This course is a comprehensive examination of the final step as a case moves through the Criminal Justice System, corrections. Various correctional eras and the prevailing correctional philosophies of their time are discussed, including a comparison of jails, prisons and community-based correctional systems used in the US and abroad. Trends in sentencing, imprisonment and capital punishment are considered. The responsibilities, pressures, and constitutional limits correctional officials work under are examined. How individuals adapt to life in the correctional system is also examined at length, including discussions of how social and institutional forces affect the lives of offenders and the prevalence of violence in correctional institutions.