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California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: July 27, 2003
Latest Update: February 23, 2006
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

CRMJ 363: Corrections

You will be held accountable for purposes of grading for the readings and exercises listed here. There will be no "testing." That means that you will not have to live in anxious anticipation of what we will ask and how much you will have to know. Instead, we will provide weekly discussion questions, lectures, essays, and concepts we feel that you should know as a result of having taken this course. You will assure us of that learning and receive your grade for the questions and concepts about which you choose to write and talk with us. In addition you will find detailed explanations and examples on our grading policies in the first week's reading.

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Week 7: Week of February 26, 2006

Midterm meetings are February 27th-March 3rd. If you have not scheduled your meeting, see me ASAP. Failing to meet with me prior to March 3rd will result in an "F".

new Make A Box due Wednesday, March 8th.

Topics: Rehabilitation


Preparatory Readings:



• Haas and Alpert. Dilemmas of Corrections. Chapter 22-25.
• Documentary: Prison Gangs and Racism (to be shown in class)
• Hassine. Life Without Parole. entirety.
  
  
  

Lecture related links:



• new Make A Box due Wednesday, March 8th.
  
• new Corrections: On Investing Love
• JOIN the Yahoo Discussion Group with CSUDH students.
  
• Convicts and Cops A resource on prison tatoos, prison slang terminology, and more!
  
• National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Administered by the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
  
• Maricopa County Sheriff's Office - Jail Link. Link found by Mary Frances Chachula.
  
• Wisconsin Department of Corrections




Concepts to be covered:



• rehabilitation
• recidivism
• program success
• boot camp
• prison-based therapeutic communities
• prison gangs
• supermax



Discussion Questions:



Be sure incorporate the documentary, "Hard Time" and "Prison Gangs and Racism" into your answers.



1. Who is the typical inmate in today's supermax prison?
2. Why does the supermax prison provide the best metaphor for "moral bankruptcy" when it comes to crime and corrections? What does this tell us about rehabilitation? Why.
3. Based on the readings and other materials, what are the arguments on both sides of the rehabilitation debate? Which side do you take? Why.
4. Charles Logan stated: "We ask them to correct the incorrigible, rehabilitate the wretched, deter the determined, restrain the dangerous, and punish the wicked." Are we asking too much from our prisons? Why or why not?



Suggested Creative Measures:




Note: All creative measures must be approved by the instructor before you begin. Email the instructor with your idea. Creative measures cannot be something that you are doing or have done for another course. No term papers. Start thinking about ideas for your creative measures. Must relate to "corrections." Research cannot be 100% online (i.e., google, askjeeves). Must conduct library research using scholarly works, (not the popular press -- Time Magazine, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated). Email me your ideas. Allow time to dialogue and present your creative measures.



• new Make A Box a Week reflecting on the week's correctional issues.
• new Research "what works?" In other words, what are today's most successful rehabilitation programs? Why. How is success measured?
• Other books related to rehabilitation:
  --- Robert Martinson. The Effectiveness of Correctional Treatment.
  --- Frances Cullen and Karen Gilbert. Reaffirming Rehabilitation.
  --- James Finckenauer. Scared Straight and the Panacea Phenomenon.
  --- S. Martin, L. Sechrest and R. Redner. New Directions in the Rehabilitation of Criminal Offenders.
  
  
• If you enjoyed reading Hassine's Life Without Parole , you might be interested in other prison autobiographies/biographies: a) Jack Henry Abbott. In the Belly of the Beast. b) Leonard Peltier. Prison Writings. c) Eldridge Cleaver. Soul on Ice. d) Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. Thirteenth Round. e) Jarvis Jay Masters. Finding Freedom: Writings from Death Row, e) Mumia Abu-Jamal. Live from Death Row., f) The Autobiography of Malcolm X.



Recommended Readings:



• Other books and studies on prisons:
  --- Erving Goffman. Asylums.
  --- Jeffrey Reiman. The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Prison.
  --- John Irwin. The Warehouse Prison.
  --- John Irwin. The Imprisonment Binge.
  
  
  
• Alfie Kohn. Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community.
• Alfie Kohn. Unconditional Parenting.
  
  

Course Syllabus for CRMJ/SOCA 363 (Corrections)

takata@uwp.edu