Corrections
The variety of programs, services, facilities, and organizations responsible for the management of people who have been accused or convicted of criminal offenses.
Enlightenment
A movement, during the eighteenth century in England and France, in which concepts of liberalism, rationalism, equality, and individualism dominated social and political thinking.
Penitentiary
An institution intended to punish criminals by isolating them from society and from one another so they can reflect on their past misdeeds, repent, and reform
Separate Confinement
A penitentiary system, developed in Pennsylvania, in which each inmate was held in isolation from other inmates. All activities, including craft work, took place in the cells.
Congregate System
A penitentiary system, developed in Auburn, New York, in which each inmate was held in isolation during the night but worked and ate with other prisoners during the day under a rule of silence
Contract Labor System
A system under which inmates' labor was sold on a contractual basis to private employers who provided the machinery and raw materials with which inmates made saleable products in the institution.
Lease System
A system under which inmates were leased to contractors who provided prisoners with food and clothing in exchange for their labor. In southern states the prisoners were used as agricultural, mining, logging, and construction laborers.
Reformatory
An institution for young offenders, emphasizing training, a mark system of classification, indeterminate sentences, and parole.
Mark System
A system in which offenders receive a certain number of points at the time of sentencing, based on the severity of their crime. Prisoners can reduce their term and gain release by earning marks to reduce these points through labor, good behavior, and educ
Rehabilitation Model
A model of corrections that emphasizes the need to restore a convicted offender to a constructive place in society through some form of vocational or educational training or therapy.
Medical Model
A model of corrections based on the assumption that criminal behavior is caused by biological or psychological conditions that require treatment
Community Corrections
A model of corrections based on the goal of reintegrating the offender into the community.
Crime Control Model of Corrections
A model of corrections based on the assumption that criminal behavior can be controlled by more use of incarceration and other forms of strict supervision
Aliens
Foreign-born non-citizens
Deportation
Formal removal by the federal government of an alien from the United States for violation of immigration and other laws
Prison
An institution for the incarceration of people convicted of serious crimes, usually felonies.
Jail
An institution authorized to hold pretrial detainees and sentenced misdemeanants for periods longer than 48 hours. Most jails are administered by county governments; in six jurisdictions, by state governments.
Hands-off Policy
Judges should not interfere with the administration of correctional institutions.
Recidivism
A return to criminal behavior
Community Justice
A model of justice that emphasizes reparation to the victim and the community, approaching crime from a problem-solving perspective, and citizen involvement in crime prevention.
Technical Violation
The probationer's failure to abide by the rules and conditions of probation (specified by the judge), resulting in revocation of probation
Fines
A sum of money to be paid to the state by a convicted person as punishment for an offense
Restitution
Repayment - in the form of money or service - by an offender to a victim who has suffered some loss from the offense.
Home Confinement
A sentence requiring the offender to remain inside his or her home during specified periods.
Community Service
A sentence requiring the offender to perform a certain amount of unpaid labor in the community
Day Reporting Center
A community correctional center where an offender reports each day to comply with elements of a sentence.
Intensive Supervision Probation (ISP)
Probation granted under conditions of strict reporting to a probation officer with a limited caseload
Boot Camp
A short-term institutional sentence, usually followed by probation, that puts the offender through a physical regimen designed to develop discipline and respect for authority. Also referred to as shock incarceration.
Net Widening
Process in which new sentencing options increase instead of reduce control over offender's lives.
Custodial Model
A model of incarceration that emphasizes security, discipline and order.
Reintegration Model
A model of a correctional institution that emphasizes maintaining the offender's ties to family and community as a method of reform, recognizing that the offender will be returning to society.
Inmate Code
The values and norms of the prison social system that define the inmates' idea of the model prisoner.
Classification
The process of assigning an inmate to a category specifying his or her needs for security, treatment, education, work assignment, and readiness for release.
Parole
The conditional release of an inmate from incarceration under supervision after a part of the prison sentence has been served.
Ticket of Leave
A system of conditional release from prison, devised by Captain Alexander Maconochie and first developed in Ireland by Sir Walter Crofton.
Mandatory Release
The required release of an inmate from incarceration to community supervision upon the expiration of a certain period, as specified by a determinate-sentencing law or parole guidelines.
Probation Release
The release of an inmate from incarceration to probation supervision, as required by the sentencing judge.
Other Conditional Release
A term used in some states to avoid the rigidity of mandatory release by placing convicts under supervision in various community settings.
Expiration Release
The release of an inmate from incarceration, without any further correctional supervision; the inmate cannot be returned to prison for any remaining portion of the sentence for the current offense.
Conditions of Release
Conduct restrictions that parolees must follow as a legally binding requirement of being released
Work and Educational Release
The daytime release of inmates from correctional institutions so they can work or attend school.
Furlough
The temporary release of an inmate from a correctional institution for a brief period, usually one to three days, fro a visit home. Such programs help maintain family ties and prepare inmates for release on parole.
Halfway House
A correctional facility housing convicted felons who spend a portion of their day at work in the community but reside in the halfway house during nonworking hours.
Civil Disabilities
Legal restrictions that prevent released felons from voting, serving on juries, and holding public office.
Pardon
An action of the executive branch of state or federal government excluding the offense and absolving the offender from the consequences of the crime.
Parens Patriae
The state as parent; the state as guardian and protector of all citizens (such as juveniles) who cannot protect themselves.
In Re Gualt (1967)
Juveniles have the right to counsel, to confront and examine accusers, and to have adequate notice of charges when confinement is a possible punishment
In re Winship (1970)
The standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt applies to juvenile delinquency proceedings.
Status offense
Any act committed by a juvenile that is considered unacceptable for a child, such as truancy or running away from home, but would not be a crime if it were committed by an adult.
Waiver
Procedure by which the juvenile court waives its jurisdiction and transfers a juvenile case to the adult criminal court.
Delinquent
A child who has committed an act that if committed by an adult would be a criminal act.
PINS
Acronym for "person(s) in need of supervision," a term that designates juveniles who are either status offenders or thought to be on the verge of trouble.
Neglected Child
A child who is receiving inadequate care because of some action or inaction of his or her parents.
Dependent Child
A child who has no parent or guardian or whose parents cannot give proper care.
Diversion
The process of screening children out of the juvenile justice system without a decision by the court
Detention Hearing
A hearing by the juvenile court to determine if a juvenile is to be detained or released prior to adjudication.
Aftercare
Juvenile justice equivalent of parole, in which a delinquent is released from a custodial sentence and supervised in the community.
Discretionary Release
The release of an inmate from prison to conditional supervision at the discretion of the parole board within the boundaries set by the sentence and the penal law.