Community Corrections Affect Society

Community Corrections
Community corrections affect society in numerous ways. From probation and parole, to intermediate sanctions such as work release, community residential centers, nonprofit organizations, prerelease guidance centers, and partial incarceration, community corrections serve a vital role in the balance of criminal justice system in America. The prison system in America ensures Constitutional rights and humane treatment, not guaranteed in the prison systems of foreign countries. If the United States were to adopt a different prison system, there are no genuine answers if it would be beneficial or detrimental toward the war on crime that exists in this nation. In different countries, prison systems differ greatly than those existing
Community corrections most commonly exist in the form of probation or parole with an assigned officer supervising the conditional existence outside of bars. It is a common misconception among the American people that individuals who commit a crime will be removed from society and placed within the confines of a correctional institution (Foster, Burk 2006). Community corrects have the potential to be quite beneficial to the individuals who are placed on probation, parole, or various other intermediate sanctions in that it gives them a second chance to redeem their wrongs in society. It provides proper education of the vital skills and offers rehabilitation toward becoming a successful, contributing member of society. Community corrections vary from city to city and state to state, and were originally decentralized under the control of local courts (Foster, Burk 2006). These types of corrections are currently run by state, or the specific county in which the corrections program resides and is subsidized by the state. Community corrections essentially allow an offender back into society under a series of rules and regulations in a contract that must be followed. If there is a violation in the contract by the offender, the offender will most likely be placed behind bars. This gives incentive to behave while
For example, jails and prisons in much of Mexico do not have running water, and the inmates must release their bowels in either a bucket or a hole in the cell floor. Many countries have jail and prison environments that would be considered inhumane in the United States. However, America is the only country that will impose a sentence of life without the possibility of parole on juveniles. This could be viewed as disturbing for other countries. For example, Europe’s maximum sentence for a juvenile is typically under 25 years for any given crime. In Germany, the maximum sentence for any juvenile offender under age 18 is ten years. The fact of the matter is that the United States is very tough on crime and other countries are more lenient on what constitutes as criminal behavior justified by serving time. The prison populations in America are much larger than China for example, even though China’s population is four times larger than that of the States. Does this mean that more violence and law offenses exist in the United States or is this simply because the criminal justice system is more efficient in finding the criminals and issuing justice upon them? Or perhaps there is less crime in other countries due to the repulsive conditions of their prison systems? It is a tough call since the laws in foreign countries vary from those of America and what constitutes as breaking the law or violating