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Importance Of Community Corrections
Benefits of community based corrections
Institutions and community based corrections
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Community corrections are an integral part of Colorado’s criminal justice system. Community corrections’ programs not only promote economical practices with state funds but also provide offenders with rehabilitative services in a supervised environment, thus enhancing public safety. Moreover, treatment programs, although effective in penal institutions, are more effective within community settings (Aos, Miller, & Drake, 2006; Lipsey, Chapman, & Landenberger, 2001). Community corrections’ programs generally serve three types of offenders: a) diversion clients, who are under the jurisdiction of the probation department and placed in community corrections’ programs as a diversion from prison; b) transition clients, who are under the jurisdiction of the Division of Adult Parole and Community Corrections and are placed in community corrections’ programs after prison to be reintegrated into the community; and c) Community Return to Custody Facility (CRCF) clients, who are under the jurisdiction of the Division of Adult Parole and Community Corrections and are placed in CRCFs after a violation of a technical condition (Hetz-Burrell & English, 2006). CRCFs and their clients will be the focus of the following discussion.
In July 2003, Colorado legislation implemented CRCFs through Senate Bill 03-252. The CRCF program allows offenders with a parole revocation for a nonviolent, Class V or VI, felony to dwell within a community corrections program for a maximum of 180 days. Parolees are not eligible to attend a CRCF if the parolee: a) had a revocation due to the commission of a new crime, b) was sentenced for menacing or unlawful sexual behavior, or c) was convicted with domestic violence or wrongs to at-risk adults. In other words, o...
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...sive parole supervision or standard parole, unless his or her sentence is discharged (CDOC, 2007).
Given the recent introduction of CRCFs to the criminal justice system, there have not been any program evaluations focusing on this type of community-based corrections program. Therefore, a need remains to evaluate the performance of Colorado’s CRCFs. This report will first review the model of evidence-based principles of effective interventions set forth by the Crime and Justice Institute for community corrections and will then examine evidence-based programs targeted specifically at technical violators. The literature review will help to determine whether CRCFs incorporate the most effective intervention principles to reduce recidivism for technical parole violators. Lastly, the methodology and results of the current CRCF program evaluation will be discussed.
...(2004). Applying the principles of effective intervention to juvenile correctional programs. Corrections Today, 66(7), 26-29. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4bd9d7f2-8ac5-42c6-a100-a2443eda9cbf@sessionmgr4002&vid=1&hid=4213
As offenders are diverted to community residential treatment centers, work release programs and study release centers, the system sees a decrease or stabilization of the jail population. While the alleviation of overcrowding is a benefit it is not the only purpose of diversion. A large majority of crimes are committed while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Studies have shown that more than half of all individuals arrested in the United States will test positive for illegal substances (NCVC, 2008). Efforts to reduce crime through incarceration usually fail because incarceration does not address the main problem, the offender’s substance abuse.
In-prison and post-release vocational training and work programs evaluations have shown that they are considered to be most effective, as they greatly reduce the rate of recidivism. Steady employment and educational services are some of the main factors in delaying or preventing an individual from re-offending in the first three years following release. More reentry programs are using the comprehensive strategy in response to what research and evaluations have found. Comprehensive strategies are applied in the state and local levels of government, mainly relying on community-based groups to coordinate and provide services for those re-entering society. These programs usually start before a prisoners release and provide assistance in receiving employment, housing, substance abuse, and mental health
Community correction is a term that refers to everything ranging from diversion before the trial to the punishment that follows after the trial. This refers to any way ranging to non-inmates yet supervised ways used to deal with criminal offenders who are facing conviction or who have been convicted. Beck et al., 2001. Probation as well as parole are the two most common ways of dealing with the offenders, though there are many ways such as being confined at home, electronic surveillance, day fines, community service shock probation and residential community supervision to mention but a few. The following are some of the intermediate sanction actions in the criminal corrections.
According to the National Institute of Justice, recidivism is one of the most fundamental concepts in criminal justice. The NIJ defines recidivism as a person’s relapse into criminal behavior, often after receiving sanctions or undergoing intervention for a previous crime. Recidivism is often utilized in evaluating prisons effectiveness in crime control. Reducing recidivism is crucial for probation, parole and the correctional system overall. Literature Review “There is no single cognitive-behavioral method or theory” a quote by McGuire, quoted by Pearson and Lipton et al.
& Conis, 2013). This probation tries to decrease recidivism, but the probation officer does hold
Probation and parole officers are sentencing and supervision specialists and required to be investigative in their profession. They are responsible for providing meaningful assistance to the court in its deliberations and decisions concerning criminal offenders. Probation and parole officers deal with managing and operational activities. The Department of Community Corrections has the responsibility of supervising offenders who are on parole or probation, rehabilitative and restorative program services, and residential services.
Zhang, S. X., Roberts, R. E. L., & Callanan, V. J. (2006). Preventing parolees from returning to prison through community-based reintegration. Crime & Delinquency, 52(4), 551-571.
For much of society prison is viewed as a facility that segregates and imprisons individuals who commit acts of crimes considered deviant from accepted social behaviors, to ensure the safety and security of the overall community. These individuals are thus handed down a mandated sentence, stripped of their individual freedoms, and are told to reflect on their actions as a means of punishment. However, this method fails to recognize the notion that a majority of these people will one day be allowed back into society, and as a result those who are released tend to fall back into old habits contributing to the rising recidivism rate that currently plagues our prisons. In recent years there has been a gradual push for the implementation of rehabilitation
Nieto, M. (1996). Community corrections punishments: An alternative to incarceration for non-violent offenders. Retrieved March 13, 2011, from http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/96/08/
This model of corrections main purpose was to reintroducing the offenders in to the community. This Program was invented to help offenders in the transition from jail to the community, aid in the processes of finding jobs and stay connected to their families and the community. The needs of these individuals are difficult: the frequency of substance abuse, mental illness, unemployment, and homelessness is elevated among the jail population.
According to the National Institute of Justice recidivism is one of the most fundamental concepts in criminal justice. Recidivism refers to a person’s reoccurrence or continuation of criminal behavior that persists after the person receives their sanctions or arbitration. Researchers from the statistics of The Bureau of Justice found that two-thirds, 67.8%, of released prisoners were rearrested within three years. About three quarters, 79.6%, were rearrested within five years of their release. At the end of the year, 56.7%, which is more than half of those prisoners were rearrested. The most likely to be rearrested were property offenders, 82.1% of released offenders were rearrested for
Many would say that offenders are hopeless and if one looks at the rate of recidivism, one would definitely think that our nation’s offenders are indeed hopeless. However, what if there was a way to reduce the rate of recidivism and at the same time rehabilitate offenders in order to make them functioning members of the community? Reentry programs that are implemented correctly cannot only reduce the rate of recidivism but at the same time help to rehabilitate an offender through education, treatment, and therapy. The Second Chance At is a law that went into effect April 29, 2008 (P.L. 110-199) and it allows government agencies to provide services to offenders that will help to reduce the rate of recidivism as well as improve the overall outcome for offenders that are released for detention facilities. These organizations receive monies through federal grants in order to successfully provide these services to adult offenders as well as juvenile offenders. This paper will examine how education combined with therapy and skills training can help change an offender’s life for the better.
In recent discussions of prison reform, a controversial issue has been whether diversion programs are more beneficial than not. On the one hand, some argue that diversion programs give convicted criminals a chance to hopefully better themselves and get back into society. On the other hand, however, others argue that these programs are allowing dangerous criminals back into the streets with no guarantee of them changing their behaviors. In sum, then, the issue is whether society and the government should allow these unguaranteed hopes to continue. While some believe that diversion programs may be a good substitute for prison, diversion programs are not an efficient substitute because they release potentially dangerous criminals and felons out onto the streets.
All over America, crime is on the rise. Every day, every minute, and even every second someone will commit a crime. Now, I invite you to consider that a crime is taking place as you read this paper. "The fraction of the population in the State and Federal prison has increased in every single year for the last 34 years and the rate for imprisonment today is now five times higher than in 1972"(Russell, 2009). Considering that rate along crime is a serious act. These crimes range from robbery, rape, kidnapping, identity theft, abuse, trafficking, assault, and murder. Crime is a major social problem in the United States. While the correctional system was designed to protect society from offenders it also serves two specific functions. First it can serve as a tool for punishing the offender. This involves making the offender pay for his/her crime while serving time in a correctional facility. On the other hand it can serve as a place to rehabilitate the offender as preparation to be successful as they renter society. The U.S correctional system is a quite controversial subject that leads to questions such as how does our correctional system punish offenders? How does our correctional system rehabilitate offenders? Which method is more effective in reducing crime punishment or rehabilitation? Our correctional system has several ways to punish and rehabilitate offenders.