Criminal Justice Trends Paper

Criminal Justice Trends Paper

The U.S. workforce has change dramatically over the years and has faced some of the most dramatic changes within the 21st century.  Some of these changes include the decreasing rate of baby boomers and the increase of the following generation entering the workforce.  The generation that follows the baby boomers is much smaller in numbers, however is expected to change the work culture significantly.  The younger generations do not embrace the dress code or management styles accepted by baby boomers and they do not expect work to consume their lives.  With that being said, the U.S. workforce is becoming increasingly more diverse in terms of age, race, gender, and baby boomers are approaching retirement.   These are some examples of what is expected to impact future trends within the correctional agencies.   The field of corrections finds itself facing unparalleled work force challenges as it enters the 21st century.  This paper will evaluate past, present, and future trends of the corrections component and will discuss the budgetary and managerial impact that future trends will likely have not only in corrections but also in other components of the criminal justice system. It will include current research data (qualitative and quantitative) in the analysis.

Past trends in corrections include a male dominated workforce and since the 1970's one of the most significant changes has been the increase of women who have entered the workforce. Although the change has compensated for the declining activity rate of men, the growth has not kept up with the increased demand for correctional officers overall.

In the past, the national political climate favored the "get tough" approach to crime and believed that treatment programs could not reduce recidivism.  Furthermore, it was also believed to keep the national crime rate low and protect the public, offenders of crime must be punished to deter crime.  As a result, reforms such as truth-in-sentencing and three-strike legislation were implemented into the law.   These reforms targeted individuals involved with drugs and repeated offenders of crime.   The reforms fueled an increase in arrests, higher conviction rates, and longer periods of incarceration causing the incarceration rates to skyrocket.   According to Webb (2009), we have an incarceration rate in the United States that is five times higher than the rest of the world.   With 5% of the world's population, our country now houses 25% of the world's reported prisoners (Webb, 2009).

Presently, past trends have led to current issues and concerns within the corrections component of the criminal justice system.   One of the current issues and concerns concerning the corrections component of the criminal justice system is the increased correctional population that has become severely overcrowded.  Overcrowded prisons can cause many problems. One of several major concerns overcrowded prisons has presented limited space to house offenders.   Without proper spacing to house offenders, many of them have to be double-celled.   Offenders have the right to have a certain amount of space while serving time in prison.   Not possessing the required amount has led to legal issues.   A legal case in 1981 addressed overcrowding as potentially cruel and unusual punishment ("Prison Overcrowding is a Growing Concern in the U.S.", n.d.).   Overcrowded prisons have also caused stress among offenders as well as staff.   A study done in 2006 found that a high prison population has a direct, negative effect on the psychological state of inmates ("Prison Overcrowding is a Growing Concern in the U.S.", n.d.).   While overcrowding causes stressful situations between officers and offenders, which often leads to inappropriate reactions between both increasing the risk of violence jeopardizing the safety of staff.  The inmate to officer ratio is a clear indication of jeopardized officer safety.   According to James (2013), the inmate to correctional officer ratio increased from 9.8 inmates per correctional officer in FY2000 to 10.2 inmates per correctional officer in FY2011, but this is down from a high of 10.9 inmates per correctional officer in FY2005.  The ratio of offenders to officers is important because it can cause the officers to be overwhelmed by offenders increasing the chances of a violent act to occur.   According to statistics, there is a one percentage point increase in a facility's inmate population over its rated capacity.  The increase in inmate population also corresponds to the increase in the prison's annual serious assault rate by 4.09 per 5,000 inmates; and an increase of one inmate in an institution's inmate-to-custody-staff ratio increases the prison's annual serious assault rate by approximately 4.5 per 5,000 inmates (Harwood, 2009).   As the criminal justice system faces the burden of overcrowded prisons because of past trends, it also faces a decreasing operating budget.   It has become more expensive to operate and maintain a prison unit because the capita cost of incarceration has risen.   According to Tyler (2012), it costs, on average, $78.95 per day to keep a single inmate locked up.   As a result of longer periods of incarceration, health care cost has also escalated.   In the private and Federal sector, health care costs throughout the United States are expected to rise between eight and ten percent in the coming year, largely due to increased prescription drug costs, health care personnel shortages, and efforts of private insurers to increase their profits (Mechanick & Nelson, n.d.).  This trend is expected to continue and double in the future.  Because of overcrowded prison populations and budget decreases, offenders are not receiving proper treatment or rehabilitation.   According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2005), the most common reasons indicated by the prisons for the limited availability of treatment were budgetary constraints accounting for 71% and limited space accounting for 51%.

Future trends to look forward to because of the past and current trends are the use of restorative and community justice programs.   Restorative and community justice programs are options considered for the future of corrections.   Both programs assume that crime damages individuals, communities, and relationships and offer new ways of viewing the justice system and responding to crime.   Restorative and community justice programs seek to find solutions that promote repair, reconciliation, and reassurance between the victim, the offender, and the community.   Community corrections have presently advanced to the next stage in the development of an effective treatment agenda for offenders (Muraskin & Roberts, 2009).   The key components to community corrections are strengthening the ties between law enforcement and the community, offering a full-service model of supervision including both services and surveillance, and attempting to change the lives of offenders through personal, family, and neighborhood interventions.   Rather than managing offenders in the conventional caseload model, supervision agents are responsible for more actively supervising offenders; problem-solving to initiate changes in offenders; and helping offenders obtain employment, social support, and needed treatment (Mackenzie, 2001).