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The Role Of Capital Punishment In Prisons

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Offenders that have done their time and that are released back into society with the expectation to become productive members of society come face to face with struggles unknown to the average citizen. Discrimination, lack of education, insufficient housing, and no access to treatment programs are hardships they face everyday. Without the appropriate support structures in place, before and after their release, increases the probability of recidivism in the offender. Statistics show that more than one third of offenders released back into society will be incarcerated again within a year of the release date. To decrease the probability of offenders being re-incarcerated it should become mandatory for prisons, state and federal, to utilize…show more content…
For years, there has been an on going debate as to whether punishment deters crime. One side argues that the “hard on crime” ideology acts as a deterrent, discouraging future criminal behavior, whereas, on the other hand, some believe that a correctional system that strictly focuses on punishing a criminal does not succeed in changing the behavior, but instead leads directly to more problematic behaviors; thus, ruining the offender’s chances of becoming a productive citizen within society. According to Bockern, Kinsley and Woodward (2000) “In the decade between 1986 and 1996, the U.S. prison population more than doubled, from 774,208 to 1,630,940…no other industrial nation has incarcerated such a large percentage of its population, yet all other industrial nations have lower crime rates” (Bockern, Kinsley & Woodward, 2000, para. 7). In a more recent report, The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that a study tracking 404,638 offenders, from 30 different states, were released in 2005 and found that 67.8 percent of them were re-arrested within three years of their release date and, “76.6 percent were re-arrested within five years of release” (Durose, Cooper & Snyder, 2014, p. 1). The role prisons play in reducing recidivism should be a major concern today. Recidivism rates have roughly stayed the…show more content…
These assessment allow correctional workers the ability to implement programs through the state of nonprofit organizations that will, hopefully, reduce the rate of recidivism and allow offenders the chance to reintegrate successfully back into society. An example of a risk/needs assessment tool used in at least 25 states in America today is the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI). This type of assessment is used to measure the risk and need factors of late adolescent and adult offenders. Guercio, (2015) explains that this tool is relevant to all stages of the criminal justice process and is “extremely informative in determining institutional security levels, type and intensity of treatment programs, conditions of community supervision, and parole decisions” (Guercio, 2015, para. 21). This single application provides all the essential tools needed to aid criminal justice professionals in planning the treatment and management of
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