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Laura Lenti
CJS 230
December5, 2010
FINAL
Americans and Canadians are very much alike, we eat the same foods and listen to the
same music but crime is handled differently. United States incarceration rate is more than six
times as high as Canada’s crime rate and United States has a homicide rate more than three times
Offences punishable by death in Canada are murder, rape, treason, poisoning or injuring a person
with the intent to commit murder, mistreatment of a girl less than 10 years of age, arson, etc and
Canada only used hanging for the death penalty and in 1976 no one is put to death again.
Canada’s Parliament decided the chance of putting an innocent person to death was not worth the
chance so life is mandatory instead without the eligibility of parole, according to Canada
Corrections, (2010). Security levels are classified maximum, medium and minimum with some
multi-level institutions. Canada inmates prepare for life after prison starts in the very first days of
incarceration and professionals assess inmates to determine the needs they have. The gathered
information of needs is used to build a healthy plan of rehabilitation of the detainee. Regardless
of the crime all inmates will receive services, be placed in special programs, and participate in
activities all to help the rehabilitation process before going back into the general free population.
The way the prisoner participates in these services is an impact if they will be granted parole (or
Living skills
Violence prevention
Employment readiness
Substance Abuse
Parenting classes
The goal for the corrections in Canada is to remove the offender from society for safety and then
place them back into society with a new way of thinking with the new skills and training.
United States has the most incarceration numbers for inmates worldwide. The two main focuses
of rehabilitation in the United States correctional system is education and training for skills in the
work field. About one-fourth of inmates were enrolled in some kind of educational program
according to Rehab.org (2010). United States has its levels of security in corrections as well;
Supermax, Maximum and Medium levels are used the harder the crime offense the higher up you
are sent, the more dangerous the crime/person or the threat the more security you are sent to.
Corrections can be without walls, such as halfway houses where you have earned trust to come
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and go to work but are under heavy supervision. Some inmates are on monitoring devices that
tracks the whereabouts while you are outside the corrections and immediate supervision. The
chart below from Wikipedia not an APA source but shows the correction facilities in numbers:
Number of
USA and territories.[6]
inmates
Incarcerated population
in 2008
Total 2,424,279
Federal and state prisons 1,518,559
Territorial prisons 13,576
Local jails 785,556
ICE facilities 9,957
Military facilities 1,651
Jails in Indian country 2,135
Juvenile facilities 92,845
Foreign and secret prisons [20] ~400-20000
Both countries have different types of facilities such as the jail and the prison system. Both
countries use the jails for people awaiting trial, people sentenced for a short duration, less than a
year typically. Prisons are for the more serious crimes and are for usually sentences over a year’s
time. Prison is usually run by the state or government/parliament. Canada in the 1970’s
redesigned and reformed the penitentiary walls (prison). New institutions embodying
contemporary correctional thinking replaced the old prisons. A broadband of institutions that
detention and work camps. Security is done usually by electronics and they all often vary in the
security level. Canada has up to date educational and vocational training facilities and allow for
(2010). The staff has various responsibilities and is assigned to a group of inmates. The goal for
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the staff is to rehabilitate and reform the inmate for reintegration into society, Johnson, D.
(2010). Some of the woman facilities located in Kingston is arranged like cottages in a village
and the attempt is to replicate non-institutional life having five centers making it a miniature
community. Below is two charts, one of Canada and one of United States with statistics of crime
rates: This is just a small comparison and does not reflect on all populations of both countries.
The differences between two countries I find staggering, I find it amazing that almost every
crime has decreased in Canada since they took an new outlook of rehabilitation and reformed
their way of thinking when it came to incarceration. United States went down slightly but yet a
Canada parolees usually serve part of their sentences in prison. Partially the time is
served in the community where they are supervised by a professional staff of the Canada
corrections system. A gradual supervised release with an inmate who has participated in
rehabilitation programs show they are less likely to re-enter the prison system by committing
crimes again. United States also has this system, there are programs directed at the inmates
issues. Robbers, thieves, angry and abusive, victims of abuse or drug addiction programs are just
the tip of the iceberg for what is offered to help inmates re-enter society. Educational and
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vocational schools in both countries are used to update the skills of an inmate so they may have a
If it wasn’t for the Eight Amendment that was utilized immensely in the 1960’s, prison
would be different today. This was the start of riots and advocates for people’s rights. The Eighth
Amendment guarantees that “cruel and unusual punishment (not be) inflicted. It has challenged
the death penalty and the three strikes law, crowded prison and the health/safety issues in prison.
The Supreme Court has established several tests to determine whether conditions or actions
• Did the actions or conditions offend concepts of "decency and human dignity and
precepts of civilization which Americans profess to possess"?
• Was it "disproportionate to the offense"?
• Did it violate "fundamental standards of good conscience and fairness"?
• Was the punishment unnecessarily cruel?
• Did the punishment go beyond legitimate penal purposes?
According to Justicefellowship.org, (2010) the above is the guidelines that shape the
I am still unsure what system works better, the incarceration or the rehabilitation from
either country. It does seem that Canada has a better grip on controlling crime offenders. United
States in my opinion has become too lenient however I don’t think more time handed down to
the offender is the answer either. A restructure from scratch, start all over, look back at all the
mistakes and rights and form a new system. There will be loop holes, there will be mistakes but
at this rate it is not getting better and something needs to be done. I would vote if I had to on
rehabilitation but with very strict guidelines and rules. It would be an earned possibility and one
must enter and complete all programs offered for a chance in society again in my opinion.
References:
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Bunge Portie, V. Johnson, H. Balde, T. (2010) Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice
Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. Table source: Statistics Canada, 2005, Exploring
Crime Patterns in Canada, Catalogue no. 85-561-XIE2005005.Retrieved December 2010 from:
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?
PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0009130
student-etudiant-eng.pdf
Fathi, D. (2010) Custody Vs. Treatment Debate: Addicted to Punishment, The Prison News.
(ecekc4454pejijnvm51xsrep))/displayArticle.aspx?
articleid=21498&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Federal Bureau Investigations, FBI-Crime Reports, United States Crime Rates, Retrieved
http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2562/Prisoners-Rights-Under-Law-EIGHTH-
AMENDMENT.html
<a href="http://law.jrank.org/pages/1935/Rehabilitation-Correctional-programs-in-United-
Wikipedia, (2010) Incarceration in the United States, Retrieved December 2010 from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States