For the past forty years, two-thirds of released convicts are rearrested for a serious crime they have not committed before and more than half of released prisoners are re-incarcerated over a three year period which has led to former convicts making up 20% of all adult arrests (Petersilia). The high incarceration rate ruins American…
We as a country, should have a structured re-entry process that empowers felons to slowly re-enter society working their way through simple job assignments where their ability to regain trust and credibility is documented through each step of the way. To this end, the government must utilize and apply their strengths and abilities in job assignments that would elevate in responsibility and complexity until these felons are ready to integrate into society. The best way to do this would be to provide incentives for private industry so that they would accept these candidates. Once this structured approach would be applied, it would be necessary to monitor success rates so that required changes could be implemented. To this end, we as a society might be able to say that we had not written off a whole group of society based on many simple short sighted, youthful errors in…
Dealing with or addressing the needs of these populations seems to be a never ending process. I really don’t believe that the department of corrections has really too much to do with addressing the problems of the populations they serve. They pretty much can only watch over and provide so much assistance to these people. My personal opinion is that we have over zealous prosecutors that just want convictions and don’t really care what happens to the people they convict. I have done some research and have found on the U.S. Department of Justice website that…
The criminal justice system has multiple functions and takes on many roles within our society. However, there are many areas within the criminal justice field that use improvement and benefit from an overhaul within the system. The largest change within the system can and should be made within the corrections component of law enforcement. Although there are needed changes throughout the system corrections has proven to be the one component that has been ineffective at curbing recidivism in convicted criminals and is currently unable to provide reasonable outcomes for individuals that are released once they complete their sentences.…
When offenders seek employment and housing, they are often denied a position or home when employers and landlords retrieve their criminal history. Such practices create a significant struggle for ex-offenders to become productive citizens while avoiding recidivism. As we know, recidivism is harmful to both the offender, the community, and in some ways the economy/tax payer revenue. Approximately “sixty-billion dollars” is disbursed annually to house offenders’ country-wide and when ex-convicts reoffend and are sent back to prison, costs increase resulting in spiked taxes for citizens and overcrowding for…
The second chance is not going to be there for most simply because of their background and always getting perceived as the criminal you was punished for instead of a rehabilitated person. If more ex-criminals had the need to know basics of what to expect upon getting released and what available resources and programs are out there to accommodate them then a there might be a chance for the recidivism rates to decrease. Another option is to be more vocal on enforcing those laws and programs to better usage to the ones who needs it most and get a jumpstart on the other programs coming into the society with the means to help rehabilitate the ex-offenders to show our support of the bandwagon. Everyone deserves a fair and equal opportunity in the work place. Although there are more cons than pros to hiring a felon, pros being some of the success stories who were given the opportunity at that second chance to become successful and employers found them to be very dependable, hard workers. Kenyan brown, of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, quoted “Ex-offenders, it is like BEN franklin said,’ The constitution only guarantees the right to pursue happiness, you have to catch it yourself.’ The power to make a positive new beginning rests in…
The United States Department of Justice says that career training should be provided but really gives no plan to help these formerly incarcerated people get jobs after they receive the training in prison. According to the National Employment Law Project (NELP) 75 percent of people are unable to find a job within a year of being released from prison(NELP). The NELP says that labor unions need to play a role in pressuring employers to hire these people. While I believe that this would work I am not sure this is a realistic goal for the NELP and the nation because I do not believe labor unions will push for those who have a criminal record to work beside them. While no organization that I have found pushes for this reform I believe that the government needs to give incentive to companies. If a company knows that the United States Government trains these people while they are incarcerated and then will incentivize their hire with a tax break or something like that I believe that companies will be more likely to hire these formerly incarcerated individuals. While the jobs that they will be unskilled labor many of these people just need a way to get off the ground and reenter the workforce. If people have a job they will be less likely to commit another crime and therefore this will lower recidivism…
Not only has mass incarceration contributed to the depletion of economic resources, but it has also not been proven as an effective means of lowering crime rates. Our current prison system is designed to spend massive amounts of money on warehousing and punishing criminal to then just place them back into society without any of the tools needed to become a constructive member of society, thus resulting in criminal behavior to reoccur. Multiple studies conducted have manifested that “rehabilitation programs, education, therapy, and vocational training have a profound effect on not only bettering the inmate as an overall individual, but on society as well” (….) because these offenders can now become productive citizens that can add to the community.…
There are roughly 700, 000 inmates released from prisons across the United States each year. Approximately two-thirds of those released are re-arrested and more than half are re-incarcerated three years after their original release (Cook, Kang, Braga, Ludwig, & O’Brien, 2014). According to Miller and Miller (2010), “Re-entry is a general programmatic orientation to offender success more so than a specific treatment modality or intervention” (p. 894). Suggesting a need for successful re-entry programs to reduce the recidivism rate and assist ex-offenders with re-entering back into the free society and following the laws. Past research has shown that re-entry is difficult and the majority of paroles or recently released inmates return back to…
Yes, I do agree with you education do play a part in the incarceration rate. A lot of these offenders is uneducated. This is do to the drop out in most school. Also, the dropout rate is due to trying to be socially accepted by friends. Most of the time instead of going to school these people hang with friends, and they end up getting in trouble. These people grades started slipping because they had not been making up their grade, so they drop out. When they drop out, they end up not being able to work or anything, so they start robbing, and stealing to get what they want. These people end up being in and out of jail. Reentry Recidivism helps by providing programs that will help that person pick up where they messed up. These programs will help…
The overall topic of my research paper is mental illness in jails. The population of individuals with a mental illness in jail with a mental illness is no small number by any means and the rate of individuals with a disability that are re-offenders is not compact either.…
Our country is already spending around 80 billion dollars per year on prisoners and yet, somehow, failing to supply a good education program and rehabilitation system. Our prison system is so fixated on punishing inmates that it fails to apply methods that can help lower the crime rate. Rehabilitation techniques differ according to the nature of the criminal and the type of crime committed. However, if applied, both education programs and rehab techniques have a positive effect on prisoners instead of punishment. Some deserve a second chance, and with education, it can be achieved. If the purpose of prison is punishment alone, prisoners are going to build up so much anger and negativity that they will become only more dangerous to our society when they are…
The documentary, The Released, described the challenges those with mental illness face when they are released from prison. In most cases, the inmates were unable to break the cycle of recidivism. The high rate of recidivism within the mentally ill prison population is caused by different factors. One factor that contributes to the high rate is a lack of support, which as a result, may lead to an increased chance of a relapse. Also, the challenge of reintegrating back into the world can be even more difficult due to the person’s mental illness. Once the offenders are released, they face extra obstacles of trying to find a place to leave and a job. All of these factors, together, cause the high recidivism rate for mentally ill offenders.…
The prison system is just as corrupt as the prisoners inside them. We live in a world where it is deemed acceptable to punish a criminal by taking away their humanity, and only release them when they find it themselves. It is apparent that the methods of handling prisoners and their sentences is costly and not effective. The recidivism rate in the United States prison and detention facilities are incredibly high, much higher than their Scandinavian counterpart. Recidivism “refers to a person's relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime.” (National Institute of Justice) According to the National Institute of Justice, “within three years of release, about two-thirds of released prisoners were rearrested; and within five years of release, about three-quarters of released prisoners were rearrested.” (National Institute of Justice) Unfortunately the statistics are only the tip of the iceberg in the severely flawed and failing prison. We must reform the flawed prison system, only than can we correct the criminal way of life.…
Recidivism rate is an enormous problem in the criminal justice system. Recidivism is one of the most fundamental concepts in criminal justice. It discusses a person's reversion into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime. Recidivism is measured by criminal acts that lead to re-arrest, reconviction or return to prison with or without a new sentence during a three-year period following the prisoner's release. According to the National Statistics on Recidivism One study tracked 404,638 prisoners in 30 states after their release from prison in 2005.The researchers found that: Within three years of release, about two-thirds (67.8 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested.…