Correctional System Plays a Critical

Correctional system plays a critical role in punishing, rehabilitating, and protecting the population of criminals. The correctional system was adopted in the criminal justice system in attempts to rehabilitate criminals and reduce crime rather than punish offenders. In order to achieve its goal, the correctional system seeks to rehabilitate criminals through skilled labor and education. As the correctional system has continued to evolve over the years, there have been various divergent sections in this criminal justice segment. Regardless of these developments of the correctional system, there are various concerns whether the system accomplishes its goals and proper expenditure of the allocated funds.

Punishment of Offenders in the Correctional System:

In addition to enforcing the established laws, safeguarding citizens from criminal acts, and ensuring that citizens aren't falsely imprisoned, punishing convicted criminals is one of the major roles and purpose of the correctional system. Since punishment is one of its major objectives, the correctional system should act as the restriction against recidivism by a convicted criminal. Furthermore, this segment of the criminal justice system should also serve as an example to other people in the society of the reason to avoid criminal activities.

As part of its mandate, the correctional system enforces the sentence given to a criminal by the court through various ways. These various ways include operating prisons, administering probation for criminals serving a prison term in the community, and supervising parole for offenders released from prison. One of the most commonly used techniques of punishing offenders through the correctional system is incarceration ("Role of the Correctional System," n.d.). Additional examples of punishment of offenders in the correctional system include the use of the death penalty and lesser penalties like probation.

In some states, local judges have been given an extended range of likely sentences in response to the numerous pressures regarding the economic concerns associated with corrections facilities. The programs that have been provided to the judges provide instant punishments with more control than probation but are not the complete confinement of prison. These programs are sometimes known as community corrections and include punishments like work release programs, house arrest, and boot camps.

Throughout the years, the correctional system has mainly depended on prisons and probation as the main methods of dealing with offenders ("Balancing Justice," n.d.). However, there are other punishments that have been developed in the correctional system in the recent past. These punishments have been developed to deal with criminals who are considered to be non-violent and with low-risk. While the punishments are generally regarded as less severe methods than imprisonment or incarceration, some of them can actually be harsh than imprisonment periods. For instance, criminals sometimes state that the demands of restitution and community service are harsh than those of incarceration.

Rehabilitating of Criminals in the Correctional System:

The other purpose of the correctional system is to rehabilitate criminals or inmates, which is aimed at making the offender functional in the normal society upon release from prison. This is largely because rehabilitation of offenders is for the purpose of transforming the criminal to an important member of the society from being a cost to the society. Some of the most common rehabilitation techniques in the correctional system include counseling and drug rehabilitation treatment as well as vocational training.

The two most extensively used modes of rehabilitation in the correctional system are education and work programs since they are integral to offenders securing employment and becoming productive members of the society. Education and work programs are widely used as modes of rehabilitation because they have a modest impact in lessening post-release recidivism, particularly when they are geared towards specific inmates ("Rehabilitation," n.d.). The education programs are conducted in various forms i.e. life-skills training that are considered as counseling interventions and vocational education. The vocational education provided in the correctional system is geared towards preparing inmates for employment upon release.

The second mode of rehabilitating offenders in the criminal system is through psychological and counseling programs. Unlike other programs that focus on equipping inmates with necessary skills to be productive in the society, psychological or counseling programs try to address the underlying problems behind the offender's criminality. The most common psychological or counseling initiatives are drug abuse programs due to the increase in drug-related offenses. In some cases, correctional institutions often provide personal or group counseling in order to help criminals forfeit their criminal lifestyles. The final rehabilitation mode in correctional system is community-based treatment where parole and probation officers have the dual responsibility of surveillance and treatment.