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Rehabilitation reducing recidivism
The importance of reducing recidivism
The importance of reducing recidivism
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The Special Offense Population There are several categories for special offense inmates in the prison population. Each category has challenges that they may not be unique to just them. From treatment services to medical requirement needs, prison facilities are tasked to properly handling and care for each situation unbiasedly and fairly. When there is a lack of treatment and services both the inmate and prison staff pay the price.
Alcohol and Drugs Dependent
Alcohol and drug dependent offenders are often sentenced to prison for crimes they may have committed while being under the influence. An inmate may claim they could not help themselves or they do not remember committing the crime because of their addiction. Many of those same inmates would not have committed their crimes had they not
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Sex offenders can be placed in a segregated prison units or can make a request to be placed in one. If a convicted sex offender chooses to remain in general population, they may be required to sign a legal waiver of liability. Fellow inmates often dub pedophiles as “Chester’s,” “tree jumpers,” and “short eyes” (James, 2009). These type of inmates are often the targets of fellow inmates and can lead to beatings, rapes, extortion, and death. Prison staff do their best to keep these inmates free from harm, but cannot be everywhere all the time to protect them. The prison inmate hierarchy place child molesters and snitches on the bottom rung. A study conducted by the University of Alaska Anchorage found that over a staggering 80% of inmates reported some sort of childhood sexual trauma (Langworthy et al., 1998). Many of these inmates have never dealt with their abuse so marking convicted sex offenders a target of revenge to what took place in their own childhood. Treatment for sexual deviant offenders may help them mentally, but their physical safety still remains in the balance while
In the event that a prisoner (particularly a sex offender) does complete rehabilitation, he carries with him a stigma upon reentering society. People often fear living near a prior drug addict or convicted murderer and the sensational media hype surrounding released felons can ruin a newly released convict’s life before it beings. What with resident notifications, media scare tactics and general concern for safety, a sex offender’s ability to readapt into society is severely hindered (554). This warrants life-skills rehabilitation applied to him useless, as he will be unable to even attempt to make the right decision regarding further crime opportunities.
Letourneau, E. J., Henggeler, S. W., Borduin, C. M., Schewe, P. A., McCart, M. R., Chapman, J. E., & Saldana, L. (2009). Multisystemic therapy for juvenile sexual offenders: 1-year results from a randomized effectiveness trial. Journal of Family Psychology, 23(1), 89-102.
Many resources go into the prevention and management of sex offenders. However, very few effective programs exist that decrease the likelihood of reoffending. Through the use of meta-analyses, Seto and Lalumiere (2010) evaluated multiple studies that examined sex offenders. Emphasis was put on etiological explanations in the hopes of identifying factors associated with sex offending. Seto and Lalumiere’s (2010) findings help in creating effective programs to decrease recidivism rates.
Many people might think that sex offenders are repugnant to society and that people who commit sex crimes should be removed from our society. The reality is that many people do not know that most people who commit sex offenses are normal people. In most cases, they are hardworking people who got caught doing something our society ‘thinks’ is wrong and get labelled sex offenders. This is where Labeling Theory comes into places, because it focus on social and institutional responses to an individual. The book PERVERTS and PREDATORS: The Making of Sexual Offending Laws talks about the emerging of Perverts and Predators, and which types of people society labels “Pervert and Predators.”
This particular population of offenders are classified as people whose minds do not process in normal ways. Because of this, they have to be separated and be put into special facility centers or in a mental hospital.
Sex offender legislation has been encouraged and written to protect the community and the people at large against recidivism and or to help with the reintegration of those released from prison. Nevertheless, a big question has occurred as to if the tough laws created help the community especially to prevent recidivism or make the situation even worse than it already is. Sex offenders are categorized into three levels for example in the case of the state of Massachusetts; in level one the person is not considered dangerous, and chances of him repeating a sexual offense are low thus his details are not made available to the public (Robbers, 2009). In level two chances of reoccurrence are average thus public have access to this level offenders through local police departments in level three risk of reoffense is high, and a substantial public safety interest is served to protect the public from such individuals.
In the United States, as a condition of parole, sex offenders are typically required to register with law enforcement officials when released from prison. These officials notify the public of the offender’s release back into society and provide them with information such as the offenders address, and other personal information. Research indicates the notification system can have an adverse effect on the offender’s life, casting doubt on what the laws intended to protect the public. This paper will explore the background of sex offender registries, the relationship between the sex offender notifications and registration laws, and higher rates of recidivism in the United States. Introduction Sex offender legislation has become a controversial topic in the recent years.
Although they may be out of jail, they cannot be considered free. They are unable to make their own decisions: where they can work, where they can live, and how they can live their lives are all under control of the government. These people look the same as everyone else, but underneath the mask, lay a title they cannot shake. These people are sex offenders. A sex offender is defined as anyone who has committed a sexual crime. These crimes range from serious crimes, like rape, to minor offenses, such as urinating in public, or under age consensual sex. All sex offenders are placed on the registry and are required to follow a careful protocol. Registered sex offenders are paired with a Community Corrections Officer (CCO) who oversees and supervises the offender's actions. Many restrictions are placed on the offender, and although the laws can vary from state to state, there are some basic restrictions that apply to every offender. Some of these restrictions include: a sex offender cannot move without the permission and approval of their CCO, they can only live and work in certain areas, they cannot own any firearms, their personal computers are monitored and controlled by their CCO (many websites are blocked, including pornographic content), they are not allowed to take or consume any mind altering substances such as drugs or even alcohol, and they are required to get regular counseling (“Rules”). Currently there are 747,408 registered sex offenders in the United States. Some states such as Delaware and Oregon have a higher concentration of sex offenders (500 per 100,000) where as Pennsylvania has the lowest concentration of sex offenders (94 per 100,000) (“Sex Offender Statistics”). Due to the inefficiencies ...
In today’s society, juveniles that commit a sexual assault have become the subject of society. It’s become a problem in the United States due to the rise of sexual offenses committed by juveniles. The general public attitude towards sex offenders appears to be highly negative (Valliant, Furac, & Antonowicz, 1994). The public reactions in the past years have shaped policy on legal approaches to managing sexual offenses. The policies have included severe sentencing laws, sex offender registry, and civil commitment as a sexually violent predator (Quinn, Forsyth, & Mullen-Quinn, 2004). This is despite recidivism data suggesting that a relatively small group of juvenile offenders commit repeat sexual assaults after a response to their sexual offending (Righthand &Welch, 2004).
According to Thomas Weiss the three most common types of complaints reported include, “Denial of access to disability-related devices and medical services, Denial of access/unequal access to the facility's activities and programs, and Lack of effective communication for inmates who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or have low vision (Weiss).” The reasons why these complaints are filed are because of a lack of responsibility, care, and good structured and disciplined employees at any correctional facility that deals with these disabled offenders. Not all individuals in the prison are the same therefore should be treated and cared accordingly to reduce any type of problems in the facility. The prison system would not have to worry if everyone had done their individual jobs correctly and gathered the right type of information to file for any inmate with a certain
Yates, P. M. (2005). Pathways to treatment of sexual offenders: Rethinking intervention. Forum on Corrections Research, 17, 1-9.
Prison settings may harden an individual and in turn challenge those people who have never been incarcerated or who already have a predisposed fear about being behind prison walls. Physical and mental hardships may await a large majority of convicts due to serve their sentence. Consequently, among those unpleasant experiences lies the issue of same-sex rape.
Sexual offenders have been a problem that has faced the criminal justice system for a long time. Sexual offenders come in all different types. Most sexual offenders look like anyone else walking down the street. It is very hard to pick out a sexual offender from a crowd of people unless one knows that person or has seen their case broadcasted on the local news. Sexual offenders can have different variations of the sexual offense they have been convicted on. Some sexual offenders are sentenced for statutory rape, others for pedophilic offenses and others for violent sexual assaults. Each one of these offenses has a completely different thought process and level of violence associated with it. All of these offenses devastate the victim and has long lasting effects on the victim’s life. Also, sexual offenders are more likely to commit another offense. Usually with child molesters the child they were prosecuted for molesting is not typically their first victim. Most of the time the compulsion to reoffend is too hard for the offenders to resist. The correctional system, which is a part of the criminal justice system, needs to keep all of this in mind when paroling sexual offenders back into the community. The community deserves to be protected at all costs from these offenders.
Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. There are 43,000 inmates in prison for sexual offenses while each year in this country over 510,000 children are sexually assaulted(Oakes 99). The latter statistic, in its context, does not convey the severity of the situation. Each year 510,000 children have their childhood's destroyed, possibly on more than one occasion, and are faced with dealing with the assault for the rest of their lives. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their crimes(Oakes 99). This presents a
The services provided by correctional facilities in most are just components, and staff just don’t care many have lost their lives due to non-treatment received. Some of the diseases are expensive and can not be treated, although health care in prisons is bad it is still better than what those incarcerated would receive in their communities (Prison health care, 2007). In 2002 there was a nationwide debate only after a California inmate received a million-dollar heart transplant if it is a matter of life or death, I feel they deserve to be treated to save their life. What most have to remember is life happens and every person incarcerated is not a bad person circumstance, choices, and life happens that can lead individuals to do things they would not ordinally do.