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Cja234 Week 3 Essay

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Principal Objectives of Corrections 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 …show more content…

The Federal violation would be against human rights. John Floyd, who is a federal attorney, sums it up rather nicely, in his August 2011 blog when he stated. “The objectives of punishment within the U.S. can be summed up with four words: deterrence, retribution, incapacitation, and rehabilitation” (John Floyd, 2011). When people look at this statement and break these words down one at a time it makes a lot of sense. Objectives First deterrence, society has learned that when a criminal act is committed, there is a price to be paid. They understand that the criminal justice system is serious in its commitment to punish anyone who perpetuates a crime against another person or society is going to be held accountable for that crime. Second we come to retribution. Once a crime has been committed there must be a cost incurred. Criminals understanding that they will be held accountable for their actions, and they will have to pay a price for their actions and that price will be enforce. Third is incapacitation, which is the most common type of punishment used within the criminal justice system. People understand that their freedom will be taken away and they will be forced to live in a very closed and restrictive environment. The last word is rehabilitation which can take many forms; some of the most common are aiding prisoners in acquiring their GED, attending drug programs, training in job programs and anger managements groups. The hopes

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