Literature Review
Introduction
Recidivism refers to the tendency of reversion to criminal activities of the released inmates. It is measured by the frequency with which released offenders return to incarceration for new crimes. The rates reflect on the effectiveness of instituted programs that focus on integrating the released offenders into the society (Schmalleger, 2007). When the rates are healthy, it means that the programs in place are doing well in helping the offender restrain from criminal activities. The importance of correctional programs cannot be downplayed for any reason. The programs whether in the prison or out are effective in saving the nation a huge amount in providing public safety and taxes (Pollock, 2004).
Thesis statement
Rehabilitation programs aimed at reducing recidivism are beneficial to the individual and the government.
Research question: What are the roles played by rehabilitation programs in helping reduce recidivism?
Different programs have diverse impact in reducing the rates of recidivism. Effective programs that help in reducing the rates of recidivism concentrate on three main problems that affect offenders in prison and after their release. They include substance abuse, employment and education services. There emerges a need for most programs to address these issues as they are the most rampant and likely to push the offenders to perpetrating the offence once again.
Substance Abuse treatment Programs
In many counties especially the U.S, substance abuse is a major problem that affects the majority of the prison population. The same problem persists when the offenders are released. Chances of re-addiction are high and likely to shoot the rates of recidivism up. This menace often poses oth...
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Since they are free, proper parole supervision is required to monitor their situations. Offenders are likely to face many problems that may make them recidivate. Their survival and intended behavior may be compromised due to changing situation. It is important to check on them by devising a program that advices them accordingly.
For inmate who struggle with drug abuse, the outside world may provide challenges to getting the right medical attention. Programs should be such that they provide links for the affected to continue receiving medical attention even after serving their terms. This help in reducing their re-addiction. Additionally, a program can recommend the best place to get advisory services or the best place to get services. This process has entails of case management and is perfect example of a good drug related problem follow up.
The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore recidivism from the perspective of finding community base inmate released programs, and to prevent criminals to reverting back to their criminal behavior after being released into society. Recidivism is defined as the act of a person repeating or relapsing into an undesirable
Policymakers on the national, state, and local levels are always finding ways to improve the nature of the reentry process. The reentry process starts in correctional facilities and helps inmates prepare themselves for release and proceeds with their transition back into society as law-abiding citizens. In comparison to the average American, ex-offenders tend to be less educated, less likely to gain employment, suffer from substance abuse, or have been diagnosed with a mental illness. All of these aspects discussed are shown to be risk factors for recidivism, which is the tendency that causes criminals to re-offend. Generally, the offender reintegration process needs to be improved by properly monitoring the outcomes for reentry programs in order to return prisoners back to society safely.
Education has been proven to reduce recidivism rates and increase the success of an offender’s re-integration into society. In a study conducted in 1994 by the American Bureau of Justice Statistics, nearly half of the 302,309 released offenders surveyed in fifteen different states were convicted of a new crime within three years of their release. This data shows that prison fails to properly rehabilitate offenders, since after prison ex-convicts continue to live in a way th...
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 to the correctional system overall.
Drug use and abuse has become a common situation with today’s citizens. Drugs are more easily accessible today than they ever were in the past. The drug trend is frightening to say the least. From the legal substances, such as alcohol and tobacco, to the illegal substances, such as marijuana and cocaine, there has been an increase in their use amongst all ages of people. It seems that the ages of the users are getting younger as time goes by. Because of this trend there are more people addicted to substances and who need treatment. There are many treatment programs out there where people can go to get help with their addictions. Programs range from alcohol treatment to substance abuse treatments and detoxification processes. Unfortunately,
Substance abuse is a grim issue that affects the Canadian inmate population; it can be defined as overindulgence in or dependence on an addictive substance, especially alcohol or drugs. Within Canada, 80% of offenders entering the federal prison system are identified as having a substance abuse problem; this goes beyond mere indication of tougher drug legislation, it uncovers further discrepancy. Due to the immense majority of offenders affected by this complex mental illness, in addition to varied levels of individual cognitive ability. Consequently conventional abstinence-based treatment methods may not benefit all offenders. Untreated, this dynamic risk factor precursor’s future offending, as a study reveals dependency on illegal drugs is the single most serious risk for repeated offending. It has been established substance control is a far more feasible short term goal than outright eradication. With this ideology, the premise of one’s analysis will be on substance abuse control methodologies, gauging effectiveness and overall success in achieving its purpose.
The purpose of this paper is to inform about effect the drug treatment programs in prison are and who they affect the most. The programs are meant to for re-offenders with an extensive drug record. Some of the questions the researchers asked was how well do the programs work for the inmates, who does it effect, and does different drugs affect the programs. In 2002 there was 250 prison based drug treatment programs in 40 states. In 2004 the number went up to 290 treatment programs in 44 states. (Farebee et al. 1999) The main focus of the programs are to help inmates so they do not reoffend once released from prison. Drug treatment programs help the different inmates by using different programs.
The repeated use of drugs often causes both physical and psychological dependence, as mentioned in an article by the Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia (“Drug Dependence”). In order for an individual to truly be set free from their addiction, seeking treatment is necessary. Rehab centers are a great place with scientifically proven methods to cure those addicted to drugs. It is important to try to end drug use in our country, rather than allowing it to continue longer than it already has. While funding for rehabilitation facilities could become an issue, drug users may continue their addiction without proper treatment, and therefore those arrested for drug use should be sent to a rehabilitation center instead of prison.
Recidivism is a major problem in the United States, as nearly two-thirds of those released from prison, reoffend. In fact, in many cases those who were initially incarcerated for non-violent crimes, often escalate to violence, after release from prison. A U.S. Department of Justice special report released in 2014, entitled: Recidivism of
The correctional system is not a perfect system as it does not address the key issues that cause offenders to continue to be imprisoned after only one year of release. The system has been evolving from a punishment base system from the 1970s to a complex system designed to beyond the punishment to deal with the rehabilitation of the criminal mind. This allows the individual offender to recognize their faults, receive treatment and be released from the correctional system as a productive member lacking terminal deviant behavior.
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
Such an assumption does not refute that some criminals make their own personal choices to break the law but rather it argues that these personal choices are usually caused by certain factors which contribute to criminal behavior. Rehabilitation programs are therefore based on such perspectives where the various correctional programs are designed to deal with criminal enforcing behavior. For example counseling programs could focus on the behavior that led to the criminal offender committing the offense while educational programs could focus on how to change negative behavior to positive behavior. Correctional programs in prison facilities are therefore important in reducing the recurrence of criminal behavior as well as reducing recidivism among probationers and parolees (Barkan & Bryjak, 2009).
Although it may not seem like a major problem to most people in the United States, prisons are becoming overcrowded, expensive to maintain and have little to no effect on the moral discipline of inmates. The current prison system is extremely inefficient and the purpose of prisons has been completely forgotten. According to Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, the primary purpose of prisons is to punish, to protect, and to rehabilitate. Not only is there an increase in prisoners, but there is a rise in the number of repeat offenders. Alternatives such as counseling, drug rehabilitation, education, job training and victim restitution must be better enforced and organized. People do not understand the severity of the problem mainly because
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.
Yet, rehabilitation gives criminals the opportunity to return to society as upright citizens and to end recidivism. While threats of punishment deter crime and punishment are effective, there should still be rehabilitation to fix the underlining issues to end recidivism. Rehabilitation has taken a back seat to the concept “get tough on crime,” for a couple years, and only result increases in prison population with little effect on crime rates (Benson, 2003). Rehabilitation is more expensive and there is limited funds for rehabilitating