Correctional Philosophies and Increasing Correctional Population

In society, the philosophy of sending a person to prison has drastically changed. The criminal

justice system has put much emphasis on how it looks at people who commit criminal acts

against other people. The future correctional philosophies associated with increasing

correctional population are as follows: rehabilitation, retribution, restoration, deterrence, and

incapacitation (Johnson, 2005).

Rehabilitation

For years, researchers have looked upon rehabilitation as the answer to cut down on the

number of people who return to prison. Unfortunately, the so-called rehabilitation programs

have become ineffective, and caused the recidivism rate to increase. Over the years, society has

formed the mentality that nothing works to change criminals and their acts. The reason that most

rehabilitation programs do not work are because of poor funding, poor teachers, and poor

performance. There are many factors that cause the rehabilitation of prisoners to return to prison.

For instance, prisoners seem to return to prison when they are increased monitoring, referrals,

and management toward them (Bacik, nd).

Retribution

Retribution has been linked to increasing correction population because of its mentality

toward people who commit crimes. Society believes that when a person commits a crime, he or

she should be put into prison. When this happens, there will be an increase in the number of

people in the prison system. Retribution is focused primarily on the crime, not the criminal.

Society believes that when a person commits a criminal act, that person should be sentenced to

the conditions and duration of a prison sentence. Researchers believes that ever retribution is a

key factor of overcrowding because of the