Political Science

The role of the corrections in policy making
Correction centers facilitate behavior change and provide security in the society. This is not just through the punishment given to offenders of the law, but also through the skills learnt by the law offenders while serving their sentence. It is therefore administered by the government which sets the law. The intention of correction is to improve the character of citizens who are governed by common law. Some correctional organizations include prisons and juvenile delinquent correction centers.

The main role of correction centers is to make most productive use of offenders (Beck  Harrison, 2005, p.7). This has led to many changes in the policy making. In the past years, the policy revolved around locking the offenders and forgetting them. This mentality has changed with time due to economic demands in society. The number of offenders grows every day leading to swelling of prisons. Furthermore, the resources spent on correcting individuals are also high. The key target therefore should be to minimize the cost of managing corrections and to reap great benefits from the offenders once they are released into society. Correction should thus not be a way of banishing law offenders but a way of improving society economically and morally.  Policies developed out of corrections should reflect quality and efficient service by the government to the citizens. Good policies on corrections also ensure long term public safety.

According to Beck and Harrison (2005), the greatest numbers of offenders are the males below the age of thirty years this is also the most productive age of life. If this group is not transformed into useful human resource, the nation loses in the long run. Therefore, in creating policies on corrections, the administrators should aim at teaching the offenders social and cognitive skills that they can use while in the correction and long after the sentence is over. A good policy should also facilitate effective communication between administrators and offenders. Effective communication reduces mistrust and facilitates change of character in the offenders.

Issues that face correctional administrators.
Without correction administrators, policy cannot be implemented. However, there are many challenges facing administrators in implementing policies in corrections. They include overcrowded facilities, insufficient staffing and reduced funding. The rural correction administrators face the problem of lack of finances. It therefore becomes difficult for the administrators to implement policies and provide the inmates with suitable life skills (Kelly, 1999, p.35). The inmates end up leaving the correction in the same state they came in which can lead to relapse into crime. The correction officers and administrators also lack the professional development training which is required in improved delivery of policies. Through the increase of offenders, the work of administrators also becomes difficult thus the need for professional development programs is very essential.

Apart from professional training, the administrators lack training in identifying physical and mental health problems of the inmates. Another major problem is the large number of administrators who retire each year due to pressure of their work in dealing with a large number of inmates. The issue is that the rate of replacing these officers is low which leads to ineffective policy implementation. Many correctional departments also lack technology and infrastructure which is important in communication efficiency. Another major problem facing correction administrators is violence among the inmates. Violence is caused by a several reasons. For example, the denial of conjugal rights which is brought about by separation of inmates from their spouses can lead to violence.

Violence is also brought by poor communication between the administrators and the inmates. Violence slows down the rate of policy implementation since more time is spent correcting behavior rather than in obtaining useful life skills.

The role of private security in our society.
From this discussion, the need for a large number of professional correction administrators is needed to deal with the large number of crime in our society. Private security can thus be considered as a way of increasing the required number of correctional administrators needed to implement policies for behavior change. The private security industry is made up of professional security administrators who provide security to people and property under contract and for profit. Throughout the world, the industry is experiencing a period of rapid growth in crime. If the private security sector is effectively regulated and fully accountable, it can make a great contribution to the provision of security. On the other hand, the activities of an uncontrolled or poorly regulated private security industry can result to governance problems. In countries experiencing transitional or post-conflict eras, the private securities can act as an obstacle to peace building, good governance and sustainable development. (Armstrong, p.549 2001)

The private security industry can thus make a contribution in regulating behavior in society if it is regulated. Poor regulation of private securities on the other hand can lead to disruption of peace in society and even cause the government to have an additional responsibility of dealing with crimes from private securities. From the works of Armstrong, 2001, private securities comprise of those people who provide security on contract basis and for profit making. These private securities have to provide their services in accordance to human rights and the existing laws. The private securities should thus be regulated by the government to ensure that they adhere to the laws provided. Without regulation by the government, they may hinder law enforcement. Unregulated private securities can also lead to organized crimes and can be misused against ethnic or political rivals (Armstrong, 2001).

In conclusion, the role of corrections in policy making is to equip inmates with the life skills provided in the policies as a long term solution to behavior change in society. Policies are drawn from the needs of society, since it is the society that absorbs the law offenders when the sentence is over.

Policies should thus be modeled to correct crime but not to banish criminals. The correctional administrators are responsible for implementing these policies in the corrections yet they are faced by many challenges which hinder effective implementation of policies. Private securities thus play the role of supplementing correction administrators in our society. It is therefore important that every government should develop a national policy that regulates private security to ensure provision of effective and efficient security in society. It also ensures that corrections become centers of behavior change.