There are many interesting topics in Criminal Justice that can be discussed and are relatable to my experience at the Lorain/Medina Community Based Correctional Facility, but I thought that perhaps one of the most interesting ones to look at is recidivism in the correctional system. It is also a commonality in other aspects of the criminal justice system. I chose to research the topic of recidivism for many reasons, one of them is that it relates to my experience because many of the residents I interacted with this summer had been involved with the system more than one time and in fact many of them have been through the L/M CBCF’s program multiple times. One of the females who is currently going through the program had been to the facility five times prior to this one and many of the males have been through the program at least twice. Many of them also talk about not being able to stop themselves from relapsing once they are released from the facility and being through a lot of other rehabilitation and recovery centers. After this discovery I wanted to explore and research more about recidivism and why it is a common occurrence for most criminal offenders and what can be done about it. In order to do this I searched a lot of online databases’ and examined quite a few academic journals, articles and other scholarly documents and websites on the topic. I tried to find information on the success rate of Community Corrections versus other forms of corrections, how recidivism
researchers had conducted and gaining a statistical analysis of the researches, a meta-analysis is often one of the best tools to ensure a positive impact on recidivism “meta-analysis is the principal source of information for "effective principles” (Gendreau, 1996, p. 120). Often times these intervention programs are intensive and behavioral based, which are vital to the program. Behavioral Programs, should target the criminogenic needs of the offender, which has better results when it is paired with the offender’s risk level.
This paper will discuss facts regarding the prosecution process, the concepts of incapacitation and deterrence as methods of reducing crime rates, the network of people that the prison system exposes criminals to, and the assimilation of criminals back into society as seen through recidivism rates, for the purpose of analyzing the ethical scope of the effectiveness of the process of remediation as a whole.
The data from the study demonstrated that therapeutic community theory substance abuse treatment in a correctional facility was, “Effective in reducing the recidivism and that the time spent in treatment was positively related to greater periods between re-arrest and to a greater probability of positive outcomes. (Wexler, and Williams, 1986, Wexler, Falkin, and Lipton, 1990)
The study of recidivism amongst women in prison is important because most research focuses on the male population. The reasons for the “revolving door” phenomenon are different for women; therefore, their treatment should be more gender focused and specific to their needs. Judging by the rates at which women recidivate, you could assume that somewhere along the way the system has failed them. What role does drug use, motherhood, mental health, physical, sexual, and mental abuse play in the recidivism of female inmates?
Diversion programs have evolved over time. There are countless programs available with which they all aim to reduce recidivism within the correctional system. We’re going to discuss fome of the programs and their effectiveness.
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.
An ongoing and increasingly evident issue in the criminal justice system is how convicted individuals reenter society with little or no gradual process. These individuals often resort back to criminal activity in an act termed recidivism. According to the National institute of Justice(NIJ), recidivism “refers to a person’s relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime” (National Institute of Justice, 2012). This process often involves individuals committing more serious criminal offenses than in their prior offenses. Is there any way in which the criminal justice system can be altered so as to either
Just as the number of people in prison grows, so too does the number of people leaving prison. Research shows that 95 percent of all prisoners in the United States are released at some point (Katel 2009). The Department of Justice reports that more than 600,000 prisoners are released each year (John Oliver 2015). This means that hundreds of thousands of people reenter society and are expected to have learned from their time behind bars. Unfortunately, most of these people released back into society are not properly prepared. As a result, they end up back in prison.
Another program that impacts the decreasing rate of recidivism is The Last Mile. Founded in 2010 by Chris Redlitz, Beverly Parenti, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, The Last Mile teaches inmates how to work with up-to-date technology as well as digital business and communication so that when they are released from prison, they would be able to easily be involved in a productive engagement. In 2014, the Last Mile launched the first fully comprehensive computer programming course in a United States prison known as Code.7370. Inmates involved in Code.7370 learn how to code using programs such as HTML, JavaScript, and Python without access to the internet. The Code.7370 contains two groups, one being a group for
The correctional system in America is an umbrella term referring to a range of mandates that entails the management, supervision, and rehabilitation of convicted offenders. These mandates are often carried out through incarceration, probation, or parole, while prisons are the most popular correctional agency in America. Prisons in America were among some of the first public buildings established in the New World. Early prisons were not considered “houses of punishment,” but were rather referred to as temporary holding cells. The history of U.S. prisons from the late 1700s to the late 1800s was marked by a shift from a penitentiary system primarily concerned with rehabilitation to one concerned more with warehousing prisoners. The failure of reform minded wardens to justify rehabilitation caused state legislatures to set economic profitability as the new goal for prisons.
Ardino, Milani and Di Blasio assess perpetual negative thinking and dysphoria in relation to violent criminal recidivism. In their initial research, they state that continuous negative thinking or ‘rumination’ is said to impair problem-solving and erode healthy information processing (Ardino, Milani, Di Blasio, 2013, p. 2). In offender populations, where individuals have the length of their sentence to reflect on their crime(s), this can increase the frequency and depth with which offenders experience negative emotions and deter prosocial responses such as empathy, which can have implications for reintegration and lead to experiences of social alienation. They found that the experience of incarceration, in particular, facilitates negative perceptions
Community corrections can be traced back to Europe with judicial reprieve, benefit of clergy, sanctuary, and recognizance. Alternative methods of incarceration have been common in many states. Split sentencing is a common method. This is when an offender serves part of their sentence incarcerated and the rest in the community. This can benefit the offender by helping them be involved in the community, maintaining employment and being with family.
Freedom Project is an organization that trains prisoners in non-violent communication (NVC) and mindfulness training. They organization organized two studies to discover and summarize the results of the nonviolent communication and mindfulness training offered by the freedom project for inmates. The researchers were justified in doing the study because communication skills were found as a necessary element in the pro-social behavior, also the researchers found that the increased usage of communication skills can be an important factor in decreasing violence and aggression. The non-violent communication process has been used as to train, educate, and acknowledge prisoners to pay attention, noticing other’s behavior, and acknowledge others’ feelings and thoughts. The researchers came up with three hypotheses: there is a correlation relationship between freedom project training and recidivism rate among inmates, trainees who were reoffended who have a
never implemented as intended. Although the contours of the correctional system changed—the juvenile court, indeterminate sentencing, probation, parole, and discretion became integral features of this system—the resources and knowledge needed to provide effective treatment to offenders were in short supply. Cullen and Gendreau (2000).
With the highest incarcerated rate in the world, does the United States prison systems offer quality rehabilitation or just punishment? According to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there was approximately 706 prisoners per 100,000 residents, or about 2.2 million prisoners in 2012 and within 3 years, almost 6 out of 10 released inmates will be rearrested and half will be back in prison. According to data from www.gpo.gov , the vast majority of prisoners are not rehabilitated. Two-thirds of released prisoners are re-arrested and one-half are re-incarcerated within three years of release from prison. Rates of recidivism rise to approximately 75%-85% of released prisoners are likely to be re-arrested within a decade of release. Successful rehabilitation is vital when releasing an inmate into the community as it produces a significant reduction in criminal recidivism. The purpose of incarceration is to protect the public and punish as well as rehabilitate the criminal. It is designed to change an inmate's view of life and alter their future behavior when re-entering society. Prisons offer education, labor, and other rehabilitation sources to inmates, so why is the recidivism rate so high with these programs in place?