As of the year 2009, 743 out of every 100,000 people, in the United States, have been incarcerated in their lifetime. Among those incarcerated 67% re-offend and 52% are sent back to prison. If over half of the people who are incarcerated either re-offend or are re-incarcerated something isn’t working. Prisoners aren’t learning from their mistakes and they aren’t being rehabilitated. What can we do as a country to lower this recidivism rate? What are we doing wrong? Why is our prison system failing to stop these individuals from committing more crimes as soon as they are released? The problem is we aren’t teaching them anything. We aren’t helping them transition from incarceration back into the real world. These individuals have nowhere to go, no job, and no money. Therefore, these individuals resort back to what they know how to do in order to “make” money. They steal, they sell drugs, they pimp, and they pander. This is all these individuals know how to do. We need to build programs that are going to give these individuals a chance to be successful when they get out.
As a deputy, I have personally experienced in great detail many of the programs used in corrections today. I have spent the majority of my career so far in corrections at the local level. With this experience I have a good knowledge on what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to rehabilitating and preventing prisoners from reoffending. I’ll start by addressing what doesn’t work. When it comes to reducing recidivism, simply locking someone up for a period of time has been shown to be ineffective. Arguably, standardized treatment programs have also shown to be equally just as ineffective. There is no single approach to treatment. Not every prisoner is the same....
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...h their journeys of bettering themselves. Which in no doubt of my own, will have a huge positive impact on not only the lives of these prisoners, but the lives and safety of every citizen in this country. This all can be made possible with your support and the support of every American.
Works Cited
(2014). United State incarceration rate. Wikipedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate
D. McKeon. (2006). Research Talking Points on Dropout Statistics. National Education Association. Retrieved from: http://www.nea.org/home/13579.htm
L.Glaze, L Maruschak. (2010). Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/pptmc.pdf
(2010). New Casa Report Finds. CASAColumbia. Retrieved from: http://www.casacolumbia.org/newsroom/press-releases/2010-behind-bars-II
In today’s society, many people commit crimes and illegal behavior is nothing new. Society knows that there are criminals and they have criminal intentions. The question today is not if people are going to commit crimes, it is finding the most effective method to help those criminals reenter society as productive citizens, and preventing new people from becoming criminals. Department of corrections around the nation have implemented a program that identifies the most effective method. The “what works” movement outlines four general principles that are implemented in the rehabilitation of criminals; and, these principles are risk principle, criminogenic need principle, treatment principle, and fidelity principle.
We need to question why our justice system spends so much money to keep people in jail for so many years rather than reinvesting that money into people and our communities. And it’s pivotal that our justice system recognizes the power of opportunity as opposed to the wrath of the criminal justice. So, we need to work with the people affected by our broken criminal justice system and make sure that people inside the justice system and programs produced by the justice system work with them to prevent that they are put in a position where they wouldn’t feel the need to
Gabel, Katherine & Johnston, Denise. (1995). Children of Incarcerated Parents. New York, N.Y.: Lexington Books.
In recent years, there has been controversy over mass incarceration rates within the United States. In the past, the imprisonment of criminals was seen as the most efficient way to protect citizens. However, as time has gone on, crime rates have continued to increase exponentially. Because of this, many people have begun to propose alternatives that will effectively prevent criminals from merely repeating their illegal actions. Some contend that diversion programs, such as rehabilitation treatment for drug offenders, is a more practical solution than placing mentally unstable individuals into prison.
Prisons and correctional facilities in the United States have changed from rehabilitating people to housing inmates and creating breeding grounds for more violence. Many local, state, and federal prisons and correctional facilities are becoming more and more overcrowded each year. If the Department of Corrections (DOC) wants to stop having repeat offenders and decrease the volume of inmates entering the criminal justice system, current regulations and programs need to undergo alteration. Actions pushed by attorneys and judges, in conjunction current prison life (including solitary confinement), have intertwined to result in mass incarceration. However, prisoner reentry programs haven’t fully impacted positively to help the inmate assimilate back into society. These alterations can help save the Department of Corrections (DOC) money, decrease the inmate population, and most of all, help rehabilitate them. After inmates are charged with a crime, they go through the judicial system (Due Process) and meet with the prosecutor to discuss sentencing.
Easterling and Johnson. (2012). Understanding Unique Effects of Parental Incarceration on Children: Challenges, Progress, and Recommendations. Journal of Marriage and Family, 342-356.
Hairston, C., & Lockett, P. (1987). Parents in Prison: New Directions for Social Services. Social Work , 162-164.
The Criminal Justice system was established to achieve justice. Incarceration and rehabilitation are two operations our government practices to achieve justice over criminal behavior. Incarceration is the punishment for infraction of the law and in result being confined in prison. It is more popular than rehabilitation because it associates with a desire for retribution. However, retribution is different than punishment. Rehabilitation, on the other hand is the act of restoring the destruction caused by a crime rather than simply punishing offenders. This may be the least popular out of the two and seen as “soft on crime” however it is the only way to heal ruptured communities and obtain justice instead of punishing and dispatching criminals
the effort to reduce on recidivism. The study showed that "62.5% were rearrested for a
The “Tough on Crime” and “War on Drugs” policies of the 1970s – 1980s have caused an over populated prison system where incarceration is policy and assistance for prevention was placed on the back burner. As of 2005, a little fewer than 2,000 prisoners are being released every day. These individuals have not gone through treatment or been properly assisted in reentering society. This has caused individuals to reenter the prison system after only a year of being release and this problem will not go away, but will get worst if current thinking does not change. This change must be bigger than putting in place some under funded programs that do not provide support. As the current cost of incarceration is around $30,000 a year per inmate, change to the system/procedure must prevent recidivism and the current problem of over-crowed prisons.
The challenges of children who grow up with parents whom were incarcerated at some point in their childhood can have a major effect on their life. The incarceration of parents can at times begin to affect the child even at birth. Now with prison nurseries the impregnated mother can keep her baby during her time in jail. With the loss of their parent the child can begin to develop behavioral problems with being obedient, temper tantrums, and the loss of simple social skills. Never learning to live in a society they are deprived of a normal social life. “The enormous increase incarceration led to a parallel, but far less documented, increase in the proportion of children who grew up with a parent incarcerated during their childhood” (Johnson 2007). This means the consequences of the children of the incarcerated parents receive no attention from the media, or academic research. The academic research done in this paper is to strengthen the research already worked by many other people. The impact of the parent’s incarceration on these children can at times be both positive and negative. The incarceration of a parent can be the upshot to the change of child’s everyday life, behavioral problems, and depriving them a normal social life.
Prisons are institutionalized systems that hold people hostage against their will. Many believe that these institutions are fundamental to keep balance within society. Although prison systems are meant to seclude troubled individuals, it should go beyond just containing criminals. The judicial system is responsible for correcting and eliminating future delinquent behavior before they can be effectively situated back into society. In saying this, the court system does not implement these actions within prison systems, failing to fulfil the goals and the function of the prison overall. The U.S elots millions of dollars toward funding for our correctional system, but are unable to reform the basic natural rights and maltreatment within the prison system.
This research study will address the on-going issues of reducing recidivism, and the need to help ex-offenders succeed in society post incarceration. While literature pertaining to this topic of reducing recidivism is available, such literature tends to be written by elites and/or individuals who have never been incarcerated. Our study will provide first hand authentic answers regarding how to reduce recidivism.
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.
It seems as though the prison system can’t even get a hold on their primary function, seeing that “two-thirds of prisoners reoffend within three years of leaving prison” (Gilligan). While placing offenders in prison effectively removes that threat from society for a time, what benefit is it if they cause the same problem upon release? What is the point of a federal prison if inmates aren’t given the opportunity to make use of their time and have rehabilitation? Not only would it be for the better of prisoners’ chances of returning to community, but also for the better of the nation economically. In James Gilligan’s article, “Punishment Fails. Rehabilitation Works” (2012), he discusses a study conducted regarding potential rehabilitation programs with prisoners, resulting in an impressive outcome that “reduced the frequency of violent reoffending after leaving the jail by 83 percent,” which “saved the taxpayers $4 for every $1 spent on it.” Warden Burl Cain supports this concept, claiming that “Everybody forgets what corrections means…If this person can go back and be a productive citizen and not commit crimes again, why spend the money to keep him in prison?” (The Editorial Board)