The three major components of Criminal Justice Systems are: Law Enforcement actions, Courts and Judiciary Systems and Corrections. In the theories and practices of Criminal Laws the Corrections are the treatments of criminals and it is a system in the network of Government organizations or agencies that governs the prisons of jurisdiction and parole systems. The terms Penal, Penal System and Penology refer to the philosophy and practices of corrections to suppress criminal activities and the various treatment methods of prisoners.

The basic ideologies of the theory of corrections are punishments, treatments, controls and preventions. In the Punishment Ideology various forms of actions are taken for different purposes and the most common purpose of a disciplinary action is Retribution or the vengeance. Punishments can be used for deterrence. Another Purpose of punishment is incapacitation. The Punitive actions make the offenders incapable of doing further harmful criminal activities against the people or society. In the Control and the Custodial Model, the ideology of control is focused on the required actions to restrain the behavior of the criminals or the accused.  The Treatments and its associated Medical Model views criminals or accused as capable of rehabilitations. Though this is criticized for being a soft method it gives a little room for treatment during the punishment. The main formal correctional institution is prison, which may be a formal and rigid or flexible. Punitive Prisons are more formal than the treatment oriented “flexible” prisons.

Community based Reintegration Programs like Halfway houses, Restitution Houses, and other methods are followed to reintegrate the offenders. In the Practice of Correction Systems, Recidivism (a problem in which released criminal may try to return to crime) is considered more than other practices. Some of the Community based corrections are shelters, group homes and foster homes.  Probation is a practice acts as “Second chance” philosophy in Corrections and used for the first time offenders or criminals and low risk offenders. The main primary theories of corrections used in present days are Remote Supervision and Direct Supervision Models.

Some other alternatives to imprisonment are day fines, restitution, community services, intensive supervision, day reporting centers and boot camping.

All of the correctional theories and practices are fluctuating, like a pendulum which swings from severe punishment methods to soft, rehabilitation methods and back. Some of the Practices of Correctional Programs allows providing education, vocational training, community services and recreational program to offenders. Such programs are successful since they concern the family and the community of the offenders.