There are over half a million prisoners every year released from American prison facilities. Correctional facilities across the United States, to combat recidivism have changed their approach from being punitive to rehabilitation. Other nations such as Japan and Scotland have made changes to their correctional facilities and developed rehabilitative programs. By employing research, correctional facilities are developing innovative methods necessary for the rehabilitation of prisoners in the prisons. The system has been a success and has proved to be important to the prisoners but also to the general society (Frantzen, San Miguel, & Dae-Hoon, 2011). The program if well implemented will provide the necessary ground for reform in correctional institutions across the globe.
With crowding in prisons across the globe, questions are being raised on how effective punishment is. Reforms are a necessity in prisons so that recidivism can be effectively combated, this ensures inmates can be released from prison with confidence and play a part in society. A lot of prison inmates are individuals from poor backgrounds, low levels of education, and abuse drugs and other substances. These circumstances make it difficult for their rehabilitation, there is a need for creative methods to truly rehabilitate this person.
Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI), is a program that was implemented in the American correctional facilities for serious offenders (Wakeling, Freemantle, Beech, & Elliott, 2011). The program focuses on their preparation before release and a follow-up after they are released; it was the first program to deal with serious offenders, as previous programs were more on inmates who are not threats to society. The program has had success, the program was only there for a few years and the federal government spent a lot of money on the program but its effect was changing prison rehabilitation forever. After the discontinuation of the program, other programs have been implemented such as Prisoner Reentry Initiative. All the initiatives are meant to properly integrate prisoners into society and lower recidivism.
Annotated Bibliography
Asscher, J. J., van Vugt, E. S., Stams, G. M., Dekovic, M., Eichelsheim, V. I., & Yousfi, S. (2011). The Relationship between Juvenile Psychopathic Traits, Delinquency and (Violent) Recidivism: A Meta-Analysis. Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry, 52(11), 1134-1143.
The paper focuses on the relationship between juvenile psychopathic tendencies and recidivism. The study indicates there is a relationship unless a deliberate attempt is made to integrate the juvenile into the society. The juvenile inmates need assistance else they will result to violent recidivism which is not good for the society.
Frantzen, D., San Miguel, C., & Dae-Hoon, K. (2011). Predicting Case Conviction and Domestic Violence Recidivism: Measuring the Deterrent Effects of Conviction and Protection Order Violations. Violence & Victims, 26(4), 395-409. Web.
The paper focuses on protection order (PO), especially in regards to domestic assault and how the sentence can affect the probability of recidivism. The paper provides further knowledge to previous paper on the subject, the paper evaluates recidivism rates on protection order violators and how the people can be assisted.
Kolbasovsky, A., Reich, L., & Meyerkopf, N. (2010). Reducing Six-Month Inpatient Psychiatric Recidivism and Costs Through Case Management. Care Management Journals, 11(1), 2-10.
The paper focuses on how inpatient psychiatric recidivism can be reduced, it also focuses on the costs of recidivism in the society. Recidivism is costly in the society and ways should be put in place to reduce it from occurring as it destroys the society and individuals who can be valuable.
Spjeldnes, S., Jung, H., Maguire, L., & Yamatani, H. (2012). Positive Family Social Support: Counteracting Negative Effects of Mental Illness and Substance Abuse to Reduce Jail Ex-inmate Recidivism Rates. Journal Of Human Behavior In The Social Environment, 22(2), 130-147. Web.
Most of inmates who have been incarcerated and where there is a high recidivism rate, the people are associated with problems such as mental problems, low level of education and drug abuse. The paper has solutions to the challenges especially on what the society, especially the family can do stop the cycle.
Wakeling, H. C., Freemantle, N., Beech, A. R., & Elliott, I. A. (2011). Identifying predictors of recidivism in a large sample of United Kingdom sexual offenders: A prognostic model. Psychological Services, 8(4), 307-318. Web.
The study was meant to conduct a model that could be used to determine violent and sexual recidivism. This model was important before release of inmates, as it would enable the correctional officer to determine the level of integration and preparedness of the inmates. The study is conducted in prisons in the United Kingdom.