Prison Rehabilitation, the Laughing-Stock of the Nation The rapid growth of the crime control industry is a frightening aspect of contemporary U.S. society. Incarceration represents the ultimate form of surveillance: 24 hours a day, within four walls, monitored by humans, by machines, restricted in their movements. Prisons are overcrowded but the crime rates still do not have a steady trend toward diminishing. So the question arises: do these prisons and other rehabilitation programs have the appropriate effect on criminals or is it a waste of time and our tax payers money. This is a very controversial issue and we are going to discuss it supporting the position that prison rehabilitation and other rehabilitation programs are not the best solution for contemporary crime issues.
One of Americas biggest problems today is the overcrowding of our prisons. This is a problem we all should be concerned about. One reason why is because it is our tax dollars that are being used to build these prisons instead of being used to educate our youth. Therefore, if this problem is not solved soon, the overcrowding will keep rising along with taxes to buy new beds and build new prisons. So then, we need to start taking a look at which people are getting put into these jails and prisons. What kinds of crimes they committed to be placed in these institutions.
A lot, of these people in prison are first time non-violent offenders, who probably really dont need to put be in prison, which means an extra space for someone who should be incarcerated far more than the first time non-violent offender, which leads me to my next point. Some studies have argued that the population of prisons and jails will rise substantially because of the increased prison sentences, limitations on the ability of repeat offenders to earn credits to reduce time, and prisoners required to be sentenced to prison rather than jail. Prison sentences are expensive, they tend to make people worse then when they first entered the system, and they have not proven it to be an effective method crime control. Ex-prisoners generally commit more crimes when they get out and frequently more serious crimes than the ones which first took them to prison. On the other hand, when people who are punished with alternative punishments, and commit other crimes very, rarely are they more violent ones. At this time, I would like to share with you some information on the costs of putting a person in prison along with prison statistics that were obtained by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The system is very expensive; it costs more than $20 thousand a year to keep each prisoner locked up. The increase in Americas prison population shows no sign of slowing down.
The Essay on Prison and Facilities Offering Rehabilitation
Prisoner Rehabilitation is when a criminal offender has been reformed of their criminal behavior. Many correctional facilities offer several different types of rehabilitation programs to the offenders that are housed within the facility; unfortunately with many states seeing budget cuts these types of rehabilitation programs are being cut. With the amount of facilities offering rehabilitation ...
The number of Americans behind bars in this country grew by more than 76,000 last year. (Porporino, Fabiano, & Robinson) Thats enough new inmates to fill Camden Yards stadium in Baltimore, then fill half of it again. In order to make room for all those inmates in prison, the U.S. needs to build about 200 new cells every day at about $50 thousand apiece. Thats $10 million daily. According to Vince Schiraldi of the Justice Policy Institute, Weve cut spending for higher education by 18 percent and increased prisons by 30 percent. (Internet) However, crime has come down steadily over the past seven years. And experts say prisons deserve some of the credit.
Allen Beck of the US Justice Department says, Youre locking up certain high-rate offenders who if they were out would be committing crime. I dont think theres any dispute about that. There is, however, great dispute about spending so much to lock up so many non-violent offenders. Some experts now believe the prison population will keep growing for another 5 to 15 years. The U.S., they say, will soon become the worlds most incarcerated nation. Instead, Prison sentences should be reserved for the violent and dangerous criminal.
The Essay on Prison Rehabilitation Issue
There are over 1. 5 million Americans incarcerated at this moment. With many leaving on parole, while others struggle with high re-arrest rates, many question whether prisons should rehabilitate for a substance and crime free re-entry into society. Those for rehabilitation argue that statistics support evidence that programs which educate convicts, allowing them to get G. E. D. s and participate ...
All law-breakers who do not represent a real threat to life in society should be punished differently. Using prison sentences for criminals who are not violent or dangerous is a waste of the taxpayers money. Non-violent offenders should be placed into community sanctions, rather then in jail or prison, to free up space for the more serious offenders. Rehabilitative and monitoring options include substance abuse inpatient and outpatient treatment, daily reporting services, urine testing, community service work, job training assistance, cognitive restructuring and pre-trial release supervision. Society needs to invest more of their tax dollars in rehabilitation programs than in prisons. In these programs and sanctions there has to be certain types of treatment involved that will point out the risk factors in the offender and treat that risk factor. Out of all the correctional approaches, rehabilitation is the most effective approach to reduce recidivism. The main argument against rehabilitation is that it is too soft on offenders and that it does not work.
If rehabilitation is lenient, but improves the offender then it achieved its goal and is worth it. Recent literature reviews and meta-analysis demonstrate that rehabilitation programs can effectively change offenders (Andrews and Bonta).
Some rehabilitation programs dont work because most programs dont adhere to the basic principals to effective rehabilitation: risk, need, and responsiveness. This means that they have to incorporate high-risk offenders in the program, target the risk factors, and deliver the program in a way that the offender can understand. For example you cant put someone arrested for shoplifting into a program designed for drug offenders or vice versa. It would be counter productive on both parts. The level of recidivism of the offenders treated measures the effectiveness of a rehabilitation program.
There are various effective methods of rehabilitation out there. One rehabilitation option is adult basic education. Educational level is a big indicator of potential criminal offenders. About 80% of criminals in prison dont have a high school diploma. By 1994, a low level of personal education was categorized as one of the six major need/risk factors within the general personality and social psychology of criminal conduct (Andrews and Bonta).
The Term Paper on Juvenile Drug Courts Court Offenders Program
Drug Courts came about as a result of a backlogged court system and a steady, rapidly increasing prison population. Drug courts are a form of diversion that helps the offender through rehabilitation and the community through an increased sense of protection, which serves the best interest of everyone. Drug Courts are community based intermediate sanctions that incorporate treatment principles into ...
So it is logical to think that if offenders are better educated then the lower the chance that they will recommit a crime.
The adult basic education program teaches participants how to read, write, and basic arithmetic. Adult basic education participants whom entered prison with an 8th grade education level or less had a lower rate of re-arrest or parole revocation (46.7%) than non-participants (52.2%) after 36 months. (Harer) The better educated a person is then the better the likelihood that the person will get an honest job and earn a living. Cognitive-behavioral therapy programs are another form of effective rehabilitation. Cognitive-behavioral therapies comprise a number of different approaches which attempt to change behavior by changing the dysfunctional ways an individual thinks – their attitudes, beliefs, and thinking patterns (Porporino, Fabiano, & Robinson).
Mahoney & Lyddon (1998) suggest that there are about 20 different types of cognitive-behavioral therapies which generally fall into two different areas; moral reasoning and development, and information processing.
One of the cognitive-behavioral therapies is Moral Recognition Therapy. The Moral Recognition suggests that people with higher levels of morality are able to behave in a way that is accepted by society. Since criminals behave in a way that is not accepted by society then that mean that they have low levels of morality. Moral Recognition tries to improve criminal offenders moral reasoning to reduce their delinquent behavior, thus also reducing recidivism. Moral Recognition Therapy participants had a lower re-incarceration rate (41.2%) than control group (56.2%).
Moral Recognition Therapy is effective in reducing the recidivism of offenders.
Another form of rehabilitation that is productive is community-based programs for chemically dependent offenders, since the majority of people arrested have been under the influence of some drug or alcohol when they committed the crime. The National Institute of Justices Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) program consistently finds high rates of illicit drug use among arrestees in the 24 participating cities nationwide. In 1995, between 47 and 78 percent of male arrestees and 44 to 85 percent of female arrestees tested positive for use of illegal drugs (internet).
The Term Paper on Morality In Therapy Cognitive Behavior
Morality in Therapy 2 In the world of psychology, there are many perspectives on what will be therapeutically most effective. There have been several therapists who have created and improved upon the therapeutic techniques that help clients today, but sometime unconventional approaches bred new tactics in the fight against mental illness. During My Practicum I took the initiative to see how the ...
These programs target the reasons why offenders depend on the drugs or alcohols. Whether if its because of depression, recreation, or if they were just born depending on the substance and attempts to treat the reason. It is thought that drugs and alcohol has an adverse affect on the offenders ability to reason, therefore contributing to their delinquent behavior.
Participants in prison and outpatient programs were less likely to be arrested (4%) than those in no treatment (29%).
(Martin) Rehabilitation may not work a hundred percent, but it does rehabilitate some offenders. That is more than any of the other correctional approaches could do. The United States has adopted a retribution policy towards criminal offenders. The United States believe that we should just lock offenders up and throw away the key. This approach has made the United States number two in prison population, just behind Russia. Putting offenders away is not going to lower the amount of criminals. It is having a counter effect by raising the amount of criminals. If the rehabilitation approach just rehabilitates 30% then at least that is better than none. Consequently it is possible to say that although we have various kinds of rehabilitation programs, the amount of crime issues has no constant tendency towards diminishing and thus these programs are not so effective as they are claimed to be.
Having said that, we must admit that not having such programs will result in even worse estimates. Personally I think that among many possible alternatives, the only useful way to reduce crime rates for our society is to increase the overall societys responsibility and intelligence. There are many possible ways to approach this goal but that is a totally different issue.
The Coursework on Criminal Rehabilitation
... analyze the effectiveness of criminal rehabilitation programs, we have to define and understand the meaning of programs in terms of rehabilitating offenders. The Merriam-Webster ... is substantial evidence empirical evidence that institution programs reduce recidivism (Krienert & Fleisher, 2004). Prison-based criminal rehabilitation programs have been found out to be ...
Bibliography:
Andrews, D.A., & Bonta, J. (2000).
The Psychology of Criminal Conduct. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing Co. Fabiano, E.A., Porporino, F.J., & Robinson, D.
(2001).
Canadas cognitive skills program corrects offenders faulty thinking. Corrections Today, 53. Harer, M.D. (1995).
Recidivism among federal prisoners released in 1987. Journal of Correctional Education, 46. Little, G.L., Robinson, K.D., Burnette, K.D., & Swan, S.
(1995).
Six-year MRT recidivism data on felons and DWI offenders: Treated offenders show significantly lower re-incarceration. Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Review. Mahoney, M.J., & Lyddon, W.J. (1998).
Recent developments in cognitive approaches to counseling and psychotherapy. The Counseling Psychologist, 16. Martin, S., Sechrest, L., & Redner.
(Eds) (2001).
New Directions in the Rehabilitation of Criminal Offenders. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Internet source. http://www.bsos.umd.edu/ccjs/corrections/Doc/Copyo f%20wareport.htm Bureau of Justice Statistics Prison Statistics. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm Woodruff, Bob. The Prison Boom: Number of Prisoners Has Doubled in Past 12 Years. http://abcnews.go.com/onair/WorldNewsTonight/wnt99 0315_woodruff_story.html Carlson, Norman A., (1999) Hess, Karen M., Orthmann, Christine M. H. Corrections in the 21st Century: A Practical Approach.
Belmont, California: Wadsworth..
