Question

What is an example of past trends pertaining to the development and operation of community-based corrections? How do institutional corrections and community corrections differ in relation to operations and development? How can we improve the development and operation of corrections by utilizing past, current, and future trends?

Answer 1

A past trend pertaining to the development and operations of community based corrections would be the issue with overcrowding of our prison system. Many individuals are trying to come up with solutions for this issue from looking at early release of the medically incompetent inmates that prove to be no threat to society, either because they are in a coma or terminally ill. Another past trend would be the rehabilitation of offenders either through treatment programs or work release programs. The rehabilitation process has been debated for years, does it work or does it just slow an offender down for a short period of time. The main difference between institutional corrections and community corrections would be the cost to the taxpayers and the issue of the prisons being over populated. The process of Community corrections is mainly used for the non-violent offenders. With community corrections the offender is still punished but they do not go to jail or prison. They may have to fulfill a certain amount of time of community service time, repay the victim. By collecting data of what crimes have been committed in the past, could help law enforcement agencies determine a pattern and to help establish laws like the “Three Strike Law” for repeat offenders.