Alexis Duham’s book, Crisis and Reform
Paper instructions:
In Alexis Duham’s book, Crisis and Reform: Current Issues in American Punishment (1993, p 126), it is suggested that our correctional system is “…largely ineffective…[and] represents a terrific opportunity to rethink global correctional objectives, assess the utility of the approaches that have been tried, and refresh our thinking about what is likely to prove useful in the future.”
For this assignment, you are to write a 4-6 page reactionary paper to the quote in which you provide a synopsis of the evolution of corrections within the U.S. and analyze the correctional system goals / objectives, the effectiveness of approaches that have been tried in attempts to realize those goals / objectives and possible new approaches that show promise in addressing the crisis issues affecting our correctional institutions.
Your text discusses research that examines the effectiveness of approaches that have been employed to realize correctional objectives, including some relatively recent approaches. In developing your reaction paper, you should address this research, but provide a larger discussion of more current research on correctional approaches designed to address the prison crisis as well. This will require that you conduct both Internet and library research. Again, your paper should be 4-6 pages in length, double-spaced, in 12-point type.
General Instructions for Written Assignments
Your written assignment is intended to test your understanding of important concepts and discover how to sharpen your intellectual skills of analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and application. The intent of the written assignment is to provide an opportunity to more fully describe, explain, and analyze the assigned readings as well as the other sources (library/Internet) used in developing your work. All written work is to be proof read for errors in spelling, typing, grammar, word usage, and writing mechanics. Proper documentation of sources used is required; MLA citation format is acceptable.