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Please answer one of the following two questions: 1. I mentioned that prisons are rational-legal bureaucracies. They have rules and a command structure. I also mentioned how important fairness and consistency are for inmates to perceive the prison's authority as legitimate. However, I mentioned that the responsible use of discretion is extremely important. How do you think you could manage to balance the competing needs for discretion and consistency if you were a correctional officer? 2. One of the reasons it is important to balance discretion and consistency in prison is because of the social exchange relationship in prison. In other words, officers have the power to coerce inmates, but inmates also have some power, so it's better to have them be willing to follow rules. If you were an officer, how would you approach the job? Which one of the six sources of power Hepburn (1985) described do you think you would use most often? Why do you think I said the biggest part of the job is being able to talk to inmates - how you carry yourself, how you deal with difficult inmates, how you get your point across, etc.
Criminal Justice Reflective Paper
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Criminal Justice Reflective Paper
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people are in the hand of the correctional officers with the discretion to make
critical decisions influencing the life of the person receiving correctional
service either in prison or community corrective program. The decision made by
the correctional officer guided by his or her discretion can impact the
recipient positively or negatively. The judicial system for many countries
across the globe has implemented consistency that assists the correctional
officer in making discretion fair to the individual detained and does not
violate the rule of law governing the disciplinary process in the facility or
community. The correctional officer can maintain the balance between discretion
and consistency by determining the type of sentencing based on the offense
committed, purposing to improve the life of the prison, and remaining neutral
whale making correctional discretion.
First,
deciding the type and magnitude of the sentencing based on the felony
commitment can help correctional officers to maintain the balance between
discretion and consistency. Different crimes are corrected by taking the
offender through various punitive processes (Guarnieri
& Pederzoli, 2020). Some felonies call for harsh punishment, while
others need little punishment of the culprit. The correctional officer can make
reasonable discretion by referring the judicial system to determine the penalty
deemed fair for the crime under consideration. A murder case would ask for more
harsh punishment than manslaughter, although both cases amounted to life loss.
It might be difficult to distinguish the punishment for close related crime,
but with reference to the judicial system, the guide can make it easier for the
correctional officer to make an informed verdict.
Secondly, the correctional officer can withhold the balance between discretion and consistency in the judicial system by purposing to improve the prisoners' lives. Individuals detained in prison and community-based correctional facilities are considered criminal offenders liable for heavy punishment, and separation from other members do the community (Fusco et...
