...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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...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 around because they know that breaking the law is going to make them end up in jail or even dead. It is unfortunate that some of these offenders wait until they are at the lowest of the low to finally turn their life around and cease the temptation of crime. The book argues that ex-convicts have exaggerated many...
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...illnesses, stress, and prenatal exposures while one is still in their mother’s womb. Psychological disorders are serious and can be very detrimental to that person that has it as well as society. One psychological disorder that will be discussed in this paper is anxiety disorder, more specifically obsessive-compulsive disorder. This paper will discuss the relationship between human development and socialization, along with how this relationship affects obsessive-compulsive disorder. Throughout history Elderly Offenders Behind Bars While Reducing the Cost Over time offenders that have been sent to correctional institutions in the United States are sometimes forced to live out the rest of their lives behind bars, in the end causing overcrowding in facilities, increase numbers of aging prisoners and tax payers millions of dollars (Aday, 1994). In 2008 alone, the cost for correctional systems for federal, state, and local systems was $75 billion, much of it spent on older inmates (Warner, Schmitt, & Gupta, 2010). This is money that could have been spent on more beneficial projects like...
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...predators, but also have to worry about adolescent social offenders-which is on the rise. The background has a lot to do with how a child turns out. The fact that both male and female juvenile sexual predators exist is horrifying by itself. The sexual behavior that leads to sexual abuse can start as young as six years old (Smith, B. 2007, September 19). The thought crosses the mind of all parents. How do they protect their child? Unless they plan on following their child everywhere they go, they can only teach them and watch for the signs of both child predators and their victims. Everyone has to wonder what could cause one child to abuse another child sexually, and if they even understand the consequences of their actions. What will happen to the juvenile offender, will they get off with therapy, or will they go to prison to pay for their crime? The younger offenders are getting therapy while the older predators are going to juvenile detention centers or even to prison. When a child relapses a second time, the child could be sent to a child detention center, jail, or a mental hospital for the safety of the public. Most people are not exactly sure what child on child sexual abuse consists of. The fact is that child on child sexual abuse is when a younger child is sexually abused by one or more older children without consent and without any adult involvement. Children abusing children was recognized as a problem in 1979, when studies were already being conducted on college students under...
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...United States prisons exploded over the past three decades, with nearly 125,000 inmates aged 55 or older now behind bars, according to a recent report published by the American Civil Liberties Union. This represents an increase of over 1,300 percent since the early 1980s. (Graying in Prison). Some contributing factors to the increase in elderly inmates are, get tough on crime reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, mandatory minimum sentences, three strikes rules and truth in sentence laws established in recent decades are keeping more offenders in prison for longer periods of time. Inmates are living longer and this also contributes to prison overcrowding. (Elderly Prisoners, 2012). In passing some of these laws, such as the three strikes laws, the courts and the Criminal Justice System did not think about the aging inmates and the problems that go with it. As people age, generally they develop health problems and within the prison system, this is no different. Prisons aren’t geared to the needs and vulnerabilities of older people. In the prison environment, there are a number of unique physical tasks that must be performed everyday in order to retain independence. They’re not the same tasks that are called for in the community. (Elderly Prisoner, 2012). According to Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University and director of the Project for Older...
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...All offenders need secrecy to sexually assault children and they enforce tactics to maintain and ensure that silence. This grooming process, (Christiansen & Blake, 1990), involves carefully planned strategies implemented by the offender to entrap the child in the abuse. It is a refined process of strategic planning by an offender to observe and assess what would make a child keep the secret of sexual abuse. These tactics may involve confusion, threats, games, favouritism, manipulation and bribery. This deliberate process emerges from the offender identifying signs of vulnerability in a child and using his power of adult status and his relationship with the child to entrap and capture them, (Reid, 1997). Recent studies about why and how children often delay disclosing about the abuse indicate that : older children fear the negative consequences of disclosing more than younger children and children who are sexually assaulted by a family member are likely to delay telling. Goodman et al., (2003), found that factors contributing to children delaying disclosure included heightened fears about the consequences of disclosure and heightened feelings of responsibility for the abuse. Goodman’s work regarding children’s disclosures of sexual assault found that factors concerning the age of the child, the offender’s relationship to the child and the child’s fear of negative consequences and perceived responsibility should they disclose, contributed to predicting the time...
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...The YCJA has evolved from the harsh Young Offenders Act [YOA]. Stats on youth crime suggest that the YCJA is helping to reduce the amount of young offenders. Some cases suggest that the YCJA is not being tough enough with what young offenders are being sentenced with. The study of the human brain suggest that youths don’t understand the consequences of the crimes that they are committing resulting in the need for them to know the consequences. Through cases and the study of the human brain the YCJA needs some aspects changed for the better of society. The evolution of the YCJA has been formed from many different acts. Each act consists of similarities and differences between them. Different acts are formed over time to satisfy the needs of punishment as the world develops. The YCJA is the newest act which consist of similarities and differences of the YOA. The main difference of the YCJA and the YOA was the severity of the penalty for the crime committed. The YOA “was a highly controversial statute. While conservative politicians criticized the law for being ‘‘soft on youth crime,’’’ (Pulis). Since the YOA was soft on youth punishment, youths were not too concerned if they broke the law. Youths would break the law get a slap on the wrist and move on to committing more crimes. That is the main reason the YCJA was created. The YCJA was created “to reduce the use of courts and custody for the majority of adolescent offenders and to improve the effectiveness of responses...
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...Microsoft | What Are the Options? | A Study of Recidivism among our Youth | | | December 4, 2012 | | Abstract In this paper I will be going over the study of our neighborhoods impact on criminals primarily focusing on the reentry rate. Also known as Recidivism When exploring such, there are key issues we must pay close attention to, and that’s the group that’s impacted the most- young black males. Secondly we must review the recidivism rate and how they play a role on the neighborhoods where prisoners return. Third we will determine whether race plays a role in certain areas where the recidivism rates are increasing. Lastly we will discuss several implications that could possibly reduce these rates. Introduction: A criminal career is a sequence of offenses during a period of an individual’s life. This repetitive criminal behavior is called recidivism, and indicates the proportion that becomes involved in criminal behavior, at what age criminal behaviors begins, how long the criminal career lasts and the number of offenses typically committed during the course of the career (Farrington, 1992) Also defined as an estimate of the percentage of released prisoner who commit another offense. There are three different measures of recidivism according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. These are rearrests, reconviction, and reincarceration. Rearrests is described as any arrest that was reported to state identification bureau after release from a correctional...
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...crime rates have dramatically decreased over the years, the rates of incarceration have gone in the opposite direction and continue to increase. One of the major underlying factors for the increase lies within recidivism. Repeat offenders make up a large component of the overall prison population. The purpose of this paper is to present the causes of recidivism and the aspects of an offender’s life that tend to lead to re-incarceration. The term recidivism has been derived from the Latin word recidivus, meaning recurring, as well as the term recido, meaning to fall back. It essentially is used to describe a person who has repeated and undesirable behavior after they have already been treated or trained to stop the behavior, or have already suffered the consequences of that behavior. In the criminal justice field, the term is used to describe released inmates who are rearrested, reconvicted, or re-incarcerated. In the past thirty years, incarceration rates have tripled in the United States, and the national state and federal prison population has surpassed two million inmates (Western 3). The statistics regarding recidivism in the United States are baffling compared to the rest of the world. In fact, according to a recent study, almost seven out of ten released male prisoners will find themselves back behind bars within three years of being released from a correctional institution. In fact, the overall rate of recidivism in the United States is near...
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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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...might want to cover the consequences of childhood sexual trauma, not least of which is dissociative identity disorder (D. I. D.), formerly known as multiple personality disorder (M. P. D.). 3. That sounds like an interesting paper. I would probably focus less on causes and more on treatment for pedophilia. Because the causes are arguable (although I just read about a study that came out last week saying there is a genetic component to pedophilia), I think focusing on the treatment and healing process for pedophiles and sex offenders is much more interesting. We already know many environmental factors that contribute to adults "becoming" pedophiles, such as prior sexual abuse as a child, certain mental illnesses (attachment disorders and personality disorders), and other history of abuse. I bought a book recently which might help you, if you have time to go pick it up. I bought it at Barnes and Noble or Borders, I forget... It's a quick read and has testimonies and interviews with convicted sex offenders, mostly pedophiles. It is FASCINATING! It's called "PREDATORS: Pedophiles, Rapists, and Other Sex Offenders" by Anna Salter, PhD. I've always found "perverted" or "deviant" sex acts very interesting and find the treatment and recovery process even more interesting. I've worked with many sex addicts in inpatient residential...
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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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...Suggestions to cub future occurrences. – A case study of Army veteran Edwin Gennette in the Operation Blue Shepherd” Olusegun M. Salako ITT Technical Institute, Hanover Abstract With reference to an online publication on the story of a certain Army veteran and a series of other sources of materials (online, in prints and also by employing empirical interviews and findings), that describe the minds of criminals and the procedures of the police sting operations, especially in the Pensacola area of Escambia County in Florida, USA — dubbed Operation Blue Shepherd, this research work expatiates the effects, consequences and possible aftereffects of this operations when these operations’ tactics cross the line to publicly and unjustly tag unintended victims of their online traps, sex offenders. This paper is also aimed at highlighting the different effects of verdicts of punishment on a culprit and on an innocent victim of poor investigations. This work proffers a solution in the form of suggestions to the cases of genuinely debatable arrests of entrapped individuals with obviously legal intentions as in the case of Army veteran Edwin Gennette. Operation Sting should not pressure their temptation tactics on unintended innocent victims, with the use of legal baits, in order to get them to err. Keywords: pressured temptation tactics, minds of criminals Intercepting, apprehending and revealing the identities of sex offenders to the general public is most welcomed when absolute...
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...Special Offenders Vin Sharma CJA/234 4/24/2014 Keone Thomas Special Offenders Definition According to “(Prison Glossary)” Offenders whose mental and/or physical condition requires special accommodation by DOC employees, contract workers, or volunteers. Special needs offenders may include, but are not limited to, drug or alcohol addicts or abusers, the emotionally disturbed, mentally retarded, suspected mentally ill, physically handicapped, chronically ill, the disabled or infirm, those with documented custody issues and those with limited academic ability or learning disability “(Prison Glossary)”. With that being said there are many special needs prisoners, one that many people are familiar with are the mentally ill, and substance abusing. There are many other illnesses then obvious ones, some prisoners have physical problems, others have infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, while some have serious substance abuse issues. One special offender no one thinks about is the elderly offenders in 2007 over ten percent of inmates in prisons were 50 years or older and many with serious health problems. Mentally ill and substance abusing prisoners In this paper I will be discussing the two common types of special needs offenders, the mentally ill and the substance abusing offenders. Among the prison population there are mentally ill prisoners, special needs offenders, and substance-abusing offenders. These special offenders affect...
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