Pro Prison Recidivism

Regardless of what you might see on TV the verdict of “not guilty by the reason of insanity” is an immensely rare plea for anyone. A majority of offenders with a mental illness still end up incarcerated. Even though the United States only makes up 5% of the world's population we account for 25% of the world's prisoners. Which converts to 2.2 million prisoners and about 1.2 million of those people have a mental illness (Fellner). Mental illness within our jails and prisons has become very prevalent within our correctional systems over the last 10 years. The number of men and women who have a mental illness that end up in jail or prison grows day by day. For those who do not go into the prison with a mental illness, will very likely develop some form of mental illness after being released from incarceration. The mentally ill do not belong in prison, the purpose for incarceration is retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation, and though it is originally meant for all of these purposes, it has lost its meaning. Correctional facilities are not built to provide treatment for the mentally ill, and the people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness cannot get the long-term treatment they need inside of a prison cell.

“Recidivism “is as to relapse in behavior; typically, in criminal behavior. Department of Justice Measurements of recidivism include new arrest, new convictions, returning to prison with a new sentence or reincarceration for rest of sentence. Astonishingly enough, with in a 5-year period in 2010 ,70% of offenders that were released had been reincarcerated, due to rescinding back to the life of crime.

Why prisoners need to go to the prison? I can never forget the scene in The Shawshank Redemption, which Brooks Halten finally committed to suicide when he was released after 50 years life incarceration. The form of mass incarceration, prison, is supposed to be the place where prisoners can rehabilitate in order to return into society. Ex-offenders aren’t eligible for public welfare such as Medicaid and public housing (Stevenson, 2012). They are legally discriminated against when applying for appropriate jobs (Stevenson, 2012). So the issue rises: prisoners rehabilitate for what? To be thrown back into economy without jobs? To go back into communities without hope? If modern mass incarceration isn’t primarily concerning with rehabilitating prisoners, what is its purpose? Why the prisons are continuing in expansion? Whose interests do prisons serve?

Recidivism is such a significant problem here in New Mexico. Many tend to throw it off and label it “just” a prison problem. But in all reality and factuality it’s a whole lot more than that; it’s a societal problem that affects our whole community, it affects our state as a whole. Recidivism is the act of reoffending or falling back into criminal behavior after one has been incarcerated and released. Recidivism tends to more common, than uncommon here in New Mexico.

Parole is a huge problem in america as of current. This is because the odds of the offender staying out of prison are very low. This happen because the offender does not respect the privilege of parole, to them it is just an excuse to get out of jail.

To answer these questions we must look at a number of interrelated social areas. These include the motivations for and against prison reform, and where they come from. To this end, we must explore the American political system, public perception, prisoner rights, disenfranchisement among parolees, the social justice movement, and efforts to lower recidivism among convicted felons.

An inherent marker of this case’s problematic nature can be demonstrated within the representation of the defendants by prosecution. The defendants had their socioeconomic status and previous interactions with the ‘justice’ system flagrantly used against them. They were characterized as those people, the others, the ones who commit crimes – preying on implicit jury biases*1. Their background and the neighborhood they grew up in was used as an excuse to typecast them for a role in prison. It seems obvious that in any case, the class roles of any participants should be irrelevant unless their crime explicitly involves the matter. Instead, theirs were touted as evidence. Additionally, the defendants’ previous transgressions were brought up in an attempt to further incriminate them. Though recidivism rates are essentially astronomical in the United States, this argument is beyond irrelevant and at its heart a fallacy that should make this information irrelevant. (If the defendants had interacted with the justice system before and they were convicted of anything, then the system has failed them. It’s clearly ineffective given that in the eyes of the state the defendants were far from rehabilitated).

In the early days of the Unites States criminal justice system, punishment and retribution were the only methods dealing with criminals. It was not until the Pennsylvania Quakers established the first prison in the United States in 1790 that introduced the principle of the rehabilitation rather than capital punishment. Later, other prisons followed the Pennsylvania prison model, and incarceration soon became the center of the country’s criminal justice system. However, it was not until the 1960s that the criminal justice systems started to experience a problem with overcrowding in prisons throughout the nation. Overcrowding became more of a problem as the criminal justice system began to take a more severe approach to deal with crime by incarcerating

The courts are reducing punishment for non-violent offenders by putting them in rehabilitation programs (Berenji, B., Chou, T., & D'Orsogna, 2014).The reintegration will help these offenders to become new are whole again. However, resources may be limited these offenders should be offered the chance to participate in these programs. There are lots people who have been locked upon returning back into society it is hard for them to get a job, therefore, they go back to their life of crime. The people that are not violent criminals should at least be given a second chance. The program recidivism constituted studies by researchers to see if it has helped habitual offenders in becoming complete again (Rice, & Harris, 2014). Nevertheless, some may fall back into the system simply these intervention programs will be a great success for the ones who truly want to change their lives. The implementing of these programs is no guarantee that the convicts will not continue to violate the law. The statistic shows that age and sexual violent is a predictor of recidivism. The three strike law is ridiculous because stealing can be an addiction just like drugs are (Bohm, R. M. & Haley, 2011). The cons to the three strike law are that lots children that will grow up without their parents. The non-violent offenders should have mentors to help them get a job and put them in rehabilitation programs to reach the core of their addiction. The pros to this three strike law are that it will help some people to

Incarceration is the practice of confining people in prisons as a way of rehabilitation or punishment. The practice plays a great role in the modification of the behavior of the people in the society. Through it, the ethical practices of the society and is the way of ensuring the aspect of peaceful co-existence and respect are upheld. Over the years, the number of people incarcerated in the United States has been on the increase. This trend can be attributed to a wide range of factors such as the race, gender, societal class, and age. Each of these primary factors is vital in influencing the behavior of the person and their likelihood of engaging in criminal activities.

In conclusion Many things need to change to lower America's recidivism rate, like budget readjustments, education programs, and improved psychiatric health care. Without many reforms in these critical areas and better distribution of true information to our free citizens who actually have a voice on this controversy America will never see a lower recidivism rate or a low prison population. For the sake of safety for our citizens and improving the quality of life for those offenders who want change within, America must get rid of the nothing work doctrine, and open their minds to second chances and the idea that people can change.

Most prisons provide the average high school education; thus, inmates can be academically prepared. In the GED Program, inmates participate and engage in their studies to make academic progress. The GED Program provides inmates the educational knowledge preparing them to overcome the difficult obstacles that come after being released from prison. GED inmates are motivated to break the cycle of recidivism to successfully integrate back into society. Lahm (2009) explains, “…the majority of research regarding prison education programs center around their effect upon recidivism…” but educational programs most likely provide statistical results from a small percentage of inmates from the total population (p. 39). With limit inmates and resources, the GED Programs provide positive results.

Generally, prison policy might lack saliency among most individuals. Prison policy seems to have that pattern where it is significant to some and not to others; that is also relevant in states because of their variety in issues. Prison legislation is like most legislation relevant to whom it affects. In this situation we see that prison overcrowding bothers a majority of inmates, some of the courts, and the states. Inmates do not vote, so it is understandable that congress lacks interest. In most involvement on prison overcrowding policy congressional action is close to absent, states are in charge of the legislation, but at times courts have intervened due to prison conditions.

Society holds expectations for its citizens, and non-citizens at a very high level. They expect everyone to abide by the law, and give back to the community. In a perfect world all citizens and non-citizens would be good Samaritans, sadly it is far from that in today’s society. Many individuals are deviant and stray from society’s expectations of them. We know them as criminals. Indeed some of them may be hardened criminals, yet some of them commit petty crimes that are still a burden on society. Whether, their crime is petty or severe, society expects them to pay for their actions. Most criminals at one time or another will spend time in prison or jail.

Recidivism is the result of a former prisoner relapsing into criminal activity and returning to prison for a new offense. It is estimated that approximately two-thirds of