Offender Rehabilitation Treatments

Five different types of rehabilitation Treatment

Describe about offender rehabilitation treatments?

Rehabilitation is generally considered to be a goal for re-incarceration. Throughout the decades there has been a lot of discussion and debates on the different types of rehabilitation treatments that can be undertaken for the offenders. Research has been conducted in order to elaborately study on these treatments of rehabilitation and their respective ability to reduce the rate of recidivism (Bernfeld, Farrington & Leschied, 2001). A number of criminal justice researchers have been involved in the development of a theory as to the reasons behind for the working of some of these offender rehabilitation treatments and the not working of the others. In this study there are five offender rehabilitation treatments that has been discussed and researched. These five offender rehabilitation treatments are Psychological Behavior, Sex offender programs, Educational, vocational and Religious.

These different types of offender rehabilitation treatment have been discussed below. One of the very essential offender rehabilitation treatments is the rendering of vocational training of the prisoners. Irrespective of the offenders being juveniles, adults, criminals on remand or simple convicts these prisoners are made to go through vocational training while they are in the period of incarceration (Sagarin & MacNamara, 1973). In most of the prisons in the country these trainings are given a lot of significance and it is hoped that the prisoners after being released from the prisons, they would be able to have a career that would be more successful that it was assumed. Some of the important things that any vocational training in the prison should be addressing are rehabilitation of the offender, reintegration of the offender and the questions as to whether the prisoners would ‘do time’ or ‘use time’ while they are in the training sessions.

With regard to vocational training practices one of the prisons that underwent the vocational training practices is the Idaho Department of Correction offenders. The training involved the rendering of education to the prisoners, treatments and attending of various services.

Prior to undergoing of these training programs the offenders are required to determine the condition of their health, their mental condition, the needs of the programs and the level of education of the prisoners.

The other type of offender rehabilitation treatment is the treatment of the offenders based on education. The education treatment is generally in two separate parts. Firstly, the treatment is based on the case plans and secondly on the assessments. By preparing a proper case plan and creating a appropriate plan for accountability and then properly prioritizing the requirements of the offenders these people can be given proper educational facilities which would later assist them to successfully integrate in the society (Boer et al., 2011). There exists a variety of the core programs which has been identified and later these programs have been implemented in the correctional home and also in the communities.

The third type of correctional treatment that has been dealt with in this study was conducting offender rehabilitation treatment through the process of religion. Research states that community correctional facilities should highlight the religious, moral and ethical sides of the society into these rehabilitation treatments. This is primarily due to the reason that generally religion plays a very significant part in developing the social as well as the personal responsibilities of the offenders. This would be helpful in reducing the rate of crimes and preventing further crimes in the country. Along with the victims the society also suffers a lot from the crimes that take place in the society.

Types and Classification of Offenders

The next significant type of rehabilitation treatment would be through psychological treatment. This model of treatment is based on the primary facts that the offenders should be generalized and no discrimination should be made based on gender, race or class. This training model is primarily based on the cognitive skills and the pro-social skills (Andrews &et al. 1990). The psychological approach through the help of experts and doctors tends to motivate the thinking style of the offenders and try to tilt their personalities positively so that when they move towards being incorporated in the society they would neither be a threat to the society and would also be able to incorporate themselves smoothly in the society (Gendreau, 1996).

Finally one of the rehabilitation treatments undertaken for the specific criminals is the sex offenders programs. In this particular area there exist a number of different types of programs that can be implemented by the trainers (Marshall, 2011). One of the most important program in this area is one that comprises of a four month program that helps sex offenders who are generally in a position to inflict less risk or those who can be released after a certain period once supervision is completed and when they can be included in the treatment (Stump, Beamish & Shellenberger, 1999). The treatment program is conducted through various topics and formats.

Even though there are a number of offender rehabilitation programs all the programs cannot be implemented on all the types of offenders. For instance the sex offender treatments programs are specifically for the offenders who have been convicted or have been accused for sex crimes. This is primarily because these types of offenders are generally affected mentally and psychologically (Casey, 2013). Hence they need to be treated accordingly. Offenders can be further categorized based on the seriousness of the crimes.

Generally the offenders who are observed to be completing their term in the prison are the ones who are motivated towards religion and spiritual practices. Further criminals who have serious records in crimes are the ones who are given psychological rehabilitation in order to change their mindsets and make them appropriate for the outside society (Jensen & Rojek, 2009). Also criminals who come from the lower strata of the society are the ones who would ignorant of education. Hence educating these criminals would be a good offender rehabilitation treatment for them. Vocational training may be given to those criminals for whom crime is the only way present to earn money. If these criminals are given an opportunity to earn money through lawful ways they would remove themselves from the path of crime. Therefore it can be stated that the type of rehabilitation program that would be applicable for the criminals depend on the needs of the criminals.

All the five programs that has been mentioned here are subject to a number of limitations that depends on the types of criminals, the applicability of the programs with respect to the various circumstances, the expenses involved in the training programs that is to be incurred by the state. Nonetheless, these offender rehabilitation programs are also proven to be extremely effective in being able to motivate and reform the offenders for the betterment of the society (Holten, 2002). Hence it can be observed that all of these offender rehabilitation programs are not foolproof. Each of these programs has their own pros and cons. For instance the sex offender programs attempt to decrease the possible unusual behavior (Clear & Dammer, 2000). It attempts to act as a all-inclusive treatment which tries to motivate the offenders, provide psychological and social education to the prisoners, evaluate them psychologically and prevent the relapse of the training programs (Osborn, 2007). These programs are generally structured in a minute manner for every person involved in the treatment. These programs further encourage the offenders to accept their guilt and be responsible for their criminal deeds (Marshall, 2011). These programs also generally record the progress of the individuals in the different stages of the treatments.

Limitations and effectiveness of the programs

The other offender rehabilitation programs such as the vocational training programs also have a lot of effectiveness. These programs keep in mind the work history of the offenders along with their training requirements (Finkelman, 1995). These details are critically analyzed with the requirements available in the labor markets. Depending on these the aftercare services are conducted in these training programs. The adjustments with regard to the vocational training are adjusted in accordance to the ex-offenders in the society and a close monitoring is done for rehabilitating and settling the processes (Pallone, 1993).

With regard to the psychological approach for offender rehabilitation programs some of the basic requirements would be the manner in which services are delivered considering the cases which render high risks, the different styles and modes of treating the offenders and targeting the requirements for criminals (Cullen & Applegate, 1997). These are the things that are essential for any psychological approach to be successful. All these forms of treatment can be applied to adult as well juvenile offenders.

Hence for any offender rehabilitation treatment to be successful it is essential that these treatments are applied in the appropriate manner to reduce the risks of failure.

Crimes and the behavior of criminals have always been a very important concern for all people throughout the world. The questions that arise in this regard is how the society should be responding to these behavior of the criminals and what needs to be done in order to reform these criminals.

This study deals with the religious method that is used by the rehabilitators in order to reform the criminals. Research shows that the religious perspective of every individual plays a very significant part in shaping the society and the people of the country. Hence religion can be considered as a very significant tool to improve the condition of the prisoners in the country.

In contemporary times there has been a wide vacuum in the correctional homes based on the religious and moral values. This gap is very astonishing since generally the public have always held that the role of religion would be very essential in reforming the criminals and throwing out the negative aspects from the minds of the criminals (Grimsrud & Zehr, 2002). A number of commentators including famous sociologist Emile Durkheim have agreed to the facts that religion does play an important role in reformation of criminals. Religion primarily increases the social, personal and moral values of people and assists in decreasing the criminal behavior of the individuals.

Research in this field dealing with religious methods to correct criminals have also increased and has also showed that through religion the criminals have been affected positively. Number of studies have proved that the involvement of religion in the prisons and among the inmates have gradually diverted their attention towards spirituality. Some of the other studies have shown that there happens to be a lot of differences between the inmates who have been given religious treatment and the ones who have not been given religious treatments (Casey, 2013). Further research on the influences of religion on recidivism, it has been observed that there exists three different studies and these three studies have been subject to various level of support, with regard to the connection between rate of recidivism and involvement of religion, from the reform community.

These studies on the effect of religion on the correctional facilities have proven that the impact of religion on the offenders is very inspiring the relationship between the two is to be considered. Gradually most reformists are realizing that since religion is practiced in the prisons the expenses involved in the prisons would be extremely less and also it should be mentioned that generally a huge amount of contributions are made to the  religious prisons by the prison chaplains and various other volunteers. A recent example may be provided in this regard. In the prison for men in South Carolina which is also known as the Lieber prison, it was observed that in a span of one year nearly one half of the prisoners attended a minimum of one prayer meeting that was organized by twenty three various religious groups inside the prison.

In total there were almost eight hundred and sixty nine religious meetings that were held in the prisons with two of them being held each year. Two full time prison chaplains along with four other clerk inmates of the chaplain, some of the religious leaders who were inmates and another two hundred and thirty two volunteers contributed approximately twenty one hours in this process to arrange these religious gatherings and take an initiative to improve the criminal behaviors of the people. The cost that was required to be paid for each prisoner was around $150. Other scholars who have conducted reform programs for prisoners have stated that any good reform program that is generally conducted for the prisoners for reducing the infractions and recidivism usually tend to cost around $14,000 for each and every inmate in a year (Grimsrud & Zehr, 2002).

In most of the state prisons in the country there are at one third inmates who take interest in Bible group studies, or in religious services for worship or other religious activities. Research further states that religious programs is considered to be one of the most regular form of programs that is being practiced in most of the prisons in contemporary times. Some of the other most common programs after religion is the self – help programs such as resolving problems, searching for jobs. These are prevalent in most of the state prisons in the United States of America.  Hence from these data it is clear that even in the present times religion plays a very crucial part in the United States and also in the prisons of the country. This picture is evident even though there are no possible visions on religion or the formal expression of the meanings or regulations in the system (DiGiorgio-Miller, 1994).

The religious reforms that took place in the prison in South Carolina were a result of the extreme hard work of a huge number of volunteers. Research states that the primary motivation for these inmates that was instilled by the religious volunteers was the fact that they should act in faith and they should try to create a difference. The prison inmates were gradually inclined to be motivated by the number of religious reasons such as bringing a positive change in the society or in the lives of the other people living in the society. There exist voluntary organizations in various parts of United States which have huge number of volunteers who work in the different parts of the justice system to rehabilitate the criminals and give them a better life. One such organization is Prison Fellowship which has approximately 50, 000 volunteers belonging from different churches and this depicts that religion indeed has the capability to bring about drastic changes in the offenders. However, it is important that these fellows have a will to change for the better and involve themselves in religious activities.

In almost all countries morality and religion hold a very significant position and are crucial to the penal system. Hence it should be given equal importance for reforming and developing the correctional facilities so that the country is successful in creating a more just, kind and a society that is free of crimes.

References

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Bernfeld, G., Farrington, D., & Leschied, A. (2001). Offender rehabilitation in practice. Chichester: J. Wiley & Sons.

Boer, D., Eher, R., Craig, L., Miner, M., Pf & auml., & Fflin, F. (2011). International Perspectives on the Assessment and Treatment of Sexual Offenders. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Casey, S. (2013). Foundations of offender rehabilitation. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Clear, T., & Dammer, H. (2000). The offender in the community. Australia: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Cullen, F., & Applegate, B. (1997). Offender rehabilitation. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate, Dartmouth.

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Finkelman, B. (1995). Treatment of offenders and families. New York: Garland.

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Holten, N. (2002). Book Review: The Treatment and Rehabilitation of Offenders. Probation Journal,49(1), 57-58. doi:10.1177/026455050204900120

Jensen, G., & Rojek, D. (2009). Delinquency and youth crime. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc.

Marshall, W. (2011). Rehabilitating sexual offenders. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

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Pallone, N. (1993). LEGISLATIVELY-MANDATED TREATMENT OF SEX OFFENDERS: UNSETTLED ISSUES. Journal Of Offender Rehabilitation, 20(1-2), 159-205. doi:10.1300/j076v20n01_10

Sagarin, E., & MacNamara, D. (1973). Corrections: problems of punishment and rehabilitation. New York: Praeger.

Stump, E., Beamish, P., & Shellenberger, R. (1999). Self-Concept Changes in Sex Offenders Following Prison Psychoeducational Treatment. J. Of Offender Rehabilitation, 29(1), 101-111. doi:10.1300/j076v29n01_08