Improvements to the Correctional System

Assignment 1: Improvements to the Correctional System Due Week 4 and worth 200 points According to the textbook, prison reform is often effectuated by and through the legislature. Often, these changes are meant for improvement; however, they can have an unintended consequence. Imagine that you are a state legislator that heads a committee for the Department of Corrections. Your responsibilities include recommending improvements to the correctional system, both domestic and international, (e.g., Guantanamo Bay). Go to Cornell University Law School’s Website, located at http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/eighth_amendment, and review the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Write a 3-to 5-page paper in which you: 1.Suggest two actions that the corrections system can take in order to ensure that their officers adhere to the principals of professional conduct as stated by the correctional officers’ organization at http://www.correctionalofficer.org/professional-conduct. Provide a rationale for your response. 2.Take a position as to whether or not conditions of correctional facilities circumvent the “cruel and unusual punishment standard” of the Eighth Amendment. Provide a rationale for your response. 3.Support or refute the removal of capital punishment from the U.S. corrections system. Provide a rationale for your response. 4.Create an argument for or against intermediate sanctions as a deterrent of crime. Support your viewpoint with one example of intermediate sanctions from within the last three years that reflects your opinion. 5.Debate whether or not correctional officers are adequately equipped to deal with mentally ill inmates. Provide a rationale for your response. 6.Use at least two quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources. Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements: •Be typed, double-spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides. •This course requires that citations and references follow the Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different than others Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details. •Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length. The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are: •Determine the U.S. Constitutional amendments that apply to correctional management and operations. •Recommend improvements to selected areas of corrections. •Defend the purposes of corrections. •Examine the reform of American criminal justice beginning with 15th century Europe. •Use technology and information resources to research issues in correctional facility policies. •Write clearly and concisely about correctional facility policies using proper writing mechanics. Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric found here.