Sentencing and Corrections in the 21st Century: Setting the Stage for the Future

摘要

The historical changes in sentencing and corrections policies and practices can be characterized, in part, by the emphasis on different goals. Four major goals are usually attributed to the sentencing process: retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence, and incapacitation. Retribution refers to just deserts: people who break the law deserve to be punished. The other three goals are utilitarian, emphasizing methods to protect the public. They differ, however, in the mechamsm expected to provide public safety. Deterrence emphasizes the onerousness of punishment; offenders are deterred from committing crimes because of a rational calculation that the cost of punishment is too great. The punishment is so repugnant that neither the punished offender (specific deterrence) nor others (general deterrence) commit crimes in the future. lncapacitation deprives people of the capacity to commit crimes because they are physically detained in prison. Rehabilitation attempts to modify offendem behavior and thinking so they do not continue to commit crimes. Although sentences frequently address several of a these goals in practice, the emphasis on which goal is the highest priority has changed dramatically in the past 30 years.