March 12, 2012
Correctional officers are in charge of overseeing individuals who have been arrested and are currently awaiting trial, and those that have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to serve a sentence in jail of prison (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010-11). Correctional officers usually have no law enforcement duties outside of a prison of jail facility they work at maintaining order within the institute and they over see many inmates preventing assault, disturbances, and escapes. The job of a correctional officer can be very dangerous and stressful, correctional officers are forced to work around offenders from nonviolent to offenders considered very dangerous. Correctional officers work all days of the week including holidays, a corrections officers schedule consists of five day work weeks working eight hour days.
Throughout this paper a history of corrections will be examined, the influence in which corrections has, theories in which corrections fall under, and the acquiring needs in corrections will be discussed. History of Corrections
To retain a sense of peace and security within the criminal justice system in the United States of America, punishment, and corrections the country must be up to par and strive to evolve for more improvement over time. The history of our correction methods however proves to be just that as they change over-time with an extensive backstory on its origins.
With the highest number of inmates in the world, America’s correctional facilities and their customs can be stretched back to a European ancestry. The system that was once used by the austere Europeans was used specifically in countries such as Holland, France, and of course, England itself (Criminal Justice Direct, 2012). These roots are more apparent when pilgrims and colonists initially set foot upon the land that we know to be America. When the colonists first arrived to America, they came with a general concept of just taking select European laws and transferring that into a basic idea of common law that would, more than anything, assist in smoothing over any problems that the small collection of societies and communities may encounter. Time moved forward however; and the colonists saw fit to create their own way of corrections in the new country.
There were a myriad of different punishments to bestow at the time, many of which leaned toward public humiliation. The general idea behind embarrassing a guilty party was to embarrass them or brand them with enough shame and fear that it would prevent the crime from recurring. Some of these practices are presently seen as harsh and very public. These practices included branding, whipping, cutting of ears, and public hanging. As time passed on, America came to evolve into a new way of thinking that would focus more the rehabilitation of a criminal, rather than just solely the punishment. It stems from a belief that through education, skilled labor, and reform, criminals one day can be integrated back into society once their sentence is complete.
From youth detention centers, to psychiatric facilities, to Penn State, America has come a long way from our colonial ancestors. Our system is not perfect, of course, but we continue to attempt to make strides in our country’s improvement and from there, continue to move forward with the progress that we can. Correctional Influence
The correctional system in the United States of America serves a multitude of functions. Every aspect of the criminal justice system has a certain influence on American society. The influence on American society of the correctional system as a function of the criminal justice system is twofold. Historically the correctional arm of the criminal justice system was punitive and did little to nurture members of society. The prison system began outside of the United States of America in London England where it was used as a poor man's prison to create and...
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