered w/ circumstances
◦ Mandatory
◦ Others
SOC355 – Criminology
@ CSUN w/ Ellis Godard
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Appellate review: 11 yrs, 2 months avg!
Execution of Jueveniles
Morality & the Death Penalty
◦ Retribution morally mandated?
Racial & Social Class Discrimination
Cost of Executions
SOC355 – Criminology
@ CSUN w/ Ellis Godard
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Retribution
◦ Like revenge, but within law & w/ legal authority
Deterrence
◦ General (others) vs. Specific (offender)
◦ Disparities & variability -> can’t calculate
◦ “Conditions under which deterrence works”??
Rehabilitation
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Emergence of Prisons
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19th Century Systems
Two schools of thought
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Developments
◦ inc. conscription, sale, forced labor
Mostly private
◦ esp. pre-Medieval
Labor Demands
◦ harsh penalties in 16th/17thC
Decline of Torture (to swift/“sober”)
◦ hanging machine (1760)
◦ guillotine (1792)
SOC355 – Criminology
@ CSUN w/ Ellis Godard
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◦ Progressive Era (1890-1920) – humane/educ
◦ Admin: discipline, rules, management
◦ Decline of prison industries
 Undercut market competition & wages
◦ The Big House
 Rigid, routine, w/ near total power
 Reactions to brutality, med. care, spoiled food
◦ Make it impossible to re-offend – cut hands, incarcerate
◦ Selective incapacitation – longer for chronic offenders?
Banishment
◦ Pennsylvania: isolation, work, religion, silence
◦ Auburn: congregate work, shared cells, no
comm.
◦ Reformatory: rehab, esp of youth;
educ/vocational
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Incapacitation
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◦ 8th Amendment, against “cruel and unusual”
◦ Pre-American prisons loose, rarely used,
unhealthy
SOC355 – Criminology
@ CSUN w/ Ellis Godard
◦ Treating internal or external forces on individuals
◦ Hard to improve (& prove) within system
SOC355 – Criminology
@ CSUN w/ Ellis Godard
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SOC355 – Criminology
@ CSUN w/ Ellis Godard
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Professional Administration
◦ Vs. political patronage appointments
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Prison Litigation
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Shift to Custody & Control
◦ Prisoners solving problems legally
◦ 1969 TN court opened the door
◦ Works against prison staff control
SOC355 – Criminology
@ CSUN w/ Ellis Godard
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Basic Variations
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Alternative Models
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Sociological variations
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Prison vs. Jails
Male vs. Female
Minimum vs. Maximum
Special penalties (e.g. death row)
Special offenses (e.g. sex)
◦ Shock Incarceration / “Boot camps”
◦ Co-correctional Institutions
◦ Community Corrections
◦ Culture – deprivation vs. importation model
◦ Gangs & violence
SOC355 – Criminology
@ CSUN w/ Ellis Godard
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Prisoner Health
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Correctional Officer Issues
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Rising costs
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AIDS
Tuberculosis
Mental Illness
Geriatric Issues
◦ Salaries & Job Satisfaction
◦ Women & Minorities
◦ Sexual Harassment of Inmates
◦ Monetary
 Released annually, five years behind
 Primarily state & local
 Includes public defense, etc.
◦ Social
 Large population, long sentences
 Obviates alternative treatment (Addiction, mental illness)
SOC355 – Criminology
@ CSUN w/ Ellis Godard
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