Reducing Recidivism In Prisons

When the American prison system began, it was believed that rehabilitation, the act of restoring one’s character, could be beneficial for criminals to start over. According to Tom Wicker, “The system…began as a reform impulse, the idea that if offenders were isolated, shielded from the public mockery that had accompanied hangings and the stocks, given time to repent, and worked hard, they could be turned away from crime and transformed into useful citizens” (xii). Criminals could become better citizens and have a positive outlook for a future if they worked hard and were secluded from the outside world. Although this idea seems more humane, it did not last long in the prison system because many people believed that any crime committed deserved

Crime prevention is a key aim of the criminal justice system. Offenders are incarcerated in prisons in a expectation that they will feel punished enough to learn from their mistakes and not commit further crimes, this is called deterrence and is a main goal of prisons today (Daly, 2003). Prisons in their current form are often overcrowded, anxiety inducing, restrictive and have been found to exacerbate the mental health of offenders (Matthews, 2016). In saying this, research by Crank and Brezina (2012) suggests that some offenders find prison ‘easier than being on the street’. Crank and Brezina (2012) conducted a study where they surveyed a large group of inmates and questioned them on their views of being incarcerated. Many

Just imagine the city of Houston being populated with nothing but prisoners. This is how badly the prison system has gotten overcrowded since the 1980's, and it is only going to get worse. Overpopulation has affected the lives of prisoners inside and outside of prison with a plethora of reasons that cause more harm than good. The only way to solve these problems is to reform the programs inside prisons and to reform the laws in the justice system. Prison reform is needed in the current rehabilitation programs inside of prison since little effort is used to implement a correct recovery for the convicted. Prison reform outside of prison will edit the laws that have sentenced the convicted to unreasonable sentences so that the punished are seeking out a fair sentence or proper rehabilitation. With the problems in prisons, which specifically affect the prisoners?

The current system that incarcerates people over and over is unsustainable and does not lower the crime rate nor encourage prisoner reformation. When non-violent, first time offenders are incarcerated alongside violent repeat offenders, their chance of recidivating can be drastically altered by their experience in prison. Alternative sentencing for non-violent drug offenders could alleviate this problem, but many current laws hinder many possible solutions. Recently lawmakers have made attempts to lower the recidivism rates in America, for example the Second Chance Act helps aid prisoners returning into society after incarceration. The act allows states to appropriate money to communities to help provide services such as education, drug treatment programs, mental health programs, job corps services, and others to aid in offenders returning to society after incarceration (Conyers, 2013). The Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program is another attempt to provide better treatment for people who are convicted. The study showed that drug offenders who underwent a treatment program outside of prison had a 26 percent less rate of re-arrest after two years than a control group that was sent to prison (Justice Policy Institute, 2010). Rehabilitative programs like the Second Chance Act and the Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program has shown to growth and positive

Does it make sense to lock up 2.4 million people on any given day, giving the U.S the highest incarceration rate in the world. More people are going to jail, this implies that people are taken to prison everyday for many facilities and many go for no reason. People go to jail and get treated the worst way as possible. This is a reason why the prison system needs to be changed. Inmates need to be treated better. The government treats prisoners as if they are nothing in this world. The U.S prison system needs to be reformed by building new and better prisons and making it more humane and fair.

Research strongly indicates that transitional housing reduces the recidivism rates of parolees. Housing for many released inmates is very difficult to obtain for a variety of reasons, including prohibitions against people with drug convictions living in federally subsidized public housing. The state department of corrections has decided to rent a multiple-dwelling unit in a low-income area and to allow 200 inmates to live there six months following their release from prison. People in the neighborhood complain that this parole housing unit will increase crime in an already trouble area, will endanger local children, and will place an undue burden on local police and social service. So now the question is do you open the parole transitional

While at St. Gertrude, Rose would often wander away and have sexual encounters with men. Staff noticed her condition worsening during her time at the school. Dr Bertram S Brown, the former Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, documented that “a neurological disturbance or disease of some sort seemingly had overtaken her and it was becoming The United States incarcerates more people than any other developed nation. While the U.S. population has doubled since the 1950s, the population in state and federal prisons has swollen by over eight hundred percent during that time period. Several policies have resulted in the today’s mass incarnation rates, causing absurd financial strains to state and national budgets that deflect taxpayer money from much needed services, in order to pay for the housing of incarcerated individuals. Conversations about criminal justice reform have to include the issue of incarcerating the mentally ill if the United States is serious about reducing mass incarceration and recidivism.

The fundamental basis of the reentry collaboration is that each constituent of the criminal justice system (e.g., law enforcement, the courts, institutional and community corrections) plays a role not only in immediate offender processing and control (e.g., arrest, conviction, incarceration, release), but also in longstanding offender change (e.g., employment, family, mental health, substance abuse, criminality). Since 1999, the Office of Justice Programs has been instrumental in the development of a series of system-wide reentry initiatives, including the Reentry Partnership Initiatives (RPI) (NCJRS, 2002).

Imagine if a person was a major drug dealer and drug money was their only stream of income. Once that person is caught by law enforcement and sentenced by the court, they spend some time in the correctional system. When they get out, the reality of the label “felon” sticks with them when they’re trying to apply for jobs. If they are unable to make a living for themselves the right way, they will be tempted to go back to their criminal lifestyle. Society makes it extremely hard for felons to reenter society and the felons shouldn’t be at fault because they have limited options. They are going to fall back into their criminal lifestyle because many employers are not susceptible to hiring felons.

Beginning research looked at how many times an individual was arrested after completing the program, how much time passed before being arrested, and how much jail time an individual previously had as indicators of reoffending (Burns et al., 2013). Belenko (2001) is often credited as the pioneer for critically analyzing drug courts’ efficacy in which the author found that drug courts reduce recidivism and save money. However, DeMatteo et al. (2013) claims that because there are so many variations between specialty courts, obtaining accurate data is difficult.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice System (TDCJ) incarcerates 143,691 inmates housed in 124 units (Texas Tribune, 2016). Nearly 95% of prison inmates across the United States will be released from prison (Petersilia, 2004), (as cited in Orrick and Vieraitis, 2015). 21,000 prisoners were released from Texas Prisons, and according to the statistics, one out of five of these inmates will within commit more crime three years after release (Burnett, 2015). According to Burnett (2015), recidivism in Texas is contributed to the lack of decent jobs and or supportive families, and ex-inmates tend to fall into the same environments without any new survival skills. Over time they go back to what they know best, which is to survive by way of criminal

In accordance to the National Comorbidity Study negative risk factors that aide towards mental illness are low income, little education, and no occupation. Given these risks an individual is almost three times more likely to have a psychiatric disorder. Socioeconomic status regarding race, gender all play a prominent role. There are disparities that exist for released mental health inmates especially for minorities, they experience a great disadvantage of finding employment due to a criminal record and mental health status. To add mental health former inmates strive to survive however, given two weeks of medication, faced with poverty, and no other available resources as a consequence re-enter the prison system.

Skeem, J.L., Manchak, S. & Peterson, J.K. (2010). Correctional Policy for Offenders with Mental Illness: Creating a New Paradigm for Recidivism Reduction. Law and Human Behavior,

With well over two million people incarcerated in the United States and countless more tied up within the criminal justice system, alternatives to incapacitation are needed now more than ever. Jails and prisons are feeling the strain on their resources due to overcrowding. This overcrowding has debilitated their ability to function as a place to serve out sentences and to rehabilitate inmates. Alternatives to incarceration could reduce prison populations as well as reduce economic costs. A few programs that have shown to be effective are probation and restorative justice. Probation in particular has allowed for individuals to be interactive with the community and has substantially reduced the prison and jail populations. Restorative justice

According to the National Institute of Justice, “Recidivism refers to a person 's relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime,” (Recidivism). A study conducted in 2005 by the Bureau of Justice Statistics about recidivism revealed “about two-thirds (67.8%) of released prisoners were arrested for a new crime within 3 years” upon release (Cooper). These high rates are influenced by a number of factors both while in prison, and following release. For instance, drug offenders “underestimate their vulnerability post-incarceration,” especially because many often return to neighborhoods that are associated with pre-incarceration drug use. Not to mention, they need proper housing and employment to readjust into society, but they lack access because they are labeled in society (Chandler). Additionally, those who experience overcrowding and do not receive treatment are more likely to reoffend. Research has uncovered that carefully targeted programs significantly reduces recidivism