...Recidivism Introduction Recidivism is defined by USlegal.com is a tendency to lapse into a previous pattern of behavior, especially a pattern of criminal habits. This research it will focus on the pattern of criminal behavior/habits. The topic of recidivism will be focused on the re-arrest, reconviction, or re-incarceration of former inmates. Recidivism is recognized as a serious variable outcome in corrections and a very complicated measurement problem. Recidivism occurs because of a new conviction or a violation of post-prison supervision on probation or parole. Statistical research studies have shown that recidivism occurs normally within a three year period from a prisoners release date and his/her return to prison or jail. Juveniles have the highest recidivism rate and it has been suggested from research to be caused due lower education and alcohol and or drug use. A current trend with court systems throughout the country is to use drug and alcohol treatment programs to reduce recidivism rates of offenders who commit drug and or alcohol related crimes. Higher education is strongly emphasized as well as programs to help prisoners to deal with and cope with the issues of being released back into regular society (Infoplease.com, 2007). The questions is does this work? The realistic and proven answer is that it does for some and for others it does not. Recidivism is an important issue with those concerned with public safety and the cost effectiveness of putting convicted...
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...Nations Survey, 2002). In 2012, it was reported by the U.S. Justice Department that seven (7) million people or one in every thirty-two (32) adults were behind bars; on probation; or on parole. Of the total, 2.2 million were in jail or in prison. According to the International Center for Prison Studies at King’s College in London, the United States has more people behind bars than any other county. The U.S. incarceration rate is 737 per 100,000 people (Vicini, 2012). Why so many incarcerated? It is my belief that it is due to recidivism. What is recidivism? Recidivism is a tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behavior, especially relapsing into criminal behavior. In the prison system, recidivism refers to released inmates who are re-convicted and re-incarcerated. The rates of recidivism have been known to be as high as fifty-percent (50%) (Reducing Recidivism Through Education, 2012). Those who contribute to recidivism have something in common. Most are male prisoners at 89.6%. The ages of 89.6% male prisoners are from 18-34 (Characteristics of Inmates, 2002). Thirty-nine (39%) of prisoners come from single-family homes (The Fatherless Generation, 2012). But, what is most troubling is this: Of the 89.2% incarcerated, 32.7% have...
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...groups, the new and the old groups. The new groups that Walker suggests may have some positive hope are reentry programs, and drug courts. The old groups include probation, parole, and other reintegration programs. Worrall has a similar definition of rehabilitation, stating that “rehabilitation consist of a planned intervention intended to change behavior (Worrall 40). He similarly assesses several of these programs and reaches similar conclusions as Walker. Drug courts are specialized courts that focus on substance abuse. Generally offenders are offered the chance at skipping prison or jail sentences if they successfully complete a substance abuse treatment program (Walker 275). Walker assesses drug courts, when they are well managed and designed carefully, as being promising as possibly lowering recidivism (Walker 277). Worrall reached similar conclusions, stating that while much of the research into the effectiveness of drug courts has suffered from design limitations, they have shown reductions in recidivism (Worrall 168). Reentry programs try and take a fresh look at sending prisoners back into society after revamped educational and counseling programs (Walker 363). Unfortunately there is not a lot of evidence that these programs reduce recidivism rates (Walker 363) Walker concludes that the evidence is inconclusive, programs are in their early stages, and more research is necessary due to the current crisis of so many prisoners being released (Walker 363). Probation is where...
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...Introduction to Criminal Justice Electronic Monitoring and House Arrest Katelyn Fritz November 24, 2013 Introduction Electronic Monitoring (EM) and house arrest (HA) is a system that has been met with both trepidation and acceptance since its integration in the 1980’s. Though it goes by many names, including Community Sentencing and Intermediate sanctions, it still maintains a single identity. It is a form of punishment for offenders as an alternative to incarceration. This program applies to offenders chosen at the judge’s discretion and is based upon the offenders compliance, the nature of the infraction, and the burden on the system. Involved is a period of time where the offender is confined to his home under the supervision of a probation officer and some form of electronic monitoring. These monitoring options include the random call method (RC), an ankle monitor using radio frequency (RF) or GPS technology, or a combination thereof (Burell & Gable, 2008). Electronic monitoring is touted as an ideal means of reducing overcrowding in jails and prisons, but how effect is electronic monitoring and house arrest really? More than 30 years after its integration, there are several issues that have developed, or that have yet to be resolved. To demonstrate this lets us look at one example that occurred in the year 2000. Gerald A. Jones, a young, 18 year old man, was convicted of a robbery after sticking a gun into a woman’s face and stealing her watch. As a...
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...groups, the new and the old groups. The new groups that Walker suggests may have some positive hope are reentry programs, and drug courts. The old groups include probation, parole, and other reintegration programs. Worrall has a similar definition of rehabilitation, stating that “rehabilitation consist of a planned intervention intended to change behavior (Worrall 40). He similarly assesses several of these programs and reaches similar conclusions as Walker. Drug courts are specialized courts that focus on substance abuse. Generally offenders are offered the chance at skipping prison or jail sentences if they successfully complete a substance abuse treatment program (Walker 275). Walker assesses drug courts, when they are well managed and designed carefully, as being promising as possibly lowering recidivism (Walker 277). Worrall reached similar conclusions, stating that while much of the research into the effectiveness of drug courts has suffered from design limitations, they have shown reductions in recidivism (Worrall 168). Reentry programs try and take a fresh look at sending prisoners back into society after revamped educational and counseling programs (Walker 363). Unfortunately there is not a lot of evidence that these programs reduce recidivism rates (Walker 363) Walker concludes that the evidence is inconclusive, programs are in their early stages, and more research is necessary due to the current crisis of so many prisoners being released (Walker 363). Probation is where...
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...National and State Findings on the Efficacy and Cost Savings of Drug Treatment Versus Imprisonment by Doug McVay, Vincent Schiraldi, and Jason Ziedenberg January 2004 Justice Policy Institute 4455 Connecticut Avenue NW Suite B-500 Washington, DC 20008 v 202.363.7847 f 202.363.8677 www.justicepolicy.org POLICY REPORT J u s t i c e P o l i c y I n s t i t u t e Table of Contents Introduction: The national and local problem of drug imprisonment 3 Methodology 4 Finding 1: Treatment can be less expensive than a term of imprisonment 5 Finding 2: Treatment can be cost effective 6 Finding 3: Treatment can reduce substance abuse and recidivism while building communities 9 Finding 4: Promising treatment models exist in Maryland and around the country 11 Maryland: Break The Cycle The Correctional Options Program (COP) Drug Courts: Maryland and the National Perspective California’s Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (SACPA) 11 12 13 14 Conclusion: Drug treatment can be more effective than cycling people in and out of prison 18 Endnotes 20 About the Authors Treatment or Incarceration? was primarily authored by Doug McVay, former research director for Common Sense for Drug Policy, a non-profit dedicated to expanding discussion on drug policy by educating the public about alternatives to current policies. He is the author and editor of...
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...Opening: 1) “The Prison Industrial Complex” a. Is this a new form of slavery? b. Who benefits? Who loses? c. Important because we wanted to shed light on the continuance of slavery in the US that is done in a manner more palatable to the public. d. Social Justice issue because it is basically legalized slavery. 2) Thesis Statement: a. While there has long been a tradition of using prison labor to defray the costs of incarceration, the low/non-existent wages and inhumane/unsafe working conditions fit the definition of slavery, which include: a civil relationship whereby one person has absolute power over another and controls his life, liberty, and fortune; the subjection of a person to another person, especially in being forced into work; work done in harsh conditions for low pay. 3) Synopsis: a. America has the second largest prison population in the world, second to China. b. Two-thirds of inmates in state & federal facilities are African-American or Hispanic. c. The prison population in the US will reach 2.7 million this year; 1.8 million are people of color. d. Americans are often surprised to hear of the varied companies that use prison labor; Nike, Victoria’s Secret, TWA, British Petroleum (BP), McDonald’s, and many others use cheap inmate labor. e. Inmates are forced to work under threat of solitary confinement, loss of good time/work...
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...Justice System Position Intro to Criminal Justice 21 OCT 2012 Abstract The purpose of this paper is to explain how imperative it is to maintain the juvenile justice system as a separate entity from the adult court systems. It must stay separate in both the way cases are disposed and in the way sentence is carried out. Namely, punishment as in the adult system must be avoided and continued to be replaced by rehabilitation. In recent years, there has been intensive debate about whether the juvenile justice system should focus its limited resources on rehabilitation or punishment to curtail the rising statistics in juvenile delinquency. It is my belief that the juvenile justice system should primarily focus on the process of juvenile rehabilitation as opposed to strictly punishment. This paper will include an assessment of law enforcement, court processes, probation corrections, and community services as well as the intervention programs currently available to increase the incidents of juvenile delinquency. In this paper the subject to examine is both sides of the spectrum and try to show that the process of rehabilitation, rather than just straight punishment will provide a more effective solution to the problem of juvenile delinquency. I will be examining some of the arguments that oppose the views of rehabilitation over punishment and attempt to prove that the arguments for punishment are not as valid as those...
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...Paternal incarceration creates a temporary single-parenting system, in which the mother acts as sole guardian, but imprisonment tends to produce far worse effects on children than do other causes of parent-child separation (Lowenstein, 1986). Separation due to death or similar causes disrupt the family, yet these happen to provide a “focal concern around which the remaining members can rally and mitigate the impact of their loss”; quite to the contrary, separation due to imprisonment rarely elicits any such response because of the stigma with which it is associated (Fritsch & Burkhead, 1981, p. 84). Typically, a child faced with the social stigma of paternal incarceration will often also encounter embarrassment and shame, which may in turn further inhibit the ability of the child to adequately adjust to the anxieties resulting from the separation through incarceration (Hannon et al., 1984; Lowenstein, 1986). The deleterious effects on child behavior, of course, are that prolonged periods of shame and embarrassment may promote depression or behavior typical of withdrawal, such as an unwillingness to engage in social interactions. Unlike other causes for paternal separation, paternal absence due to imprisonment is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, which takes on different meaning depending on the manner in which the particular cause for the incarceration is perceived—either as being “normatively approved” or as “bearing a stigma” (Lowenstein, 1984). While there is a correlation...
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...Paul C Federal Bureau of Prisons-Reentry One very important function of the corrections system is to assist inmates that are up for release from federal prison. Assistance is given by connecting these individuals to outside organizations for assistance. These organizations help to reduce recidivism rates. “The BOP contracts with residential reentry centers (RRCs), also known as halfway houses, to provide assistance to inmates who are nearing release. RRCs provide a safe, structured, supervised environment, as well as employment counseling, job placement, financial management assistance, and other programs and services. RRCs help inmates gradually rebuild their ties to the community and facilitate supervising ex-offenders' activities during this readjustment phase.” There are basically five general services provided by (RRCs.) (1) Accountability- Daily counts are conducted to all residence. A resident is only authorized to leave by sign out procedures, and only approved activities are accepted. These are for recreation, counseling, looking for employment and working. These approved activities are constantly monitored by RRC staff members. Individual’s that return to their RRC facility may be given a random drug/alcohol test. (2) RRC staff members help residence locate employment opportunities in their local communities. ” offenders are expected to be employed 40 hours/week within 15 calendar...
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...Society’s response to crime has impacted public policy differently over the years. The way crime and punishment has evolved over the years has been tremendous, but still has the same goal, punishment for a crime committed. The need for crime and punishment has and probably always will be a debate, but in the end what matters most is rehabilitating the criminal to reduce recidivism rates. Society’s views on crime and punishment have always had the same result in mind. Society wants an offender of a crime to be punished and pay for what they have done. The first formal legal code was created in 1780 BCE. The king of Babylonia created the Code of Hammurabi. These laws set out specific crimes and punishments, and had the principle of “an eye for an eye”. (Siegal, 2014). During this time, criminals were punished in proportion to their crime; a thief that was caught had his hand cut off. During the middle ages, the first correctional institutions were developed. These institutions were generally not used as a means of correction, only as a detention until the criminal could be punished by execution, corporal punishment, or exile. (Siegal, 2014). Today, the use of cruel and public punishment are no longer used; hanging, decapitations, torturing, etc. However, incarceration for life and execution are still used for most serious crimes. (Siegal, 2014) The need for punishments for crimes is still in debates. Dr. Karl Menninger argues that most criminals are sick and “why...
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...Juvenile Diversion vs. Probation Juvenile diversion and probation are methods to rehabilitate offenders. There are several differences between diversion and probation. The difference between juvenile diversion and probation is juvenile diversion seeks to avoid the burdensome consequences of formal processing (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2013, pg. 447). Probation is when the offender is convicted of an offense, but rather than being incarcerated, the offender is released and subject to supervision. Diversion can be in two forms which is stopping the process of the case or through specific programs. Diversion programs are private and confidential meetings that are not conducted in public. A diversion program allows the offender to go through treatment and other conditions to avoid conviction while still holding the offender accountable for their actions. Diversion programs are usually for first-time offenders who do not need to be rehabilitated by incarceration or strict supervision and can be expunged after completion. Probation is being monitored and reporting/checking-in. Probation is usually for offenders who need to be rehabilitated by strict supervision but do not need to be incarcerated. Probation includes additional programming with conviction ordered by a judge that includes halfway house programs and other transitional programs. In other words, diversion programs avoid imprisonment and conviction while probation is the punishment for a conviction of an offense and can be...
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...compared to 34% for men (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2005). Approximately 4 out of 5 women in prison have minor dependent children, and the majority of them have sole custody (Belknap 2007). Relationships with their children are often strained by incarceration. The focus of the study will be on the changes women experience within the prison environment, rather than their post-release outcomes. Some of the changes that these women experience within the prison system may affect their likelihood of receiving parole and their behaviors once outside of prison. Previous Studies Most studies on education in prison have focused on its effect on the recidivism rate. In a study of educational and vocational programs in Oklahoma prisons, Brewster and Sharp (2002) looked at how participation affected survival time (recidivism). Controlling for sex, race, age and offense, they found that those...
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...(Foster, 2006). Number five would be self-help groups such as alcohol anonymous and narcotic anonymous (Foster, 2006). Number six would be prison work assignments which are inside jobs assigned to inmates (Foster, 2006). Number seven visitation which is by family members and non-family visits (Foster, 2006). In my opinion prisoner, rehabilitation is a method that helps the inmate processes their criminal activities trying to help them focus on things that will help them to be able to lead a normal life outside of prison; basically I feel it give the inmate some hope. Prisoner rehabilitation started in the era of the 1950s through the 1970s. Rehabilitation was never the only reason for imprisonment (Foster, 2006). There was no precise definition or mission statements available during that time (Foster, 2006). Instead, it was defined in an unclear method when being described by prison officials (Foster, 2006). Scientific penology played a key role in defining and conducting structured thoughts and scientific studies that were later utilized through rehabilitation (Foster, 2006). Prisons incorporated rehabilitation programs, these programs were intended to help inmates learn how to reduce criminal behavior and educational programs were intended to help inmates receive their high school diplomas or a GED. Vocational training programs could be divided into two types: generic...
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...state and local governments got tougher on crime by passing legislation calling for mandatory sentences for repeat offenders, such as California’s “three strikes you’re out” law and New York and other cities adopted the “Broken Windows” strategy that called for the arrest and prosecution of all crimes large and small. Because of these polices the number of violent crimes has dropped. Unfortunately, one unintended consequence of America’s new tough stance on crime is that our prison system has become dangerously overcrowded, forcing prison officials to release violent criminals after serving only a fraction of their sentences. The current system used to relieve overcrowding has created a “revolving door” criminal justice system. The recidivism rate among those released early from state and county prisons is extremely high. In fact, a Department of Justice study found that 67.5 percent of criminals released from prison were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within...
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