Prisons

An analysis of the purposes for prisons in the U.S. justice system.

The corrections system in America has historically fluctuated between being dedicated to incapacitation, rehabilitation, and to being punitive in nature. They can serve all three of these functions at the same time. Current trends in criminal justice remain focused on punitive justice that fosters prison environments lacking rehabilitative services, but recent scholarship and public policy have indicated a slight shift towards the root concept of corrections as a rehabilitative process that simultaneously protects the public.

Prisons serve multiple, and potentially convergent purposes, theoretically: to rehabilitate the prisoner, to punish the prisoner by restricting liberties, and to protect public safety. Deterrence is an indirect purpose of prisons. Ancillary purposes of prisons in the United States justice system include profitability, too, as prison privatization has proved lucrative for the companies with a vested interest. Halfway houses, which can be...
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