Week 11 Flashcards
Corrections and Rehab
A history of penology and beliefs about criminology
Read the Encyclopedia Britannica entry on Penology (Links to an external site.) (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2014) for a brief overview of the division of criminology focused on the philosophy and practice of society as it tries to repress criminal activities. Having moved on from the era of demonic possession, we now generally attempt to bring about a reduction in criminal behaviour by treating the offender’s cognitive processes.
Alternative correctional programs
Modern approaches to crime and criminology have seen new alternatives to traditional incarceration. Select each of the following tabs to learn more about three types of units within the prison system that take a different approach to the incarceration of offenders.
Offense based Unit - These are specialised units within the institution (prison) that house those who have committed a specific crime (e.g. paedophiles).
Faith based Units - These are specialised units within the institution that house those who have a strong religious or faith-based orientation.
Culture Based Units - These are specialised units that house those who share a strong cultural tie.
Watch the clip below to see an example of culture-based units. See how New Zealand has approached the rehabilitation of Maori prisoners though alternative correctional programs. Please note that this weeks discussion will refer back to this video.
Parole and recidivism
Review the Australian conditions for parole by reading Corrections, prisons and parole: Conditions (Links to an external site.) (Department of Justice Victoria, 2014).
Parole is defined as the supervised release of an offender before the expiration of their sentence. Parole generally carries with it a number of conditions which, if breached, results in the person being returned to prison to complete their sentence. Recidivism is essentially ‘reoffending’ once a sentence has been completed.
Reentry reconsidered: A new look at an old question (PDF 2.4 MB) (Links to an external site.) (Travis & Petersilia, 2001, pp. 291–313).
We first view the reentry phenomenon through a jurisprudential lens. We argue that a reentry perspective sheds light on three natural experiments in justice policy: namely, the fourfold increase in per capita rates of incarceration, the disintegration of a unified sentencing philosophy. tThen discuss recent changes in the profile of returning prisoners. Examining linkages between the reentry phenomenon and five related social policy domains.
The per capita rate of imprisonment in America hovered at about 110 per 100k from 1925 to 1973. 476 per 100k in 1973, state prison now house 1.2 million people. 596485 in local jails, 3 fold increase since 1980
The burden on the formal and informal processes that should work together to support successful reintegration of prisoners has increased enormously
Michael Tonry 1999 – called fragmentation of American sentencing policy
Liberals critiqued indeterminate sentencing by judges and discretionary release decisions by parole boards as presenting opportunities for distortions of justice.
The imposition of indeterminate sentences with low minimum and high maximum prison terms was criticized as a fraud on the public
Nearly every state has in some way repudicated indeterminate sentencing
A reentry perspective focuses attention on the impact of these developmnts on the process of release and reintegration – on the timing of the release decision, the procedures for making the release decision, the preparation of the prisoners for release, the preparation of the prisoners family and community for his or her release, supervision after release and the linkages between in-prison and post release activities
The psychological literature on coping and adaptation in prison concludes that long-term imprisonment may cause depression, anxiety and mental breakdown
The absence of a dominant sentencing philosophy has also left the current sentencing regime, actually, a national crazy quilt made up of piecemeal sentencing reforms – without a public rational that would explain the relationship between imprisonment and release
The increase in incarceration and fragmentation of our sentencing philosophy have rcreated strains on the raison d’etre and management of parole agencies
There are 2 views of development. On one hand, as discussed below, parole supervision has not been proven effective at reducing new arrests and has been shown to increase technical violations
However, research on the issue has shown no support for the argument that violating offenders on technical conditions suppressed new criminal arrests
On the other hand, if in transition from prison life to community life is difficult, and if some form of supervision can make that transition more effective, then the loss of a legal connection would appear counterproductive
The increase in prison populations has had the predictable impact on parole caseloads without proportionate increases in resources
The nature of parole supervision has shifted over the past 2 decades as well. The parole field has uneasily accommodated two potentially conflicting objectives, one more akin to social work, one more akin to law enforcement
The rate of parole violations has increased significantly over recent years
The rise in rates of parole failure coupled with an increasing based of parolee populations has had profound impacts on the nations prison population
One characteristic that has changed is the crime for which the offenders were convicted
The profile of returning prisoners is changing in other respects
More sobering is the decrease in the preparation of these prisoners for thei release
The inescapable conclusion is that we have paid a price for prison expansion, namely a decline in preparation for the return to community
Another important perspective is that the growing numbers of returning offenders are increasingly concentrated in neighborhoods already facing enormous disadvantage
Research also suggests that there are high concentrations of prisoners in a relatively small number of neighborhoods within the central cities of the core countries
High rates of removal and return of offenders may further destabilize disadvantaged neighborbhoods
Alternative theories suggest that this tipping point may differ across communities and that in some cases – particularly in very high poverty, high crime areas, incareeration may be an effectgive tool for controlling crime
A focus on reentry highlights connections between criminal justice policy and other social policy domains that are provocative and suggest new directions for research and policy
The population moving through correctional facilities in the US presents serious health problems. A period of incarceration often has positive consequences for the health status of a prisoner
The overlap between public health population and the criminal justice population is striking
However in prison treatment is not readily available to those who need it
The concern about the connections between criminal justice policy and drug treatment policy is brought into sharp focus by two distinct research findings.
1. There is significant body of evaluation literature demonstrating that in prison drug treatment in the period leading up to release can, if combined with treatment in the postrelease period, significantly reduce both drug use and recidivism
2. Comes from research on the brain, addiction is a brain disease
Inmates with mental illness are also increasingly being imprisoned and ultimately being released
One of the undeniable aspects of imprisonment is that relationships with family are strained, consequences for child rearing, high rates of incarceration in poor neighbourhoods create a high level of ongoing disruption in family relationships
The reenry perspective focuses policy attention on the moment of release
The current strong economy presents unusual opportunities for linkages between ex-offenders and the world of work
In many ways, prisoners leave prison with only part of their debt to society paid, much more is owed and it may never be paid off
These kinds of disqualifications and burdens, constitute a very real component of the punishment – taken together they reflect a philosophy akin to internal exile under which ex-offenders are cut off from civic participation
No discussion of imprisonment would be complete without a focus on the impact of incarceration on different racial groups
The consequences of imprisonment on minority communities and our democracy are profound
It strikes us that this abbreviated summary of some of the data presents at the Reentry Roundtable that we co-hosted in Oct 2000, argue strongly for strategic engagement between these varied policy sectors and criminal justice policy using the moment of reentry as the focal planning point
3 corners – the logic of parole, the mission of corrections and the allocation of public and private responsibilities for the reintegration of offenders
Logic of Parole:
Parole has both operational and jurisprudential meanings for criminal justice policy
2 part jurisprudential logic:
- Completion of a prison sentence represents payment of a debt to society
- Every substantial period of incarceration should be followed by a period of manged reentry
Supervision during this period would be the responsibility of a new community based entirty
There are important and interesting experiments in this new approach to the taskof reintegration
Mission of Corrections:
The department of corrections should also embrace the new mission of reintergrating returning prisoners
Just as welfare reform forced welfare agencies to shift from a dependency model to a model of transition to independence so too a reentry perspective should force corrections agencies to take practical steps to move prisoners towards independence
Allocations of Responsibilities for Reintegration
The released prisoner has an important role to play, a role that we think is enganced if made visible and explicit as in a reentry court
We think it important to move these activities as close to the community as possible
The creation of a community-based intermediary working on criminal justice issues could conceivably win the trust of the community and coalesce schools and civic institutions to support the work of reintegration of returning prisoners
Chapter 5 Academic education and life skills programs (Links to an external site.) (MacKenzie, 2006, pp. 69–89).
Educational programming in prisons originally focused on religious instructions.
Educational programs were considered a mainstay of correctional rehabilitation.
Despite the tough on crime rhetoric of many politicians and decision makers there appears to be a general belief that education has benefits in its own right
One reason for the continuing emphasis on educational programs is the strong correlation between educational level and criminal activity
Administrators responsible for developing educational programs in prison are faced by the need to design programs that span primary, secondary and post secondary levels.
Literary has been defined in many ways but is usually characterized by grade level
Even states that do not have mandatory literacy requirements use incentives to encourage school enrolment
Recently, life skills components have been added to many academic curriculums
The consensus about the desirability of literacy programs in prisons does not appear to extend to postsecondary education
Conspicuously absent from the research literature in the area of education is a discussion of a theoretical explanation for the connection between education and postrelease offending
One mechanism by which education will theoretically affect recidivism is through improvement of inmate cognitive skills
Other research demonstrates a connection between executive cognitive function and antisocial behaviour
Some researchers and educators argue that the importance of education may be in its ability to increase individuals maturity or moral development
In contrast to the perspective that educational programs will increase general problem solving, perspective taking, executive cognitive functioning, or stage development, economic theories of crime hypothesize that the programs are important in reducing offending more directly via increased skills and employability.
Despite the fact that education programs are one of the cornerstones of corrections invtervention, the quantity and quality of the research examining the effectiveness of such programs in reducing recidivism is severely limited.
More recent reviews of the research assessing educational program effectiveness in reducing criminal offending have been more positive
Many failed to use significance tests and those that did employ statistical tests failed to produce significant findings in favour of program participation
The life skills participants had lower recidivism rates; however similar to the basic education/ GED programs, few of the studies used statistical tests to determine significant differences, and overall the effect sizes were moderate or small
According to the results of the meta-analysis those participating in the ABE, GEDand combined ABE or GED recidivistic at a lower rate than comparison groups.
Little research has examined in particular what works for whom, when and why
According to our decision making rules, there is sufficient evidence to say that the results from the ABE, GED and PSE educational programs effectively reduce future offending
PSE is also effective in reducing recidivism
There is insufficient evidence to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of life skills training programs
Familiarise yourself with the history of penology (penal system)
penology, also called Penal Science, the division of criminology that concerns itself with the philosophy and practice of society in its efforts to repress criminal activities. As the term signifies (from Latin poena, “pain,” or “suffering”), penology has stood in the past and, for the most part, still stands for the policy of inflicting punishment on the offender as a consequence of his wrongdoing; but it may reasonably be extended to cover other policies, not punitive in character, such as probation, medical treatment, and education, aimed at the cure or rehabilitation of the offender; and this is, in fact, the accepted present sense of the term.
The principal aims of penal science are: to bring to light the ethical bases of punishment, along with the motives and purposes of society in inflicting it; to make a comparative study of penal laws and procedures through history and between nations; and, finally, to evaluate the social consequences of the policies in force at a given time. Thus conceived, penology represents a grouping of studies, some of which, dealing with the aims and the moral or social justifications of punishment, date from a remote past, while others, having to do with the wider social implications of the system, have scarcely yet made a beginning.
Modern penology dates from the publication of Cesare Beccaria’s pamphlet on Crimes and Punishments in 1764. This represented a school of doctrine, born of the new humanitarian impulse of the 18th century, with which Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, and Montesquieu in France and Jeremy Bentham in England were associated. This, which came afterwards to be known as the classical school, assumed every criminal act to be a deliberate choice determined by a calculation of the prospective pleasures and pains of the act contemplated. All that was needed to overcome the criminal purpose was to provide for each and every crime a penalty adequate to overbalance its assumed advantages. Excessive penalties, such as death, were unnecessary and therefore unjust.
The classical school was followed, a generation later, by the neoclassical school of the revolutionary period in France, which modified Beccaria’s rigorous doctrine by insisting on the recognition of varying degrees of moral, and therefore of legal, responsibility, as in the case of children and the insane, as well as of mitigating circumstances in general. The doctrine of the “individualization of punishment”—that is to say, of the punishment of the individual rather than of the crime committed by him, which is of commanding importance in present-day penology—is only a development of this fundamental principle of the neoclassical school.
This normal historical development of penology was interrupted during the last quarter of the 19th century by the widespread acceptance of the theory of crime and its treatment promulgated by Cesare Lombroso and his disciples. This, at first known as the Italian, or continental, school of criminology, was later named the positive school, so-called because it pursued the positive methods of modern science. Its fundamental doctrine was that the criminal was doomed by his inherited traits to a criminal career and was therefore a wholly irresponsible actor. Society must, of course, protect itself against him, but to punish him as if he were a free moral agent was as irrational as it was unethical.
Although the enthusiasm for the doctrines of the positive school waned and the alleged facts on which they were based were largely discredited, it nevertheless left a valuable legacy of influence. To it must be given much of the credit for the present active tendency to make the mental study of the criminal an essential part of his diagnosis, a fact that has given the psychologist and, particularly, the psychiatrist a leading place in the development of modern penological theory. From studies such as these, criminologists discovered that there was no single formula that accounted for all violators of the penal code, while the policy of the individualization of punishment took on the form of individualization of treatment.
Indeed, the emphasis turned to research—research into the factors, whether individual or social, that determine criminal activities and research into the resources of the community for making such disposition of the offender as will effectually protect the former without destroying the latter.
What do you understand of rehabilitation therapies/ approaches?
Modern approaches to crime and criminology have seen new alternatives to traditional incarceration. Select each of the following tabs to learn more about three types of units within the prison system that take a different approach to the incarceration of offenders.
Offense based Unit - These are specialised units within the institution (prison) that house those who have committed a specific crime (e.g. paedophiles).
Faith based Units - These are specialised units within the institution that house those who have a strong religious or faith-based orientation.
Culture Based Units - These are specialised units that house those who share a strong cultural tie.
EG: For the discussion this week have a look at the video ‘Whare Oraga Ake to ease transition (2011) under 11.2. The video looks at an alternative sentencing program in New Zealand for Maroi prisoners. The purpose-built reintegration facility aims to provide high level of support for Maroi prisons transitioning back into society. This is to ensure those leaving prison have the support and skills needed to transition back into society and will hopefully stop re-entering the criminal justice system.
The New Zealand prison population is made up of 53.4% Maori, however only 16% of the general population identify as Maori. This signifies a over representation of Maori in the prison population, similar to the over representation of first nationals in Australia prisons.
What do you understand of cognitive skills programs?
According to the results of the meta-analysis those participating in the ABE, GEDand combined ABE or GED recidivistic at a lower rate than comparison groups.
Little research has examined in particular what works for whom, when and why
According to our decision making rules, there is sufficient evidence to say that the results from the ABE, GED and PSE educational programs effectively reduce future offending
PSE is also effective in reducing recidivism
There is insufficient evidence to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of life skills training programs
Offenders released on parole are still under sentence and must comply with the conditions of their parole order. Parole conditions are set by the:
The Adult Parole Board.
Which of the following is NOT an alternative correctional program covered in this week’s learning materials?
Music-based units
Corrections Victoria have kind of program to help prisoners and offenders as part of their reparation to the community?
Community work partnerships
