CRM/LAW C106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: 18 Months, Homicide, Iceberg
23 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Jessica Mangold
C106 Crime & Public Policy
Professor Currie
Week 8
5/22/18
Changing the Justice System (continued)
Review from Last Week
- started talking about strategies for ways to change way we approach crime +
punishment in the US
- need to do so is pretty obvious
- what we have been doing has not been working
- still have tragic + destructive problem particularly w/violent crime despite mass
incarceration
- system is very different from the rest of the world
- cherish idea of individual liberty
- also have the largest proportion of population deprived of their liberty
- have already looked at changing the criminal justice system, helping families + children
at risk, + changing programs meant to help those most in need
- need to operate in different ways than we do now
- argued that most important thing (according to Currie) is to have a system that quits
simply reacting to crime after it happens + have system that is more devoted to idea of
preventing crime in the first place
- look at what can be done with someone so that they are less likely to reoffend
- already looked over “Front end” strategies -> want to keep people out of the prison
system in the first place
- deal with the problems that got them in trouble
- Choice program + MST
- work with the underlying problems in preventative way rather than reacting to
the crimes that kids have committed + focusing on punishment
- programs have proven to be effective compared to kids who got psychological
treatment after committing crime
*if you do this right, you only have to do it once -> problem is fixed + the kid is
back on the right track
- vastly different from kid being in + out of juvenile hall + eventually
jail/prison repeatedly
- more resources required in the long run from criminal justice system
- why doesn’t our system work like the above?
- we obviously know about this but not everybody does
- public does not fully understand that there are alternatives to what we are doing
- some people are philosophically opposed to these programs -> think that a kid
deserves to be punished
- do not want to provide service to children who get into trouble
- want to teach the kid a lesson
- US is significantly more punitive than rest of world
- obstacles regarding lack of education on what we could be doing
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- US has become pretty set in its ways -> develop inertia
- people have become very invested in the way that system currently
works
- what is the difference between this program + the Broken Windows theory (used by
police departments)?
- Broken Windows theory
- idea that you get a lot of crime because you do not fix the little things in
the community such as a broken window
- community stops caring what happens within its borders
- allow the windows to stay broken -> crime will come to your
neighborhood + flourish
- belief if you move in quickly + take care of small problems then larger
problems will be fixed
- ex. arrest kid immediately for graffiti
*problem -> really isn’t any evidence that supports it
- very expensive program -> use police to arrest people who commit any
minor offense + infraction + incarcerate them
- people end up in prison for minor things
- becomes very expensive
- ruins lives of children
- front end programs seek to do the opposite -> address the problem + work with
the kid who is having trouble
- some reason why a person gets into trouble
- does not happen just because someone is “bad” or “evil”
- not always very difficult to find out what is going on + sometimes it can
be fixed relatively easily
- programs have good track record of being able to turn lives around
Rehabilitation Programs (continued)
- “Back end” strategies -> work with those behind bars so that they do not come back
- obvious need for change in this area:
- very little done to help prepare those who are locked up for life outside
- not set up to be successful
- special deterrence does not really work -> people are more likely to get
worse (recidivism)
- nothing very constructive happens in these institutions
- huge part of crime problem -> committed by those who have been
punished for earlier crimes
- most put behind bars are going to get out at some time (97% will be back
at some point, often pretty quickly)
- mostly let out unchanged or changed for the worse
- letting people out into communities that are for most part unchanged or
also worse -> no opportunities to succeed
- let out with couple hundred $ + bus ticket back to where they came from
- most recidivists go back within first few months after getting out of
prison
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- if they do not go back not necessarily because they are doing well or are
successful
- many flounder outside of prison -> never make it to a stable or
productive place in society
- many become homeless, many addicted to drugs, + large #’s of
people die at relatively young ages from one cause or another
*large scale social failure -> policy that sets people up for failure
- paid for by the taxpayers + in costs of crime itself
- lots of theories about causes of crime -> effects of system is one of larger
causes
- given up on helping those put behind bars
- permanent sub-class of people created through criminal justice policies
- serious disabled when comes to prospects of leading straight life
once outside of prison
- unable to get good job, hard time starting + maintaining a family,
cannot vote, cannot get housing benefits, no educational benefits
- some people do manage to turn themselves around + are able to
overcome their issues
- ex. CA condors -> taking time to train them to survive out of captivity
- have concluded that they are worth saving
- more attention being paid to birds than human beings
- Key program
- drug + alcohol treatment program
- know that substance abuse is huge problem for those who get
locked up
- began in Delaware state criminal justice system
- two phases to the program
- works with addicted while in prison
- aftercare once they have left prison -> transitional program
- spend couple of years in special unit of prison for those w/addiction
problems + then 6 months spent in transitional program before getting
back into community
- get job training, referral to education programs, + family training as well
- Key Program Results:
- Rearrests after 18 months:
- both phases of treatment 23%
- only first phase -> between these #’s
- no treatment 70%
- After 5 years
- both phases of treatment 52%
- no treatment 77%
- troubling that half of those who went through both phases still got
rearrested
- took them a lot longer to be rearrested
- still large difference from those who received no treatment
- numbers tell us about uses + limits of this type of criminal justice reform
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Need to do so is pretty obvious. What we have been doing has not been working. Still have tragic + destructive problem particularly w/violent crime despite mass incarceration. Also have the largest proportion of population deprived of their liberty. Need to operate in different ways than we do now. Look at what can be done with someone so that they are less likely to reoffend. Started talking about strategies for ways to change way we approach crime + punishment in the us. System is very different from the rest of the world. Have already looked at changing the criminal justice system, helping families + children at risk, + changing programs meant to help those most in need. Argued that most important thing (according to currie) is to have a system that quits simply reacting to crime after it happens + have system that is more devoted to idea of preventing crime in the first place.
