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Substance Violence Case Studies

Decent Essays

When assessing the risk of an offender to reoffend certain factors have to be looked at that the person either possesses or lacks and how they might affect his chance of reoffending. These factors are for example historic ones, such as the person's age, dynamic ones, such as …. and protective factors, such as ….. (Costanzo & Krauss, 2015). This case study describes Mr. Smith who has to be assessed before his release from prison. Some of his static/historical factors are Mr. Smith’s history of substance abuse. He reports starting to drink on a regular basis at the age of 15, with his heaviest period of drinking being between the ages of 24 - 29. Further he reports using other substances such as marijuana, cocaine, LSD and heroin. Another static factor is Mr. Smith’s age. He now is 65, and his increased age might somewhat lesson his change of reoffending. Mr. Smith also has a history of violence, being especially recorded during his time in school. He would often receive minor sanctions such as detention for his disruptive behaviour in class. He also got into two physical altercations, once breaking a boys jaw and the second time bringing a knife to school in anticipation of the fight. He was expelled from both schools due to these altercations at the age of 14 and 16. After the second time he was expelled he did not return back to school, but obtained …show more content…

Smith's cases are rather sparse. He is reported as attending his AA meetings, that were a part of his probation requirement, irregularly and forging his documents of participation. During his sex offender treatment he would often have to leave the group due to disruptive behaviour and reported feeling ill. He would also leave in the middle of his individual sessions. Mr. Smith is a certified HVAC repairman and has his GED. This might allow him to find a job after prison. However he was fired from his second job due to the owner believing that Mr. Smith was stealing equipment from his

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