Chapter 12: Correctional Psychology in Adult Settings Flashcards
Who is under correctional supervision?
People in prisons and jails as well as those in the community (parole and probation)
Factors that account for the overall fewer number of individuals under correctional supervision
Falling crime rates
The diversion of low-level offenders to special courts
Court decision requiring solutions to overcrowded prisons in the 1990s
- Prompted some states to decriminalize some offenders or shorten sentences
Purposes of jails
Temporary detention facilities for those awaiting trial or a resolution of their cases
Facilities for convicted offenders serving short sentences
- Typically under a year
One of the nation’s largest jails
New York’s Rikers Island
Majority of all offenders (approximately two thirds) in both federal and state systems are…
Under community supervision
- Includes probation and parole
Community corrections
The broad term for a wide variety of options that allow persons convicted of crime to be supervised in the community, such as being placed on probation. Term also applies to parole, the supervision of former prisoners in the community.
Who represents a majority of offenders under community supervision?
Probationers represent majority of offenders under community supervision
- Because they are predominantly nonviolent offenders
Probation
A sentence to serve time in the community, subject to supervision and conditions imposed by courts or probation officers.
- Usually as an alternative to incarceration
Parole
The conditional release of an offender after completing a portion of their sentence.
- Represents 18% of offenders under community supervision
Crimes offenders are incarcerated for
Violent offenses
- Robbery, murder, rape/sexual assault, and aggravated assault
Drug offenses
- Half the inmates in the federal system
Crimes rates of women
Higher rates of drug offenses
Lower rates of violent offenses
Institutional corrections
Broad term for facilities that confine inmates; applies also to their rules, policies, and practices.
Jails
Facilities operated by local governments to hold persons temporarily detained, awaiting trial, or sentences to short-term (typically under 1 year) confinement after having been convicted of a misdemeanor.
Prisons
Correctional facilities operated by state and federal governments to hold persons convicted of felonies and sentence generally to terms of more than 1 year.
Community-based facilities
Correctional facilities that are not institutions and allow supervision of juveniles or adults within their own homes or in special community facilities, such as halfway houses.
Intermediate sanctions
Supervision that is less restrictive than residential placement but more restrictive than the standard probation under which the juvenile or adult offender remains in their own home with conditions attached. Sometimes referred to as probation-plus or parole-plus. Examples may include intensive supervision, day-reporting requirements, or electronic monitoring.
Pretrial detainees
Those persons held in jail before trial because either they are unable to afford bail, or they were denied bail because they were considered dangerous.
- Up to 70% of the population
Detention centers
Facilities where pretrial detainees are held. Jails serve as detention centers as well as incarceration for persons sentenced to short terms, typically under 1 year.
Supermax prisons
High-security facilities (or units within a maximum-security prison) supposedly intended to hold the most troublesome, violent inmates, either in complete isolation or in two-person quarters.
Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)
The major federal agency that coordinates all services provided in federal facilities, such as detention centers, prisons, and hospitals. The BOP also supports research on many aspects of corrections and provides internships for doctoral students interested in careers in corrections.
Entry shock
A problem for persons being held in jail for the first time
Suicide is the leading cause of death in jails
Right to treatment
Statutory right that stipulates that incarcerated and institutionalized persons have a right to receive care and treatment suited to their needs.
Right to treatment case
Case that established this right is Estelle v. Gamble (1976)
An inmate argued that his Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment had been violated
Right to refuse treatment
Cannot be forced to participate in treatment programs
- Applies to both physical and psychological treatment
Rehabilitation
Any attempt intended to bring about changes in behavioral or thought patterns.
Privacy and confidentiality
Inmates have very little right to privacy in prison or jail settings
The confidentiality of psychological records is a topic of direct concern to the forensic psychologist
- Have an ethical obligation to preserve inmate confidentiality to the maximum extent possible
Competency to be executed
The legal requirement that a person convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death must, at the time of execution, be emotionally stable or intellectually capable enough to understand the meaning of being put to death.
Disciplinary segregation
Punishment (physical isolation) for violation of rules. Also may be called solitary confinement.
Protective custody
A form of isolation in which the inmate is separated from others for their own safety.
Administrative segregation
A form of custody exercised by prison administrators to isolate an inmate physically from the rest of the prison population for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to protection of the inmate.
Correctional psychologist has specific training in…
Correctional philosophy Systems Offender management Forensic report writing Treatment aimed at reducing recidivism Outcome research
Psychology Services Inmate Questionnaire (PSIQ)
All inmates entering the Federal Bureau of Prisons…
Administered the Psychology Services Inmate Questionnaire (PSIQ)
- Fill-in-the-blank self-report form that assesses past mental health services and current psychological problems
The Personality Assessment Screener
Promising for quickly tapping psychological dysfunction in jail detainees, incarcerated sex offenders, and inmates in the general population
Screening process focuses on
Suicide risk
Indications of substance abuse
History of hospitalizations and medications
Indicators of violence
Few facilities have psychological staff so the initial screening may be done by corrections staff
The goals of treatment can be characterized broadly as
Mental health stabilization
- Helped to adjust to their environment and develop effective coping skills
Rehabilitation
- Treatment that will try to stop the individual from future offending
Most common treatments
Person-centered therapy, cognitive therapy, behavior therapy, group and milieu therapy, transactional analysis, reality therapy, and responsibility therapy
Risk/needs/responsivity (RNR)
Principles identified by Andrews and Bonita, widely believed and documented to be associated with effective psychological treatment.
Effective in achieving rehabilitative goals
Criminogenic needs
Those dynamic risk factors that have been empirically found to be related to criminal behavior, such as substance abuse or misogynistic attitudes.
Subject to change
Noncriminogenic needs
Needs that are subject to change but have little influence on an offender’s criminal behavior. Psychological states such as depression, anxiety, or low self-esteem are examples used by some researchers.
Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R)
Assesses dynamic and static risk factors to determine offenders needs for services as well risk of reconviction, including for violent offenses.
One of the most prominent
Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI)
A modification of the LSI that focuses on determining the clinical and social services the individual should ideally receive.
Helps identify risks and needs as well as interventions that might be used to change an offender’s patterns
The therapeutic community (TC)
Trained counselors interact with a small group of offenders, establishing therapeutic relationships and engaging them in a process of taking responsibility for and changing their substance-abusing behavior
Instrumental aggression
Committed for the purposes of achieving a particular goal
Programs for violent offenders have two common features
1) teaching techniques for self-regulating aggression
- Taught relaxation skills
2) addressing cognitive deficits
- Offenders are challenged to confront the irrational beliefs or biases that lead to violence
Cognitive-behavioral approach
An approach to therapy that focuses on changing beliefs, fantasies, attitudes, and rationalizations that justify and perpetuate antisocial or other problematic behavior. Believed to be the most effective treatment approach for both adult and juvenile offenders.
Cognitive-behavioral approach had positive effects on treatment of sex offenders
Short-term effectiveness in eliminating exhibitionism and fetishism, some forms of pedophilia, and sexual violence and aggression
Most effective method for the temporary cessation of deviant sexual behavior in motivated individuals
Relapse prevention
A method of treatment primarily designed to prevent a relapse of an undesired behavior pattern. Often used in sexual offender treatment.
Crisis intervention
The intervention of mental health practitioners into emergency or crisis situations, such as suicide attempts, emotional agitation, or psychotic behavior displayed during confinement
