COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS VERSUS DUE PROCESS

Community Corrections versus Due Process

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Community Corrections Model and its Effectiveness4

Rehabilitation Model4

Treatment or Medical Model5

Just-Deserts Model5

Community model5

Justice/Due Process Model and its Effectiveness6

Due process and the U.S Constitution7

The adversarial system7

Historical Background: "due process of law"8

Magna Carta: the "law of the land"8

Conclusion8

References10

Community Corrections versus Justice/Due Process

Introduction

Community-based correctional policy makers and practitioners who work with adult offenders are faced with burgeoning probation/parole case-loads, conflicting parole guidelines (i.e., reduce prison overcrowding versus protect the public), and the need to design more effective offender treatment programs.

Advocates of the justice/due process perspective argue that the greatest concern of the justice system should be providing equitable and fair treatment to those accused of crime. This would imply stringent roles of legal counseling, equitable treatment, and impartial hearings. The use of discretion within the justice system should be strictly monitored to ensure that no one suffers from religious, ethnic and racial discrimination. It is difficult fo due process advocates to determine when the Supreme Court extends the scope of law enforcement's reach. Due process advocates also face difficulty in enabling and demanding the police agencies to monitor and control citizens at the expense of their right to privacy. In other words, due process model or the justice model places more emphasis on individual rights against unfair administrative and judicial proceedings.

This paper compares and contrasts the community corrections models with due process of the mainstream justice system. In doing so, the paper presents the objectives and goals of each model in light of the effectiveness of each system.

Community Corrections Model and its Effectiveness

Community corrections have developed as an alternative to incarceration and field supervision over the last three years. This development has taken two forms, diversion and transitional. Both programs are primarily residential in nature. The diversion programs are available to the sentencing court as a placement more secure than probation, to be used in lieu of incarceration. The client is placed in a residential home setting, which has twenty-four hour coverage, and staff who are to provide in-house counseling and referral services. This placement lasts an average of three to four months, and the client is then released on probation.

Transitional programs are the same in concept; the difference is the population served (Russo & Thro, 2005). Transitional facilities are used for persons coming out of institutions, to aid in integration into the community. They have the same staffing capabilities as do the diversion programs. The purpose of transitional placements is also to provide a secure setting in the community, allowing for a decrease in the length of time spent in incarceration. In most community corrections, offenders are supported in obtaining employment and increasing the strength of conventional social ties.

Community correction models can be classified into Rehabilitation Model, Treatment or Medical Model, Just-Deserts Model. A brief overview of each of these classes is presented here.

Rehabilitation Model

In the 1920s, a reformers' group with the name of 'Progressives' attacked the offensive attitudes of the urbanization and capitalism, and called for governmental actions ...