Correctional Clients
The primary function of prisons is to hold convicted felons, usually serving a sentence of one year or more, whereas convicted felons serving shorter sentences usually serve their time in local jails. Inmates consider jail sentences very “hard time,” since jails do not have the full range of education, vocational training, work, recreational, or other treatment programs that are available in prisons.
Whereas the medical model perfectly fits the use of indeterminate sentences and parole. Offenders were sentenced to open-ended sentences, with the minimum term determined to meet society’s need for punishment, deterrence, and incapacitation. Once this was met, the threshold level of the sentence term, their release depended on how well their treatment plan worked to remedy their deficiencies and prepare them for a successful return to the community.
Choose One: War on Drugs or Medical Model
The war on drugs is responsible, in part, for the dramatic increase in the U.S. prison population. Do you believe low-level, non-violent drug offenders should continue to be incarcerated? Explain your answer.
The medical model assumed that offenders were afflicted with an environmental or psychosocial condition that was the underlying reason for their criminality. Under the belief that offenders were sick, when they were sentenced to prison, their problems were diagnosed, and a treatment plan was developed. Do you agree or disagree with the assumptions of the medical model in explaining criminal behavior? Explain your answer.
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The primary function of prisons is to hold convicted felons appeared first on Course Hero.