The ACA was established to improve laws governing the criminal justice and correctional process for adult offenders in order to safeguard constitutional and other rights of personnel and offenders in the criminal justice and juvenile justice correctional process; to foster a code of ethics in the correctional field; to devise an accreditation program for correctional departments, care, custody, training, and treatment of offenders in all age groups; and to publicize and interpret correctional standards to the public. The ACA is assessed in terms of its economic impact as one of the fastest growing markets in the U.S. economy. The effectiveness of the ACA's accreditation program is questioned, and the authors cite deficiencies in the correctional system despite all the training, upgrading, standardization, and accreditation. Specifically, the authors criticize the ACA's systematic exclusion of public scrutiny and participation in the accreditation process, conflicting relationships in the field of corrections, the ACA's failure to live up to its charter principles to safeguard constitutional and other rights of personnel and offenders, the fact that most ACA standards are not mandatory, the ACA's failure to live up to its code of ethics, and detrimental effects of ACA practices on prisoners. 46 references and 18 endnotes