Studying Criminology On Inmates At The Massachusetts Reformatory

There is a great debate throughout our country, and in individual states, over how long criminals should be incarcerated for various crimes. The relationship between the length of prison terms and recidivism is one of the central points of the debate in sentencing and corrections policy. Many people assert that longer prison terms are more effective at deterring future crimes because they set higher price for criminal behavior and because they hold offenders until they are more likely to “age out” of a criminal life style. However, others argue just the opposite and that is more time behind bars increases the chances that inmates will reoffend later because it breaks their supportive bonds in the community and hardens their associations with other criminals. According to Oliver (2011), both of these arguments are accurate because the strongest research finds that these two theories cancel each other out. Several studies, looking at different populations and using varied methodologies, have attempted to find a relationship between the length of prison terms and recidivism but have failed to find a consistent impact, either positive or negative. There is one thing for sure and that is incarceration and recidivism is a very active cycle which affects the lives of many

Van Nagel, C., Foley, L. a., Dixon, M., & Kauffmen, J. (1986). A review of treatment methods for the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents. Correctional Education, 37(4), 140-145. http://www.jstor.org.hmlproxy.lib.csufresno.edu/stable/23291726

Correctional treatment programs have long been thought not to be effective in lowering the recidivism among criminals; Martinson (1979). Researchers have done countless studies and surveys only to find out that many of these studies and programs work and nearly the same number of programs do not work, depending on what component was or was not a part of the studies. Knowing that all programs does not work for all criminals is a no brainer, however, finding a good mixture of what does work and for what percentage of criminals is a beginning to duplicate that program with a few minor adjustments in the programs.

A sample of inmates released during this period was drawn from a list obtained from the Florida Department of Correction, for a total sample of roughly 3,793 offenders. Careful attention was given to securing a representative sample from each offense group. The offenders chosen were released from public and private state prisons after expiration of their sentences. The centralized idea of this study was to determine the differentiation between public and private state prisons focusing on recidivism. I have chosen two cases that reflect on the central issue of this topic and how they are treated by the Courts which can hopefully shed some light on the research problem as it exists in present society. These cases are based on

would teach offenders a lesson and reduce their chances to recidivate. Stevens and Ward (1997) said that “retuning unprepared, uneducated, and unusually individuals to the community is the biggest threat to the public safety” (p. 106). Stevens and Ward conducted an experiment to examine the effects of education on incarcerated offenders. The experiment contained 60 student-inmates who had earned their associate or bachelor degree while incarcerated. The participants were inmates release from the North Carolina Department of Corrections (p. 108). The participants were tracked and their recidivism rate were compared with nonstudent inmates. Also, they gathered data from education and recidivism studies of thirty states. The result demonstrated

Prisons are meant to securely hold convicts as well as those who are remanded. Such people are kept in custody for certain duration of time. The nature of crime defines the length of time that that person will serve in prison. For some crimes such as murder, an individual may be sentenced to death. As such, prisons serve as confinement zones for those who have been determined to be wrong doers or those who have been accused as such. This particular essay tends to investigate one thing that I would like to rectify in the United States correctional system based on its current situation.

Jail and prison populations are swelling as a result of increased crime and sentencing in the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system has piles of cases that need to be sorted and suspects who need to proceed with their trials. It is clear that the system needs an adjustment. One significant method to reduce the population in jails and prisons is to changing the rehabilitation strategies. Rehabilitation is important in the criminal justice system, but even more significant in keeping individuals out of jail, out of prison, and out of trouble. Mass incarceration does not work, simply put. It has been utilized in the past and based on that, has been proven to not work effectively. The state of Virginia decided to do away with parole in the year 1995, causing increased prison inmates to remain in the system, even though they should be out paying their own taxes instead of taking them from taxpayers while sitting inside of a prison cell. An individual must serve at least eighty-five percent of his or her sentence whether or not that person has proven themselves to be accepted back into society (Roeder, et al, 2015). It is clear that this method is outdated and only increases the amount of money taxpayers must put towards the swelling prison system

A study conducted by (Langan & Levin in 2002) revealed that out of all the inmates that were released from prison in 1994, two-thirds of those inmates were rearrested within three years. The study also showed that out of the two-thirds that were rearrested, one-quarter of those were re-incarcerated. A more recent study showed recidivism rates as high as 80 percent (The Sentencing Project,

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

Social learning and social control principles recognize that criminal careers may develop through criminogenic influences of individuals over the course of their lives (pg. 192). The concept of age definition recognizes that certain forms of behavior and some experiences are more appropriate in certain parts of the life cycle than in others. Theorist constantly search for continuity between children or adolescents and adult lifestyles. Researchers explore pathways to delinquency, antisocial behaviors, and trajectories and transitions (pg. 193). The life course also highlights the development of criminal careers through (1) activation, (2) aggravation,

According to Burnette and Newman (2005), female offenders that have severed antisocial behavior in childhood are more likely to exhibit these symptoms into adulthood. Some female offenders are still less cumulative than male offenders (Salisbury & Voorhis, 2009). In addition, recidivism in female offenders will be discussed three pathways. Moreover, the recidivism measure what usually not seen are males, greater incidence with females rather than males, and seen equally with separate personal and social results. Also, some female offenders ma have went through a great amount of abuse and trauma in their lives. Cauffman (2008) state some female offenders have mental illness issues, and treatment

The population at the prison is growing dramatically in the US. In 2013 the population in at the US State and Federal prisons were nearly 1.6 million inmates. Many inmates are serving long sentence at these facilities, and many of them are not immune to violence. In fact, most prisoners are still committing crimes within the walls of the correctional. There’s many factor contributing causes for violence, either between prisoners or between inmates and prison staff.

of the time. They offer their insight on effective corrections and individualizing treatments based on predictors for crime and behavioral knowledge, as well as conclude that recidivism is reduced by rehabilitation.

The primary objective of this study will be to determine whether or not incarceration or alternative programs cause higher recidivism rates of female juvenile offenders. This objective will be meet by obtaining a list of repeat female juvenile offenders will be provided from the Chatham County Juvenile Court System and neighboring counties. This study will focus on those female offenders who have

The National Institute Justice states that juvenile crime rates have fallen over 55% than its peak in 1994, but it still a cause for public concern. Actual reasons for this decline are elusive, but there is debate over the facilitation of jail time, or long-term therapy sessions as punishment for the juveniles for their crimes. According to an executive summary by Alex Piquiero and Laurence Steinberg, “Rehabilitation Versus Incarceration of Juvenile Offenders: Public Preferences in Four Models for Change States”, the public has expressed more favor for rehabilitation efforts. Piquiero and Steinberg, who are professors in criminal justice and psychology, surveyed a random sample with questions that pertained to