The Effectiveness of Special Programs Specially Designed to Move College Students Out of Academic Probation
Luisa Fernandez
PSY311. SECTION 07
Professor Maria Hartwig
December 15, 2014
Introduction
Humiliation, disappointment, and stress can be felt by college students who have fall short to meet the academic standards of his or her institution. Imagine experiencing all of these and many more emotions and not having someone to help you through the process. Students on academic probation form part of the student population in every college. Often this population of students are not provided with special programs in place to help and support them move out of probation. Whether or not your department or institution has a program in place, it does not negate the fact that probationary students badly need help (Christie, 2002). College students are likely to fall on academic probation after their first year of college. The students might go through transition problems, depression, family issues, and many other reasons that might lead them to fall below their college standards. I will be conducting a study where I will be measuring the effectiveness of special programs designed to move college students out of probation.
Research reveals that students on academic probation typically earn less than a C grade point average (Tover and Simon, 2006). It is even more alarming that many college students constantly withdraw from their load of
Probation boot camps refer to correctional centers that follow a military essential training model, which emphasizes discipline as well as physical conditioning. They are based on shock incarceration and military techniques, and are aimed at assisting young offenders. The first known boot camp was started in 1971 in Idaho though their popularity did not start until 1983 when they were created in Oklahoma and Georgia in 1983 (Cullen, Belvins Kennedy, and Trager 56). Several needs were attributed to the rise in popularity of these boot camps. The first was the need to develop intermediate punishments that would punish young offenders. This
2. Consider seeking one or more probation officers for use on campus to help supervise and counsel students. This would be especially appropriate for high schools with a significant caseload of juveniles on probation.
Probation serves as the most frequently used sentence for those convicted. This is evident when you consider that the United States justice system oversees nearly 7 million people. Over half of those, a staggering 3.7 million people, are on probation with another 840,000 on parole (Rabuy, 2017). With those individuals representing the largest percentage of the American corrections system, it is important that we learn as much as possible about probation in order to improve the success of these programs. Probation involves a set of conditions that the probationer agrees to adhere to in exchange for remaining in the community. Typical conditions include a waiver of the offenders fourth amendment rights, maintaining employment or school
The transition from high school to college is a dynamic time in one’s life that parallels the change from childhood to adulthood. Both of these changes are dramatic and, as a result, feelings are difficult to put down into words. A messy combination of emotions fills the heart, surfacing in strange ways. Confident high school seniors go right back to the bottom of the chain when entering college as freshmen. These students start all over, just like entering grade school or high school for the first time. The move up from high school to college signals the switch from dependence to self-sufficiency. From a personal point of view, going through the experience of graduating high school and transferring to a residential college campus at STLCOP, made me realize I was no longer a kid and capable of making my own decisions.
Despite the wide usage, probation is often under the lense of intense criticism. It suffers
Undergraduate students who do not maintain a GPA of 2.5 or higher will be placed on Academic Probation.
The rate of incarceration among probationers at risk of failing during the year decreased slightly from 2010 to 2011. In 2011, 5.5% of probationers at risk of failing were incarcerated, the same level as 2000, but down from 5.7% in 2010. (p. 6) Maruschak and Parks (2012) also stated:
First, the impact of the age of mass incarceration and the paradox of probation theory. The United States has been steadily massing incarcerating for four decades. In the meantime, researchers have suggested using probation as a way to bring down the prison population, but studies show that probation will increase punishments and increase the prison population. Correspondingly, college students started to lose interest in the probation field for the reason that most of the government resources were being invested in the prison system. Phelps (2013), states,
Therefore, courts did not want to see juveniles continue to become repeat offenses. Judges have discretion in sentencing and reviewing all factors such as the seriousness of the crime, the age of the child, and the duty to protect the public. (Latessa & Smith, 2011) The rise in juvenile caseload led to probation disposition thus giving juveniles another chance. (Latessa & Smith, 2011) The primary goals of probation became to assist youths in dealing with their individual problems and social environments. Juvenile probation was to provide guidance such as counseling, resources, and supervision to low-risk juveniles to adapt to constructive living, thus avoiding the necessity of institutionalization that creates stigma. (Latessa & Smith, 2011) However, probation is less expensive than incarceration and somewhat effective in reducing the further delinquent behavior. (Torbet, 1996) When community-based programs such as probation were correctly implemented, recidivism rates were equal or slightly lower than the institutional group. (Latessa & Smith, 2011) The juvenile and the juvenile's parents must cooperate with the probation counselor and obey the conditions of probation. (Davies & Davidson, 2001) Probation may be voluntary, in which the juvenile agrees to comply with a period of informal probation instead of formal adjudication. (Davies & Davidson, 2001) However, if the juvenile violates the terms set for probation, then he or she imposes a harsher sentence such as incarceration at a detention
Here in Hawaii a program called Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) was created by Judge Alm. The way it works is this, if an individual is in violation of their probation they will immediately be jailed for 3 no more than 4 days for their infraction. Judge Alm would liken this to parenting; when a child messes up you must deal with them immediately and consistently to produce a greater outcome.(www.slate.com) According to the article Probation that Works “Participants in HOPE were 55 percent less likely than members of a control group to be arrested for a new crime, 72 percent less likely to use drugs, and 53 percent less likely to have their probation revoked. As a result, they served 48 percent fewer days of incarceration.” This has proven to be a successful program for Hawaii while other state determine if they can replicate this
Most individuals in the Federal Prison system will come into it very depressed and wallow in their own self-misery which will leave a negative impact on their transitional process. However, there are those mindful individuals who choose to use the time they are incarcerated to positively improve their lives by staying active in the programs offered through the Bureau of Prisons. There are several options for those inmates who are interested in furthering their educational goals, as the prison system makes it mandatory for all inmates who do not have their high school diploma
In 2005 men received probation at a rate of seventy- seven percent and women were allowed probation at the rate of twenty-three percent (Kaeble & Bonczar). Among these groups fifty-five percent of those given probation were white Americans, thirty percent were black Americans, thirteen percent were Hispanic and one percent were American Indian and Asian. During this period in 2005 seventy- two percent of the people who were granted probation was on active supervision while nine percent were on inactive supervision and one percent served residential or home confinement (Kaeble & Bonczar). Fifty percent of those awarded probation in 2005 were felony offenders and forty-nine percent had committed misdemeanor offenses, eighteen percent were
Incarceration is not always the best choice of punishment. It puts strains on the individual’s relationships and causes job loss. Therefore, most often, diversion and probation are the best punishment options. However, under certain circumstances, such
Many people ask the question- does probation work? Work means do the people after being intervened by helping them where they are required to change their problem behavior and supervision refrain from their criminal acts. Probation involves correcting juvenile and adult offenders’ behaviors to prevent them from repeating the crimes. Probation brings in the offenders as productive people from being destructive. In the United States, it was reported that most adult offenders had completed their probation successfully.
With an increased demand for skilled labors, many students nowadays find themselves needing to complete some form of higher education at college to ensure their success in the workplace and their future career goals. Although freshmen students often enter college with high expectations and ambitions, many eventually drop out of college. Why does that happen? In an ever-changing and more competitive environment, the demanding expectations on college students now soar at unprecedented heights, creating stressful and unpleasant experiences for many of them as they try to keep up with all the burdens inflicted upon them. In their writings, Dr. Christine B. Whelan, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alan Schwartz, and Nisha Ramachandran explore and illustrate some of the stress-creating challenges that freshmen struggle with today. Even though many factors contribute to the huge list of problems for first-year students, many of the problems that create stress for college freshmen fall under the categories of academic factors, (what adverb to add) teachers, and personal-life conflicts.