...The U.S. Department of Justice, the Office of Justice Program states that more than 650,000 ex-offenders are released annually from a state or federal prison. The Department of Justice has implemented a re-entry program; this is when offenders make a transition from prisons and/or jails. The cost of housing an inmate in a federal or a state correctional facility is approximately $20,000 to $25,000 per year. The re-entry population consists all individuals that are returning to society who have been convicted of a criminal offense. These individuals have served time in a federal, state, or local level. Research outlines an effective correctional intervention maintains resources should focus on high risk offenders. Ex-offender are less likely to retain gainful employment, they are less educated, and they have a higher risk of substance abuse and mental health issues. Many of the prison reentry programs varies in methodology, range and scope; however, the best programs according to research are reentry programs that begin during incarceration phase and continues through the reintegrating phase. The United States government needs to be responsible for assisting ex-offenders in becoming a viable and successful candidate in society. These...
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...study done in 2005 showed, more than 65 percent of ex-offenders were arrested within 3 years of release, and about 76 percent within 5 years of release. A recidivism study found that less than half of people released from prison had secured a job upon their return to the community. When it comes to their level of education, only about half of incarcerated adults have a high school degree or its equivalent. In another study, focusing on youth and young adults, it was demonstrated that recidivism rates are at 50 percent or higher for youth released from secure facilities, and as high as 70 percent for youth released from residential placement...
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...have a job waiting on them? Do they have a place to live? Find a place to live, a job to support themselves and their families is one of the biggest things that an ex-offender will have to face when they are released. This is the problem that most inmates have to think about upon release. Some may not have someone in the family that they can turn to. There are those that don’t have a safe place to go to, so they have to worry about can I go there and not get back into the same trouble that got me put into jail in the first place. Ex-offenders should have more opportunities to have jobs, housings, and to more places to get habilitation service if needed. Finding work is hard work in the reentry process for many reason. There are many places that programs that are made to help them to come back into society and also help with finding jobs. But some of these work programs do not make finding a job easy. So the problem is that some overcrowded prisons currently house more than 25,000 inmates or more. The majority of the inmates that’s about 97% will one day be released. They will be starting to return to the communities and cities they used to live in. After getting out, former inmates will face staggering challenges. People that doesn’t deal with this may not know that ex-offends have to deal with a lot of hard challenges in front of them. There is still a...
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...to being released from prison, ex offenders are confronted with an array of sanctioned restrictions, ultimately ostracizing them from society for the rest of their existence. Once labeled a felon, access to programs essential to a successful reentry perish. Employment opportunities and social programs that facilitate effective reentry are not made available to those returning home upon serving their time for the crimes they have committed. The assortment of outlawed freedoms varies from housing restrictions to a lifetime ban on public assistance. In espousing these exclusions, the government has crippled ex offenders to the obligation of crime...
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...According to Peters (2011), the involvement of social workers in the correctional system is peculiar, given that those who are involved in the criminal and juvenile system are unquestionably among the helpless and troubled populations that the profession has conventionally served. The youth probation system shares its root with social work but lacks a robust association to it today. The role of social workers in the juvenile correction has diminished. With such discord between these two groups, it creates a negative impact on the way in which services are provided to these offenders when they are released. When offenders are released, they are faced with multiples of challenges that prevent them from integrating into society. There are...
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...Since the time of their development jail and prison reentry services alike were designed to help formerly incarcerated inmates who are released succeed back into their community, are associated with lowering both rates of criminal activity and reincarceration, as well as improving public safety. These reentry services include interventions such as but are not limited to; job skills training, decent educational programming, help finding housing assistance, and behavioral/health treatment. Nonetheless, executing reentry programs in a correctional setting is challenging, predominantly in jails, where stays are naturally short and recidivism rate remains high. Preparing offenders for a successful transition back to their families and reentry to the community is the primary focus of such community reentry services. The community has a responsibility to make it possible for the formerly incarcerated to achieve successful reentry by forming a reintegrative community. The range and depth of barriers to reentry must be recognized and these counterproductive, discriminatory barriers must be removed. The community can work to reduce the adverse impacts of these barriers on successful reentry by arranging for short-term and long-term supports. Short-term supports address the essentials for survival (e.g., food, shelter, clothing, transportation, drug treatment, identification cards, and drug treatment). Long-term supports address the elements of a stable life (e.g., employment, transportation...
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...Hiring Ex-offenders Everyone deserves a second chance. You should never judge a book by its cover. These are some of the things that should be considered when an employer considers hiring an ex-offender reentering society after release from the prison system. Once a criminal, always a criminal is not always the case. Some ex-offenders have proven to be loyal and trustworthy employees. As well as tax-paying individual who open their own businesses. There are positives and negatives to hiring someone with a criminal background. There are many concerns by employers to hire an ex-offender, such as negligent hiring. An ex offender is a person who has been convicted of criminal offense. Over 600,000 people are being released from prisons or jails annually. Many suffer from different challenges as they reenter society. Among the most challenging is finding employment. Finding employment reduces recidivism for ex-offenders. Recidivism is the tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behavior especially criminal behavior. Research has shown that of the 600,000 individuals that are released 67% will be recidivists. Not being able to find work after release is a major contributor to recidivism. Offenders reentering society have better success rates if they are giving the support need to stay out of trouble during the first year of their release. It is hard for the ex-offender having a record of arrest or conviction. Their backgrounds generally give employers...
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...A STUDY ON THE EMPLOYABILITY AND ATTITUDE OF EMPLOYERS, TOWARDS EMPLOYING EX-PRISONERS AND EX-OFFENDERS AS PERCEIVED BY HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGERS IN ORTIGAS PASIG CITY Prepared By: Ms. Marilyn Dimaculangan CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND INTRODUCTION It is well known that employment is an important need of most individuals; it provides income, social connection, and feelings of societal contribution and self worth. What may be less well known are the barriers to employment faced by those with criminal record, the challenges faced by employers in hiring ex-offenders and what can be done to facilitate employment opportunities as record numbers of people transition from incarceration to the community. A great number of employers are reluctant to hire individuals with a criminal past citing lack of skills and work history, untrustworthiness, and fear of liability for negligent hiring, among other things. Employers use of criminal history background checks over the past decades and they are less willing to hire ex-offenders that any other advantaged group. Their willingness to hire ex-prisoners varies according to the industry and position, the type and severity of offense committed by applicant and work experience since release. Employers are not always consistent in what they say versus what they do when it comes to hiring former offenders and prisoners Jail is a synonym for prison, especially when the facility is of a similar size as a prison. As with prisons...
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...throughout the course of the Maruna book. Desistance can be defined as a sudden end of criminal behavior. Understanding desistance has been a challenge for many years, with many criminologists publishing theories. Matza and Glazer believed that criminal behavior was sporadic. Matza was one of the first people to explain the idea of desistance and theories of criminal behavior. Glazer described criminal behavior as a “zigzag path” because criminals often go back and forth between committing crimes (Maruna, 2001). These criminals can commit a crime and then obey the law for the next couple weeks. The problem with defining desistance is the question of what really constitutes as legit desistance. Like stated before, someone can go months or even years without committing a crime, but does that mean the offending behavior is terminated? Farrall and Bowling view desistance as the ending of a criminal career (Maruna, 2001). Farrall and Bowling describe this type of desistance almost the same way that a person quits a job where one stops doing a routine. The factors that had the most impact on the desistance process would be choice or rational choice. When criminals were asked why they stopped committing crimes most became sick of the lifestyle and hit rock bottom so they wanted to start a new chapter in their lives. This is important because the ex offenders are making rational decisions to stop committing crimes. These people tell themselves that they want to do better and change their lives...
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...independent variable of this research question is whether or not the released inmate will be employed or not upon release. The main dependent variable is whether or not the individual will return to their criminal behavior or not. The unit of analysis we will be studying is individual ex-offenders. Our goal will be to learn something about the population that we are studying and to gather information to identify certain common traits. Observations will be made using the longitudinal study method. Observations will be stretched over an extended period of time, and made twice a year for five years. The notion that having a job reduces the probability of recidivism is suitably confirmed throughout criminological literature. Employment offers the essential earnings for survival, increases self-esteem, advances the connection to a community, and progresses the impression of belonging to a group. Consequently, even if locating employment is strenuous for ex-offenders, a policy that aids these individuals in gaining employment will possibly lessen the likelihood of recidivism. Throughout the last decade researchers have formulated programs to ease the complicated shift confronted by ex-offenders during the phase of time between discharge and reintegration into society. These types of programs ultimately consist of two categories: post-release programs and in-prison programs. Post-release programs...
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...I am Wiley Hayes, and I serve a double role with Beyond the Bridges Ministry. I work as the program’s administrative assistant, managing day-to-day office and program responsibilities. I also mentor new participants, encouraging them to face the challenges of re-entry and providing advice and support as they solve practical problems, such as housing and job search. It is gratifying for me to serve in this way, because the assistance BTB offers can make the difference between ex-offenders getting their lives back on track to re-enter the community or slipping back into old behaviors that return them to prison. I have a special reason for knowing this. I have spent a total of 20 years of my life behind bars. My last conviction sent me to prison for 15 years. I know personally what it is like to come out of prison to face re-entry into the community without housing, without a job, and without a supportive group of caring people to encourage and advise me. Release from prison can present challenges so overwhelming that they lead the unprepared ex-offender back to prison. The key that helped me to survive this demanding time I never would have suspected earlier in my...
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...Reintegration is a general term that refers to whenever an institutionalized individual or someone who has spent a majority of their time in prison is allowed to undergo a process in which they can successfully re-enter society as a person and therefore reduces recidivism. This is unlike the punishment-centered process that convicted individuals go through in the correctional model that is found in most jails today (Stohr, Walsh, &Hemmens, 2008; Whitehead, Jones, &Branswell, 2008). The latter has individuals undergo a procedure that tries to decrease the chance of them repeating whatever behavior lead to their conviction by taking away something they want or isolating them from society. However, reintegration often does not aid the individual...
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...rights should be restored by allowing them to cast votes. According to them, blocking felons from voting is undemocratic, unfair, racially, and politically motivated while opponents state that felons have poor judgment, and should not be entrusted with this fundamental right. This research paper gives a clear summary of two articles concerning their position on felon voting. The first article is Liberal and republication argument against the disenfranchisement of felons by Jeffrey Reiman, and the second one is Locked out: felon disenfranchisement and America democracy by Jeff Manza and Christopher Uggen. Both articles indicate that disenfranchisement of criminal offenders who are already through with their sentences is ethically and morally wrong. The two authors lobby for the enfranchisement of all criminal offenders including those in prison. They indicate that blocking them from voting is undemocratic and unlawful. In their articles, they argue that all Americans should participate in elections since they have a democratic right entrenched in the United States Constitution. Liberal and republication argument against the disenfranchisement of felons by Jeffrey Reiman...
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...actions) by both individuals and society. Incapacitation is a goal that reduces offenders’ ability of capacity to commit further crimes. Rehabilitation means to prepare them for a crime free and successful life. Restitution is making right by repaying society or victims for the wrongs done by offenders (Seiter, 2011, pg 17). “The expectations that society has for the criminal justice system is to punish and rehabilitate individuals who commit crimes. Punishment and rehabilitation are also two of the four acknowledged objectives of the criminal justice system, with deterrence and incapacitation being the others. In the United States, punishment has always been the primary goal to achieve when dealing with individuals who commit acts of crime. Many theorists throughout history have argued which is more effective, punishment or rehabilitation. The effectiveness of punishment and rehabilitation has been analyzed to see the effects on victims and offenders and also the social and fiscal impact on our society. The Classical School of Criminology has proposed that punishment is used to create deterrence and the Positive School of Criminology uses the practice of rehabilitation to reduce recidivism.” (http://www.associatedcontent.com) The strongest goal of incarceration is rehabilitation. The ability to successfully be able to reform offenders to become a working part of society is important. If offenders are not given resources to help them develop skills or better habits they are...
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...for a job. Once they obtain a job they use the same methods to get to their job. The Department of Corrections also does not pay for the use of public transportation. In order to find employment some centers require inmates to buy a bus pass that is valid for at least one month. However, since most inmates do not have any money to buy a bus pass they rely on family or anybody they can convince to send them money. The general public is somewhat leery about allowing inmates to be free to work with the general public. Sometimes when a person of the general public learns that an inmate is working at a restaurant they patronize they won’t return to the establishment. Some people might wonder what the purpose of it is. Will it prevent the offender from committing future crimes? Some people don’t believe in these programs. These people feel that if you do a crime then you must do your time with no special privileges or time taken from their sentence. I have been asked similar questions of whether any of these programs will reduce recidivism I honestly answer “MAYBE.” Wilson et al. and colleagues in 2001 completed an excellent...
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