INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL
CORRECTIONS: AN INTRODUCTION
7TH EDITION
CHAPTER NO. 01: HISTORY OF CRIME AND CORRECTIONS
SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO END-OF-CHAPTER ASSIGNMENTS
1. How did the term corrections evolve from the earlier use of the term penology?
Previously, the term penology was used instead of corrections. Penal is defined as pertaining
to or imposing punishment and is derived from the Latin term peonalis, meaning
“punishment.” Penology is simply the study of punishment. However, this term generally
included a much broader focus than simply punishment and effectively covered the theories,
activities, and operations of carrying out the criminal sentence, whether in a prison or in the
community. During the 1950s, the nation’s penal system evolved such that the rehabilitation
of offenders replaced punishment as its primary objective. This philosophical change affected
theory and practice, and the term penology was replaced by the term corrections.
2. What is the mission of corrections?
Protect society through surveillance and control of offenders, of treatment and rehabilitative
services, and of incapacitation during prison sentence.
3. Describe the correctional funnel.
The correctional system in reality handles an extremely small percentage of criminals, and an
even smaller number is sentenced to prison. The correctional funnel is a term used to describe
this phenomenon; there is a large numerical difference between the number of crimes
reported and the number of offenders convicted and facing a term in prison.
4. What has driven the growth of corrections over the past twenty-five years?
Tough on crime policies, including the implementation of sentencing guidelines, determinate
sentencing to replace the use of parole boards, and mandatory sentencing, reducing discretion
by judges and correctional professionals, and resulting in an inability to distinguish among
offenders by their risk and chance for successful rehabilitation.
5. What types of jobs are available in corrections?
Accountant, budget and financial specialist, caseworker, chaplain, computer specialist,
correctional officer, facility maintenance worker, food service worker, health care
professional, industrial specialist, personnel/human resource manager, probation/parole
officer, psychologist, recreation specialist, safety manager, teacher, training instructor
6. List the principles of the Classical School of criminology.
,Crime is an injury to society, that prevention (deterrence of crime) is more important than
punishment, that the accused have the right to speedy trials and humane treatment, that there
should be no secret accusations or torture, that certainty and swiftness of punishment (more
than severity) best deter crime, and that imprisonment should be more widely used as a
punishment.
7. What is Bentham’s hedonistic calculus?
The idea that the main objective of an intelligent man is to achieve the most pleasure and the
least pain, and that individuals are constantly calculating the pluses and minuses of their
potential actions.
8. List the principles of the Positive School of criminology.
People sometimes commit acts beyond their control. Criminals had traits that made them
throwbacks to earlier stages of evolution: they were not sufficiently developed mentally and
had long arms, large amounts of body hair, prominent cheekbones, and large foreheads.
9. What reforms were needed that lead to the creation of prisons in the United States?
Criminal codes were both inhumane and inefficient in that judges often did not follow the
criminal codes because they did not want to inflict severe punishments on relatively minor
offenders. Replacing the criminal code of the times with a new one that included: abolition of
capital punishment for crimes other than homicide; substitution of incarceration with hard
labor for brutal torture; free food and lodging to inmates; and replacement of stocks with
house of detention
10. Describe the operation of the Walnut Street Jail.
Inmates were kept in individual cells and were not allowed to talk to other inmates in order to
avoid moral contamination among prisoners. Administrators of the jail did not want prisoners
to even know the identity of other inmates and often put masks on inmates as they moved
through the prison to avoid identification that would detract from the reform of prisoners in
case they met each other after release. Prisoners were given work such as making handicrafts
in their cells during the day, and were encouraged to read the Bible and do penance in the
evenings. The overall operating theme was one of hard labor, strict discipline, solitary and
silent confinement, and religious study.
11. Describe the differences in the Pennsylvania and Auburn systems.
The Auburn prison originally adopted the “separate and silent” system of Pennsylvania, but
soon determined that the problems that plagued Pennsylvania were too serious to overcome.
In 1823, a modification of the prison began in order to change its unwieldy design and make
it more efficient to operate. The major change was in the Pennsylvania emphasis on keeping
inmates separate. Auburn officials determined that they would continue to keep inmates in
separate cells at night; however, they would allow them to congregate during the day to work
in factories to improve the production of goods, which would be resold to cover some of the
prison operational costs. The Auburn system was known as the “congregate and silent”
system, while the Pennsylvania system was known as the “separate and silent” system.
,12. How did the Irish system contribute to modern correctional operations in the United
States?
The Irish system used the concept of indeterminate sentencing, emphasizing preparing
offenders for release, giving inmates an opportunity to gradually reduce control and work
their way to a less restricted environment, and releasing offenders on a conditional basis
when administrators determined that they were prepared to return to the community (the first
effort to have conditional release, which led to the development of parole). This operation of
the Irish system was seen as more humanitarian. In 1870, a group of U.S. prison
administrators, politicians, and interested citizens met in Cincinnati and formed the National
Prison Association, now known as the American Correctional Association. In their
discussions, they formally adopted the principles of the Irish system, emphasizing
reformation rather than suffering, rewards for good behavior, and the use of indeterminate
sentences to release prisoners when they were best prepared to become industrious free
citizens.
13. What legislative acts influenced the changing operations of prisons?
As the country entered the Great Depression with the crash on Wall Street in 1929, Congress
passed two laws to restrict competition from inmate-made goods with the private sector. The
Hawes–Cooper Act in 1929 and the Ashurst–Sumners Act in 1935, amended in 1940,
severely limited the sale of prison-made products on the open market.
14. How did abandonment of the “hands-off doctrine” affect prison operations?
The U.S. Supreme Court decided Cooper v. Pate (1964) and ended its hands-off doctrine,
which had restricted judicial intervention in the operations of prisons and the judgment of
correctional administrators. By accepting inmate-filed cases alleging cruel and inhumane
punishment under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Court opened
Pandora’s box, and federal courts were flooded with requests by inmates to improve the
conditions in most prisons. Things had to change, and resulting reforms included the
professionalizing of staff through recruitment and training and implementation of many self-
improvement programs to take the place of the industrial work programs.
15. In what ways does corrections attempt to rehabilitate offenders?
Corrections attempts to rehabilitate offenders in many ways. First, correctional programs are
aimed at trying to reduce offenders’ motivation to commit further crimes. Correctional
agencies offer psychological counseling to help offenders understand the factors that trigger
certain behaviors, anger management and other programs to help offenders recognize
dangerous situations in which they may act wrongfully, and sensitivity training to get
offenders to understand the impact of their criminal actions on victims and their families.
Second, correctional programs try to build competencies in offenders that may help them
avoid problems that heighten their likelihood of committing crime. Such programs are
designed to help offenders to increase their educational level, develop a vocational skill, or
reduce the use of drugs or alcohol. Finally, correctional programs may simply have a goal of
improving offenders’ decision-making.
16. How does reintegration differ from rehabilitation?
, Rehabilitation is a programmed effort to alter the attitudes and behaviors of inmates and
improve their likelihood of becoming law-abiding citizens. Reintegration is a belief that after
offenders complete their treatment in prison they need transitional care, and that the
community must be involved in their successful return to society.
17. Differentiate between specific and general deterrence.
Specific deterrence is the effect of punishment on an individual offender that prevents that
person from committing future crimes. General deterrence is the recognition that criminal
acts result in punishment, and the effect of that recognition on society that prevents future
crimes.
18. What is selective incapacitation?
Selective incapacitation is the incarceration of high-risk offenders for preventative reasons
based on what they are expected to do, not what they have already done.
19. How has the victim’s rights movement affected correctional policies and operations?
Over the past twenty years, a victims’ movement became popular and the criminal justice
system made many adjustments to include victims. Victim assistance programs were created
to support victims during the adjudication process and even arranged transportation to the
trial if necessary. Sentencing decisions now record and consider victims’ statements of their
losses. Notifications to victims regarding any change in status in the sentence of a criminal
(such as a move from one prison to another) are commonplace. Victims are informed of
parole hearings and told how they can provide input if desired. And plans for inmates after
release are provided to ensure that the victim sees no conflicts or felt threatened by the
proposed release.
20. Describe restorative justice.
Restorative justice models of sentencing shift the focus away from reactive, punishment-
oriented sentencing, which has no concern for the victim. These models emphasize involving
the victim while holding offenders accountable for the harm they caused and finding
opportunities for them to repair the damage.
21. What were the drivers of elected officials’ decisions to take discretion away from
judges and to also lengthen sentences?
Perhaps the watershed political event regarding politics and criminal justice policy occurred
during the 1988 presidential campaign, when the then Vice President George Bush
successfully used the public’s fear of crime as a campaign tool against his opponent. As
candidates for public office saw the effectiveness of “tough on crime” policies and the
dangers of being labeled “soft on crime,” campaign promises to keep dangerous offenders in
prison longer became the rallying cry for elections across the country, and tougher sentencing
laws and funding for prison construction were passed in almost every state.
CORRECTIONS: AN INTRODUCTION
7TH EDITION
CHAPTER NO. 01: HISTORY OF CRIME AND CORRECTIONS
SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO END-OF-CHAPTER ASSIGNMENTS
1. How did the term corrections evolve from the earlier use of the term penology?
Previously, the term penology was used instead of corrections. Penal is defined as pertaining
to or imposing punishment and is derived from the Latin term peonalis, meaning
“punishment.” Penology is simply the study of punishment. However, this term generally
included a much broader focus than simply punishment and effectively covered the theories,
activities, and operations of carrying out the criminal sentence, whether in a prison or in the
community. During the 1950s, the nation’s penal system evolved such that the rehabilitation
of offenders replaced punishment as its primary objective. This philosophical change affected
theory and practice, and the term penology was replaced by the term corrections.
2. What is the mission of corrections?
Protect society through surveillance and control of offenders, of treatment and rehabilitative
services, and of incapacitation during prison sentence.
3. Describe the correctional funnel.
The correctional system in reality handles an extremely small percentage of criminals, and an
even smaller number is sentenced to prison. The correctional funnel is a term used to describe
this phenomenon; there is a large numerical difference between the number of crimes
reported and the number of offenders convicted and facing a term in prison.
4. What has driven the growth of corrections over the past twenty-five years?
Tough on crime policies, including the implementation of sentencing guidelines, determinate
sentencing to replace the use of parole boards, and mandatory sentencing, reducing discretion
by judges and correctional professionals, and resulting in an inability to distinguish among
offenders by their risk and chance for successful rehabilitation.
5. What types of jobs are available in corrections?
Accountant, budget and financial specialist, caseworker, chaplain, computer specialist,
correctional officer, facility maintenance worker, food service worker, health care
professional, industrial specialist, personnel/human resource manager, probation/parole
officer, psychologist, recreation specialist, safety manager, teacher, training instructor
6. List the principles of the Classical School of criminology.
,Crime is an injury to society, that prevention (deterrence of crime) is more important than
punishment, that the accused have the right to speedy trials and humane treatment, that there
should be no secret accusations or torture, that certainty and swiftness of punishment (more
than severity) best deter crime, and that imprisonment should be more widely used as a
punishment.
7. What is Bentham’s hedonistic calculus?
The idea that the main objective of an intelligent man is to achieve the most pleasure and the
least pain, and that individuals are constantly calculating the pluses and minuses of their
potential actions.
8. List the principles of the Positive School of criminology.
People sometimes commit acts beyond their control. Criminals had traits that made them
throwbacks to earlier stages of evolution: they were not sufficiently developed mentally and
had long arms, large amounts of body hair, prominent cheekbones, and large foreheads.
9. What reforms were needed that lead to the creation of prisons in the United States?
Criminal codes were both inhumane and inefficient in that judges often did not follow the
criminal codes because they did not want to inflict severe punishments on relatively minor
offenders. Replacing the criminal code of the times with a new one that included: abolition of
capital punishment for crimes other than homicide; substitution of incarceration with hard
labor for brutal torture; free food and lodging to inmates; and replacement of stocks with
house of detention
10. Describe the operation of the Walnut Street Jail.
Inmates were kept in individual cells and were not allowed to talk to other inmates in order to
avoid moral contamination among prisoners. Administrators of the jail did not want prisoners
to even know the identity of other inmates and often put masks on inmates as they moved
through the prison to avoid identification that would detract from the reform of prisoners in
case they met each other after release. Prisoners were given work such as making handicrafts
in their cells during the day, and were encouraged to read the Bible and do penance in the
evenings. The overall operating theme was one of hard labor, strict discipline, solitary and
silent confinement, and religious study.
11. Describe the differences in the Pennsylvania and Auburn systems.
The Auburn prison originally adopted the “separate and silent” system of Pennsylvania, but
soon determined that the problems that plagued Pennsylvania were too serious to overcome.
In 1823, a modification of the prison began in order to change its unwieldy design and make
it more efficient to operate. The major change was in the Pennsylvania emphasis on keeping
inmates separate. Auburn officials determined that they would continue to keep inmates in
separate cells at night; however, they would allow them to congregate during the day to work
in factories to improve the production of goods, which would be resold to cover some of the
prison operational costs. The Auburn system was known as the “congregate and silent”
system, while the Pennsylvania system was known as the “separate and silent” system.
,12. How did the Irish system contribute to modern correctional operations in the United
States?
The Irish system used the concept of indeterminate sentencing, emphasizing preparing
offenders for release, giving inmates an opportunity to gradually reduce control and work
their way to a less restricted environment, and releasing offenders on a conditional basis
when administrators determined that they were prepared to return to the community (the first
effort to have conditional release, which led to the development of parole). This operation of
the Irish system was seen as more humanitarian. In 1870, a group of U.S. prison
administrators, politicians, and interested citizens met in Cincinnati and formed the National
Prison Association, now known as the American Correctional Association. In their
discussions, they formally adopted the principles of the Irish system, emphasizing
reformation rather than suffering, rewards for good behavior, and the use of indeterminate
sentences to release prisoners when they were best prepared to become industrious free
citizens.
13. What legislative acts influenced the changing operations of prisons?
As the country entered the Great Depression with the crash on Wall Street in 1929, Congress
passed two laws to restrict competition from inmate-made goods with the private sector. The
Hawes–Cooper Act in 1929 and the Ashurst–Sumners Act in 1935, amended in 1940,
severely limited the sale of prison-made products on the open market.
14. How did abandonment of the “hands-off doctrine” affect prison operations?
The U.S. Supreme Court decided Cooper v. Pate (1964) and ended its hands-off doctrine,
which had restricted judicial intervention in the operations of prisons and the judgment of
correctional administrators. By accepting inmate-filed cases alleging cruel and inhumane
punishment under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Court opened
Pandora’s box, and federal courts were flooded with requests by inmates to improve the
conditions in most prisons. Things had to change, and resulting reforms included the
professionalizing of staff through recruitment and training and implementation of many self-
improvement programs to take the place of the industrial work programs.
15. In what ways does corrections attempt to rehabilitate offenders?
Corrections attempts to rehabilitate offenders in many ways. First, correctional programs are
aimed at trying to reduce offenders’ motivation to commit further crimes. Correctional
agencies offer psychological counseling to help offenders understand the factors that trigger
certain behaviors, anger management and other programs to help offenders recognize
dangerous situations in which they may act wrongfully, and sensitivity training to get
offenders to understand the impact of their criminal actions on victims and their families.
Second, correctional programs try to build competencies in offenders that may help them
avoid problems that heighten their likelihood of committing crime. Such programs are
designed to help offenders to increase their educational level, develop a vocational skill, or
reduce the use of drugs or alcohol. Finally, correctional programs may simply have a goal of
improving offenders’ decision-making.
16. How does reintegration differ from rehabilitation?
, Rehabilitation is a programmed effort to alter the attitudes and behaviors of inmates and
improve their likelihood of becoming law-abiding citizens. Reintegration is a belief that after
offenders complete their treatment in prison they need transitional care, and that the
community must be involved in their successful return to society.
17. Differentiate between specific and general deterrence.
Specific deterrence is the effect of punishment on an individual offender that prevents that
person from committing future crimes. General deterrence is the recognition that criminal
acts result in punishment, and the effect of that recognition on society that prevents future
crimes.
18. What is selective incapacitation?
Selective incapacitation is the incarceration of high-risk offenders for preventative reasons
based on what they are expected to do, not what they have already done.
19. How has the victim’s rights movement affected correctional policies and operations?
Over the past twenty years, a victims’ movement became popular and the criminal justice
system made many adjustments to include victims. Victim assistance programs were created
to support victims during the adjudication process and even arranged transportation to the
trial if necessary. Sentencing decisions now record and consider victims’ statements of their
losses. Notifications to victims regarding any change in status in the sentence of a criminal
(such as a move from one prison to another) are commonplace. Victims are informed of
parole hearings and told how they can provide input if desired. And plans for inmates after
release are provided to ensure that the victim sees no conflicts or felt threatened by the
proposed release.
20. Describe restorative justice.
Restorative justice models of sentencing shift the focus away from reactive, punishment-
oriented sentencing, which has no concern for the victim. These models emphasize involving
the victim while holding offenders accountable for the harm they caused and finding
opportunities for them to repair the damage.
21. What were the drivers of elected officials’ decisions to take discretion away from
judges and to also lengthen sentences?
Perhaps the watershed political event regarding politics and criminal justice policy occurred
during the 1988 presidential campaign, when the then Vice President George Bush
successfully used the public’s fear of crime as a campaign tool against his opponent. As
candidates for public office saw the effectiveness of “tough on crime” policies and the
dangers of being labeled “soft on crime,” campaign promises to keep dangerous offenders in
prison longer became the rallying cry for elections across the country, and tougher sentencing
laws and funding for prison construction were passed in almost every state.
