Rehabilitation and recidivism in criminal justice systems

Criminal Justice - Recidivism

CRIMINAL JUSTICE: CORRECTIONS and RECIDIVISM

Rehabilitation and Recidivism:

Based on the empirical evidence, of approximately 500 studies (Andrews, 1995), successful rehabilitation is substantially dependent on the degree to which rehabilitative efforts relate directly to the underlying causes of criminal conduct and inclination.

Cullen and Gendreau (2000) detail the inconsistent and sometimes arbitrary penal philosophies implemented throughout American history and the insufficiency with which any penal focus on punishment instead of prevention and rehabilitation of convicted criminals provides a genuine solution to the problem of crime in society (Andrews, 1995). While the removal of offenders from society through incarceration does serve the purpose of preventing continued crime by offenders, incarceration alone does not change the likelihood of resumption of criminal activity upon return to society; in some cases, elements of incarceration actually serve as breeding grounds for hardening criminal dispositions and the hostility that already exists to a greater degree within offender populations (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000).

The focus on punishment or incarceration merely eliminates the capability of criminals to perpetrate crime temporarily by removing them from society temporarily.

Except in the case of offenders incarcerated as young men and released only in the later stages of life, incarceration alone does not substantially reduce recidivism. In order to significantly reduce criminal recidivism, what is required is a theoretical approach to corrections that emphasizes the identification, analyses, and resolution of the individual contributing factors that account for criminal behavior in the first place (Andrews, 1995).

Theoretical Approaches to Corrections and Rehabilitation: According to the theory of correctional treatment, the approach to rehabilitating offenders that is most likely to work is one that comprehensively addresses the many individual and interrelated factors thought to be responsible for contributing to a criminal behavior. Specifically, that approach must offer a method of reversing, or at least substantially reducing the impact of those factors. Furthermore, since the particular variables differ among different criminal offenders, an approach that is likely to be successful must incorporate aspects of assessment of the individual for the purposes of designing treatments that address the many different paths to criminal conduct.