NCJ Number
86324
Date Published
1981
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article discusses six factors believed to be related to the shift in corrections emphasis from rehabilitation to punishment.
Abstract
The demise of rehabilitation as a primary goal of the corrections process is one of the most dramatic developments in contemporary American criminology. This has been replaced with an emphasis on retribution. Some believe that one of the factors involved in this shift in corrections emphasis has been a general trend toward conservatism in the United States, but such a simplistic labeling of a complex trend fails to consider that many considered political liberals, such as Edward Kennedy, also advocate a more punitive approach in corrections. A second factor believed by many to be influential in the adoption of more punitive approaches to offenders is increased concern for victims that is often translated into a mood of retaliation toward the offender. A third factor that may have influenced the abandonment of rehabilitation is the view that society does not have the right to try to change an offender's behavior or personality; however, this view is not widespread. A fourth reason given for the decline of support for rehabilitation is the empirical evidence that rehabilitation programs have failed to achieve their goals. The growing demand for offenders to receive their 'just deserts' is a fifth factor that may influence the decline in support for rehabilitation. The public is increasingly critical of sentences and dispositions that do not appear to render significant punitive consequences for crimes. Finally, the ebb of the rehabilitation approach may be due to a renewed conviction that punishment has a deterrent effect, although evidence of this is not unequivocal.