Corrections is the final part of the CJS.
The goal of corrections is both to punish as well as to correct behaviors and to allow offenders to become contributing members of society. Ninety-eight percent of all offenders in prison will be released and returned to their communities. Offenders who are being held for trial or who are serving short sentences (under a year) are kept in jails, which are run by sheriff departments. Those who are sentenced to more than a year serve their time in prison. Prisons are run or overseen by the state or federal government. In addition, a host of other correctional options exist:
• Probation—his is an agreement between the courts and the offender that the offender will comply with a set of rules for a certain length of time in order to serve their time in the community, including regular contact with a probation officer, not leaving the country, attending treatment, and not possessing weapons. Additional conditions might be added, depending on the crime.
• Home confinement and electronic monitoring—Offenders serve their sentences confined to their homes so they can continue their jobs, education, and parenting. They are often required to have an electronic monitor on their ankle to track where they have been and to ensure they are in their home on time.
• Pretrial diversions • Forfeiture is where the government seizes property bought with money gained or used in a crime, including their home or car. An example would be a son purchasing a house for his mother with money earned from selling drugs. The house can be seized, and the mother evicted.
• Diversion programs are most often for young first time offenders, to divert them from the formal CJS into counseling, treatment centers or other therapeutic options. If they successfully complete the program, the courts will drop the charges against them.
• Specialized courts help specific populations. Drug courts work under the assumption that by dealing with the drug and alcohol addiction, the individual’s other criminal activity will decrease. Mental health courts work with offenders who are prison bound but really need mental health treatment instead of prison.
Victims’ services in prisons are often limited. Offenders have limited financial resources, and prisons are often far from cities, making victim-offender mediation difficult. Image: Handcuffs. Authored by: Gustavo Castillo. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Handcuffs_on_table.JPG. License: CC-0