Quentin Tarantino

Social workers play a vital role in many aspects of our society, from the court system to the correctional facilities in which they work. The lives of the incarcerated clients, in addition to those who have been released, and the members of our society as a whole can contribute something to society. According to California’s Occupational Guide “correctional Social Workers work with juvenile or adult offenders to determine and correct the causes of anti-social behavior. They may work with youth groups or gangs. They conduct pre-hearing and pre-sentencing investigations and present social histories to the courts. Parolees and probationers readjust to society” (California Occupational Guide, On-line). The social worker that works in a correctional institute has an immense responsibility which includes rehabilitation, and the prevention of recidivism of each client.
The development of social workers originated early as specific organizations of society that noticed underprivileged people needed assistance with their problems and did so by addressing their needs in various ways. As The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia states “The development of Social work as a profession out of the early efforts of churches and philanthropic groups to relieve the effects of poverty, to bring the comforts of religion to the poor, to promote temperance and encourage thrift , to care for children, the sick, and the aged, and to correct the delinquent”(2003). The early efforts of these groups gave the poverty-stricken community a voice to be heard and aided society by recognizing that there was a social problem that needed to be addressed in serving these urgent needs. In 1874 the National Conference of Charities and Correction (now called the National Conference on Social Welfare) was organized in the United States.

The evolution of the independent sector, now known as social work, from the broad category of the social sciences was a gradual process which began in the late nineteenth century. Public relief and private philanthropic efforts remained largely matters of local and state concern until after 1930, when the federal government entered the field of social work on a large scale to cope with the effects of the great depression (2003). The government became more aware of the need for social workers to have their own programs to attend to the needs of society’s less fortunate. In addition, three authors Miller, Hollis and Taylor respectively stated, “In these early years, those who saw themselves as “social workers” were often intimately involved with the criminal justice system and with juveniles sentenced to reform schools and youth facilities at the times.