Because society vacillates between whether we punish or rehabilitate an offender, it is important for anyone entering the criminal justice field to understand how corrections functions and what ways a staff member can provide services for their community.
Resource: Chapters 10–12 of Introduction to Criminal Justice and the Bureau of Justice website. Focus on the data sources for corrections.
Imagine you are a probation officer and you have been asked to talk to a local community group about the current state of prison and jail populations.
Create a 10- to 12-slide Microsoft PowerPoint presentation that helps explains the U.S. corrections system on local, state, and federal levels. Address the following in your presentation:
Describe the jail population.
Describe the prison population.
Describe the population under community supervision.
Indicate the top 3 challenges facing jails and/or prisons according to your view; especially focus on challenges facing support service workers.
Explain some of the recent trends in incarceration, which have arisen in response to the 3 challenges you are focusing on.
Discuss the role of support services in responding to these 3 challenges facing corrections.
Describe ways that inmates are released from prison.
Define community corrections.