History of the American Correctional System

History of the American Correctional System

John Peter Zenger with freedom of the press was born in Germany in 1697 and his family moved to the United States when he was 13. They landed in New York and he became an apprenticed with Mr. William Bradford. After a few years working for Mr. Bradford he went out on his own to become a journalist. He was trying to open his own business; but, it never happened. He returned back to New York and became partners with Mr. Bradford while doing so he found out information on Mr. William Cosby the Governor about bribing legislators and judges. He also would rig elections just to have individuals who believed the way he did. Mr. Cosby eventually had Mr. Zenger arrested because of the information that he was printing, also because Cosby went after the only one he knew. Although Mr. Cosby did not know who was actually writing the stories; because, they were written anonymously. Now, while Mr. Zenger was in jail his wife kept the paper going. Then, when Zenger went to court for his alleged crime he was represented by two attorneys'; but, when Judge James Delancy found out, he had both of them; disbarred, just because they were following what Zenger was saying. So, Zenger was left with anyone to represent him in court. At this point an attorney heard about this case and took it on his name was Mr. Andrew Hamilton who was best in the colonies. After court was over Mr. Zenger was found not guilty.

The Puritans developed a correctional punishment so the Puritans can follow the Puritan code. At this time and age of Colonial punishment there was mutilations, hangings, burnings, and brandings were used serious crimes. Other punishments were public cages; they could be banished from the colony, and public whippings, also fines and having to be confined with the live stocks. The jail did not appear until the settlers arrived to the colonies. Some of the branding letters were a Ton the hand if you stole (that was your first offense). For the second offense the theft would be branded on the forehead. That is just one branding; there are more.

In 1682 rejected the English criminal law and assembled their own; The Pennsylvanians followed the English law was if someone committed murder then they were sent to the gallows. The other offenders were sent to hard labor. According to Allyn & Bacon "William Penn the founder of the colony, drafted these comparatively mild statues expressing the Quaker aversion to cruelty and bloodshed." "In 1721 the Pennsylvania legislature repealed the Quaker criminal code and adopted the criminal laws of England."

The Influence of Religion on Penal Policy; religion has always played a part in the correctional system. During the Middle Ages if you were arrested for a crime you was considered a sinner and impure. So, in order for you to be rehabilitated you had to have ritual cleansing.

The milestones in corrections throughout the U.S. History are penitence model, reformatory model, medical mode, reintegration model, community-based corrections, and crime-control model. The Penitence model was a system believing that offenders would be able to be rehabilitated from being incarcerated. Reformatory model was reformed by the Warden of Detroit House of Corrections because he didn't want to call a prison a prison. He thought that by calling it a reformatory was to change offenders (reform) them so they can return back to society. With the medical model it is for if an individual is arrested they would check out the mental state of the individual to see if that caused him/her to commit the crime. Reintegration model and community-based corrections is basically