Final answer:
The statement about corrections aiming to protect society through punishment and offender change is true. The corrections system employs both punishment to act as deterrence and rehabilitation to prevent recidivism, striving to balance various correctional goals.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that the objective of corrections is to protect society through punishment and offender change is true. The corrections system plays a crucial role in the criminal justice system by supervising individuals who are arrested, convicted, or sentenced for a criminal offense. The corrections system aims to achieve several objectives, including the protection of society, which is primarily done through two main strategies: punishment and rehabilitation.
Punishment serves as a form of retribution and deterrence, penalizing individuals for their crimes and signaling to society that such behaviors entail consequences. This is based on the belief that punishment can also prevent potential offenders from committing crimes, a concept known as deterrence. Rehabilitation, on the other hand, focuses on transforming offenders into law-abiding citizens by addressing the underlying factors that led to criminal behavior with the goal of preventing recidivism, or the repetition of criminal behavior after the offender has been released.
Societies throughout history have debated the effectiveness and morality of various correctional approaches, including the severity of punishment and the success rates of rehabilitation programs. The U.S. corrections system encompasses a range of strategies, from incarceration to restorative justice programs, balancing the goals of retribution, incapacitation, prevention, rehabilitation, and restoration to address crime and its consequences.