...Aging Offenders in the Prison System Daniel Trombley American Military University Professor Spivey CMRJ316 Corrections and Incarceration August 10, 2013 An aging offender or an elderly offender is an individual over the age of 55 who breaks the law or is in prison (Newman). It is also a term that can refer to the concept of an aging prison population or to the unnatural pressures of being incarcerated that accelerate the aging process. Oddly, the number of elderly individuals committing crimes and being sentenced to prison is increasing and that creates problems for the correctional facilities in terms of health care as well as mental and physical issues that the inmates themselves have. Unfortunately, little seems to have changed in the past 30 years regarding elderly inmates. Health care is absolutely a major concern. In many countries including the United States, elderly inmates do not qualify for state funded healthcare. The United States National Institute of Corrections identified that inmates over 60 years old cost three times more than those of a younger age to house in prison. (Aday, 2003) Issues such as chronic health conditions or ailments require constant care as well as continual medication to ease the physical or mental problems. Certain administrative bodies of these institutions claim that medical care for the elderly prisoners is the most costly problem of the aging prison structure. A...
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...into Society focuses on key factors in the lives of ex-offenders that may cause or prevent their rearrest. Using disguised field observation, I was able to examine the lives of 11 men who have served time in prison. I compared their ages, education level, marital statuses, number of children, and jobs to the number of times that they have each been rearrested. Initially, I used secondary data analysis to find out what factors have had an effect on ex-offenders. What lacked in previous studies are the long-term effects of these offenders’ family lives, values, socioeconomic status, prison programs/schooling, and their transitions. Therefore, while most research done on the impact consists of one factor alone, I incorporated all of these in to my study. By using existing data and disguised field observation, I was able to compare the data to real people who have experienced having to reenter society after serving time in prison. Of the 11 men that I observed, 5 of them have been rearrested at least once. Although my sample size was small, I was able to see similarities when comparing my results with other studies’ statistics. My findings suggest that the older a person is and the more time that he served, the less likely he is to recidivate. However, my research also suggests that the pursuit of an education, having a responsibility such as a child, or being married, provides enough structure to deter an ex-offender from committing another crime....
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...Prisoners with Special Needs M J CJA/234 Introduction “Special needs offenders are incarcerated offenders with special needs stemming from their physical or mental age or other disabilities. Special needs can encompass many types of conditions like :offenders with severe psychological needs, mental retardation, significant psychiatric disorders, behavior disorders, multiple handicaps, neurological impairment and substance abuse; or offenders with physical handicaps, or chronic or terminal illnesses; or elderly offenders; or offenders with severe social and/or educational deficiencies, learning disabilities or language barriers; or offenders with special security or supervision needs, such as protective custody cases, death row inmates and those who chronically exhibit potential or aggressive behavior; or sex offenders, for whom appropriate treatment may reduce the risk of reoffending” ("Special Needs Offender Law & Legal Definition", n.d.). As more inmates are found guilty and are given prison sentences the prison system has to focus on separating special needs offenders. This separation is necessary to insure safety and balance within the facility. The special needs population can affect both the state and federal level of incarceration because they must gather accurate date. Putting offenders with different needs together can lead to violence issues among inmates. There is also an increase...
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... 2013 Martin Grill Rehabilitation Although many individuals consider rehabilitation as a form of humane punishment for criminal offenders, it is actually a means of therapy rather than punishment. The objective of rehabilitation is to reform the offender so that he or she can return to the free world with the ability to lead a productive life free of crime. The rehabilitative ideal views criminal behavior as similar to a disease which should be treated with the scientific methods available in order to “cure” the offender. Many criminals suffer from mental and physical ailments, drug addiction, and limited opportunities to become successful; these issues increase the likelihood that they will eventually engage in criminal activity. If we merely incarcerate them while they “pay their debt to society”, they will most likely return to society only with additional difficulties; without the proper tools to know how to live appropriately. The additional difficulties gained from incarceration are: a criminal record that impacts the opportunity for employment, they will be older and still without marketable skills or the education needed, social relationships as well as social skills may have deteriorated during the time spent incarcerated and they may have become acclimated to the criminal environment and culture. Incarcerating offenders may actually increase recidivism rates. A rehabilitative approach, as opposed to a punitive approach, would attempt to treat the underlying...
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...What Works with Juvenile Offenders Juvenile Offenders are categorized differently than their adult counterparts for a variety of reasons. The primary reason is that as an offender who is not yet an adult, they are still considered a protected class due to their age and the concern of disrupting their rights to council and the rights of their parents to help dictate the events in their lives. Over the past few decades there have been several studies completed correlating the quantitative analysis in primary research studies with success rates of juvenile offender treatment. Because of the repeated success of certain treatments over others, these studies have lead to an agreement on what programs and intervention strategies work and which have little to no repeated success. By analyzing these treatment strategies as they have been portrayed in academic literature and through the primary research that has been completed, a summary analysis of what plans work when dealing with juvenile offenders will be devised and put forth as the best option for treatment. The first aspect to analyze when dealing with implementing a new strategy for juvenile offender reformation and treatment plans is the idea of quality of the plan versus quantity of sessions required with all individuals in correctional institutions across the United States. In the past two decades, the numbers of individuals within the correctional systems across the United States has skyrocketed. In 2004, the jump in population...
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...benchmarks of the juvenile courts as they expanded from Chicago, their original birthplace, into other states and eventually in other parts of the world. However, in the recent year rising incidences of juvenile criminals being tried as adults has increased as it was before the advent of the first juvenile court. Much of this stems from the public outrage against the children who, in high numbers, are engaging in violent crimes. Many countries have adopted legislation that permits them to juveniles to be tried as adults. In some countries, there are provisions that allow prosecutors to try children as young as 14 years under certain circumstances (Grisso & Schwartz, 2000). Juvenile courts establishment aimed at separating the youthful offenders from the adult criminals and thereafter processing and rehabilitating them in forgiving and less punitive manner compared to the adult criminal system (Redding & Fuller, 2004). The main reason behind the distinction is because the juveniles are developmentally different from adult in the sense of underdeveloped self-control, increased vulnerability and influence from the outside i.e. peer pressure, and other major developmental immaturities. Arguably, juveniles have reduced decision-making skills, require different service needs, and less blameworthy compared to...
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...Juvenile Criminology Student’s name Institution My discussion question Adult prison system is unsuitable to meet the needs of young offenders as shown by various research studies. The process of maintaining public safety, successful integration of young offenders to the community, rehabilitation, skill development and treatment are the main goals of the juvenile system. As suggested by Howell, (2003), justice can never be served by forcing juveniles through a system never intended to process teenagers, moreover transfer laws have worsened the implications they intend to address. Juvenile justice system was essentially established because many teenagers were subjected to awful violations in adult jails and prisons hence resulting to the society as more hardened criminals. Placing young offenders in adult prisons heightens criminal behaviors after release according to the findings. There is well founded fear that several number of young offenders slated to be placed in adult jails are more likely to be assaulted ,commit suicide and raped. Juveniles are driven to desperation and abused regularly in adult prisons because they are not specific measures to protect the young offenders from the adult prisoners. My completes work Case summary Issue Roper v. Simmons’ main issue is whether the application of Death penalty on a person who committed murder at age 17 amounts to “Cruel and Unusual” sentence and thereby barred by the 8th and 14th Amendments (Dinkes, et al 2009) Facts The...
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...October 12, 2015 Dennis Holder Sentencing Paper An analysis of the state and federal objectives of punishment are the consequences or penalties for a crime(s) that have been committed. The punishment ensures that the offender is adequately punished for the offences they are being accused of. The implementation of punishment is to prevent the criminal behavior by deterring the offender from committing similar offences. Usually punishment applies to the offender per the crime that has been committed (Hamilton, 2014). If the accused is a repeat offender of federal crime then they go to a federal prison, for almost every other crime the offender goes to a state prison. A prison-- whether it be state or federal, main objectives is preventing and controlling criminal behavior and acts. There are seven usual punishments depending on the judge’s and/or the jury’s decision at trial (Hamilton, 2014). The minimum sentences like Intensive supervision such as: parole, house arrest, probation, etc., Rehabilitation such as: counseling, drug rehab, restitution, community service, fines, etc. On the contrary, more sever punishments include: capital punishment and incarceration. This type of sentencing is imposed as a criminal sanction by a judicial authority. Mandatory minimums, such as: the three strikes laws and sentencing guidelines require specific sentences. It is done with little consideration of personal factors as it pertains to offenders, their crimes, and victims, because the state and...
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... | | The purpose of this paper is to discuss, evaluate and examine the preceding events and passage of three strikes laws in many of the country’s| |states, and the effectiveness of these laws. | In 1992, shortly following the murder of his 18-year-old daughter, Kimber, Fresno photographer Mike Reynolds drafted a law that would impose mandatory sentences for repeat offenders. It was proposed as both a legislative measure and a ballot initiative, but neither made much headway at first. According to Reynolds, legislatures “laughed it off” when he first brought up the measure to them. Then, in October of 1993, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was kidnapped, molested, and murdered by Richard Allen Davis, a repeat sex offender with a long record of criminal convictions. He was on parole at the time. Polly’s father, Marc, hit the national television circuit and campaigned for passage of harsher...
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...types of deterrence: general and specific. Specific deterrence is when criminals are deterred from future crimes because they have been punished. At whatever time convicted criminals state they want to avoid returning to jail, specific deterrence is in effect. General deterrence is when the community or people in general are deterred because they know criminals are punished. For example, when driving a vehicle, it is known not to speed or a ticket will be issued; to avoid receiving a ticket, don’t speed. “Under deterrence, criminals are hypothesized to be rational individuals who weigh the costs and benefits of crime outweigh the costs” (Meyer & Grant, 2003). Rehabilitation is an endeavor to end criminal behavior by alleviating offenders of their criminal activity. Rehabilitation is determined or influenced by many factors. With that being said,...
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...area. However, along with those good times, also came some heartaches and pain due to crimes committed. Many of those little leaguers we watched on the football field years ago, we watched some of them be carried off into police cars or the medical examiner vans. We have watched them as playful children who eventually ended into drugs and violence. One can only ask what we can do to save our community for all of this negativity. The purpose of this proposal is to introduce the idea of a program entitled “Safe House”. Safe House stands for Substance Abuse Free Environment. Safe House will cater to men, women, and juvenile offenders. This proposal will be a brief summary of the crime in our community as well as how this program will be beneficial in preventing more crimes in our area. This proposal will also analyze the SARA Model along with the Crime Analysis Triangle and determine how both would be beneficial in the development of this program. This proposal will also discuss how effective will Safe House be in our community and how. It will then discuss my recommendations, predictions, and outcome of these programs. Sunnyside is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city of Houston since the early 1900’s. The populations as of today Sunnyside is made up of nearly ninety-four percent African American, four percent Hispanic. Sunnyside is currently ranked number six in the United States for most dangerous neighborhoods, and the most dangerous in the state of Texas, with a...
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...Youth Offending – A critique of the possible risk factors. By Caren Rossall Student I.D - 20166665 Abstract This report provides an insightful outlook on the potential risk factors associated with delinquent youths. An analysis of the mixed method research carried out by the author is provided. Questionnaires were distributed between 2, diverse areas which provided a set of contrasting opinions and beliefs. Personal, information is also shared on the topic from the interview with a previous youth offender. Why it is that children and young people become involved in criminal activities has been the focus of leading researchers for many years, resulting in a wide and varied literature base for this particular study. Some of the contemporary material has been evaluated and used in conjunction with the primary data attained. Introduction The purpose of this paper is to unravel some of the possible risk factors associated with youth offending. Why it is some children, as they grow up, become involved in criminal activities while others respect the law and stay out of trouble has been a largely debated question for many years (Utting et al, 1993). Not only has this topic been chosen as it is of great interest to the researcher but the classic British longitudinal studies of youth offending appear to be many years old. Existing literature from theorists, professionals, government reports and any other secondary research carried out regarding this chosen topic will...
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...child/children and family members is called intra-famial. They normally don’t go outside the family because they think that they can persuade the child/children not to report them to the police. Pedophilia is the sexual attraction to children and they desire children, they usually work very close with kids like at the YMCA, schools, and church. Pedophiles’ normally don’t have children or families. They are sexually violent offenders are the perpetrators who are most violent. My hypothesis is the children who are molested or raped grow up to become molesters and rapists who keep the cycle going, rather than getting help. Children are the main victims in today’s society to molestation and rape, one reason being is that they are the easiest prey to prey on. Molestation and rape can happen anywhere and by anyone like schools, church, vacation, by the baby sitter, their fathers, uncles, cousins, grandparents, complete strangers, someone who they have come in contact with several times, etc. Children who do not receive help are likely to grow up and become adult offenders’ and do the same things that the perpetrator did to them. It...
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...Amendment reads, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” The Fourteenth Amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process or law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protected of laws.” Analysis 1. The Eighth Amendment reads, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.” A.) As explained in Atkins, the Eighth Amendment guarantees individuals the right not to be subjected to excessive sanctions 2. The Fourteenth Amendment provides, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protected of laws.” Conclusion Justice Anthony Kennedy in March 2005, the United States Supreme Court ruled that standards of decency have evolved so that executing juvenile offenders who committed crimes while younger the age of 18 is “cruel and unusual punishment” prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. The United States Supreme Court in Roper v. Simmons ruled in favor of...
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...Annotated Bibliography: What the Literature Says About Juvenile Sex Offenders The following articles, factsheets, and studies have been compiled to assist attorneys and individuals working on behalf of youth charged with sexual offending. The information contained in these resources aim to help others realize the fundamental differences between adult sex offenders and juvenile sex offenders, which include positive responses of juveniles to treatment, low recidivism rates of juveniles and negative impact of registries on youth development. It is our hope that this information will be used to improve legal outcomes for juvenile sex offenders, and uphold the purpose of the juvenile justice system as a rehabilitative, not punitive, system. PUBLICATIONS BY TOPIC Recidivism Rates/Amenability to Treatment Judith V. Becker, What We Know About the Characteristics and Treatment of Adolescents Who have Committed Sexual Offenses, 3 CHILD MALTREATMENT 317, (1998). The author states that comprehensive data does not exist to support the notion that if adolescents commit one sexual offense, they will go on to develop a pattern of sexual-offending behaviors or develop a psychosocial disorder. Michael F. Caldwell et al., An Examination of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act as Applied to Juveniles: Evaluating the Ability to Predict Sexual Recidivism, 14 PSYCHOLOGY, PUBLIC POLICY AND LAW 89, (2008). This study compared 91 juvenile males who had been treated in a secure correctional...
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