Criminal Justice
You are the commissioner of the Office of Parole and Community Corrections and have been called before the local legislature to evaluate the need, effectiveness and risks of various kinds of residential and non-residential treatment programs. Develop and write a presentation of about 2,400 words on the need for and types of such programs. Address the political and economic liabilities and public reaction to community treatment programs. Explain a bit about how offenders are screened, their program needs assessed and their treatment planned, as well as how treatment programs are evaluated for effectiveness. Couch your discussion in terms of public educational approaches you might make to garner support for your position (pro or con) concerning these programs, including what research shows about their effectiveness as a tool for successful reintegration of offenders, as opposed to incarceration. Chapters 8,9,10,16
ANSWER
Community Correction Programs
People have different perceptions of community corrections. Community corrections tend to shift perception and meaning from one person to another. For instance, some individuals view community corrections as only probation and parole. In contrast, others see it as more linked to community services and other programs that help in correctional activities (Hanser). Community corrections are programs used to supervise offenders outside the prison systems, including parole and probation. Community-based corrections were developed to give offenders a place in the community while still serving their sentences. Community corrections have served a primary purpose of alternatives for sentencing, intermediate sanctions for probation, parole, and supervision programs. They have also played a significant role in rehabilitation through transitional programs.
Community corrections rely on programs that involve non-incarcerating disciplinary sanctions enforced on the offender to integrate the offender back into the community. Therefore, there is a need to understand the various community correction programs to evaluate their need, efficiency, and the limitations of the non-residential and residential programs. There are different kinds of community corrections, including diversion programs, day reporting centers, halfway houses, work release, parole, and probation. All the community correction programs have specific goals that give the offender accountability surveillance, deliver rehabilitation services, and achieve fiscal efficiency. Understanding the needs, usefulness, and risks of each community correction program plays a great role in the successful rehabilitation and execution of the most appropriate community correction program.
Diversion Program
The diversion programs are alternatives for formal processing of the criminal justice system, which redirects the delinquents from the justice structure by supervision, programming, and sustenance. Diversion programs entail sidetracking individuals who have been involved minor offenses away from the system to a community-centered treatment program that is suitable compared to incarceration (Hanser). The diversion programs are designed to offer the criminals different experiences from the traditional justice encounters. One of the things that make the diversion program more effective is that it targets the underlying problems that led to the offender’s behavior. This improves long-term community wellbeing and lowers recidivism far more effectively than warehousing the offenders before taking them back into the community.
Diversion choices and actions usually happen at the early stages of association and include educational services, service-learning programs, crisis intervention, and counseling. For instance, the diversion program can identify offenders that need mental health intervention or drug abuse treatment. These programs are intended for the welfare and safety of the offender and the community. The community benefits since the offenders are more likely to deliberate supervision while in treatment, thus reducing recidivate behaviors.
Day Reporting Centers
The day reporting centers are also considered community resource centers. These are non-residential multiservice centers that facilitate reintegration back into the community with a combination of supervision and services. The main goals of the community resource centers are to increase supervision for the offenders that are unable to follow conditions or require more supervision, provide rehabilitative treatment and transitional programs such as substance abuse treatment and job training. The day reporting centers are also effective in reducing jail overcrowding. Therefore, the day reporting centers are effective for individuals who need a readjustment period after incarceration.
The participants reside in non-custodial settings but have to report to the centers for program participation and supervision. Therefore, program attendance is compulsory, and participants have to complete the detailed activities and daily schedules. Most of the day, reporting centers have been formed to address alcohol issues. They can be long-term or short-term in nature. Short-term residential programs are offered using a 12 step approach, while the long-term residential program is offered to the house. One of the long-term residential programs is the Federal Bureau of Prisons Residential Drug Abuse Program, which tries to confront the thought patterns, values, and attitudes that cause alcohol abuse. Pleggenkuhle conducted a cost-benefit analysis that indicated that the day reporting centers are cheaper treatment programs than other programs in the criminal justice system (2).
Halfway Houses
Halfway houses program is a center-designed program used to help criminals rehabilitate back into the community. As the name implies, the halfway house occurs when leaving prison and rejoining daily life. In most cases, the halfway house program allows the inmates to leave the facility for sanctioned activities such as job seeking, work, therapy, or forms of recreation. Different types of halfway houses focus on rehabilitating drug victims while others are focused on reintegrating an offender back into society. A halfway house’s security and rules are less strict than prisons since the intimates are of lower flight risk. However, the inmates must attend programs and complete certain work duties. There are various factors that case managers take into account before transferring an offender to a halfway house. These include the court statements, intimate’s character, circumstance and nature of the crime, and the type of correctional facility the judge recommended. Halfway houses lack transparent and standardized policies that define how the halfway house needs to be operated. The wide-ranging discrepancies between the efficiency and quality of the services indicate a large systematic failure of the halfway house.
Work release
Work release programs are being used as transitional programs where the correction agency determines the public safety risks to the community outside than those placed in more secure settings. The work-release programs have served as a bridge between life in the community and prison. The work release programs offer inmates opportunities to re-enter the community and build their resume treating behaviors directly linked to why the offender was confined.
Work release programs pay attention to transition such as retaining and finding employment, reconnecting with family members, treatment, and developing life skills to build productive community members. The offenders refine living and social skills to create a smoother transition from confinement (Brusman). This is an opportunity for creating a productive and safe lifestyle and an opportunity for self-improvement that can be sustained upon release.
Political and Economic Liabilities and Public Reaction to Community Treatment Programs
Community correction programs are effective interventions for community sentencing. Community correction programs have been linked to political and economic liabilities of institutional crowding and the cost of building jails. The community correction shifts the burden of corrections for low-risk offenders from institutions to communities. Considerably, legal limits define the number of prisoners that a single correctional institution can have. Exceeding the number of prisoners may incur fines and civil lawsuits. Therefore, community corrections are aimed at easing the institutional crowding of prisons. Various criminal justice systems have focused on restorative justice, supporting community correction programs. Restorative justice creates an obligation to correct things through proactive engagement of victims and community involvement in the search for solutions that resolve conflicts. The public has a positive reaction to community correction programs since they ensure the safety of the community through diverting low-risk offenders. The objective of offering prisoners correctional programs is to change their behavior. This has been beneficial to the community since it deters offenders from future crimes. The correctional programs aim to ensure that the offenders have life skills that enable them to be reintegrated into the community as compared to traditional incarceration.
Screening Offenders, and Evaluating Treatment Program Plan Effectiveness
Case management has been used to primarily reintegrate the offenders in the community. The needs of the offenders are a major concern in the care management process. However, the offender’s needs are not only balanced against consideration but also the resources available to the community and agency. The effective use of resources is vital for both the community and the agency. Good case management is an integrated system that begins with the assessment interview (Hanser). The initial interview is vital in setting the tone of the offender. For instance, to understand the pattern of behavior for the offender, it’s vital to clearly understand what led to the offenses and the motivation that led to the behavior. One primary aspect of screening offenders is classification. The assessment of needs and risks is the most common form of offender classification. This may entail separating instruments such as questionnaires and interview tools to assess the risk and needs of the offender. For instance, the level of service inventory revised is a third-generation risk assessment tool that relies on semi-structured interviews that comprise 54 items measuring education, criminal history, employment, marital relations, financial status, degree of criminal companions, and attitudes towards correctional supervision.
The treatment of offenders mostly begins with caseload assignment models whereby the offenders are assigned to a community supervision officer. These include conventional model, numbers game model, and convention model with geographic consideration. The conventional model is the most common in the United States since it is simplest (Hanser). This entails simply assigning the offenders using a list of officers. Once the assessment is complete, the case management plan is developed. There is a need to reflect back on the assessment and use the description of the offender’s behaviors and circumstances to structure a plan that meets the factors contributing to the problematic actions. Technology such as matrix systems effectively examines the effectiveness of the case management and the treatment programs utilized. The scores are then analyzed and weighed to determine the effectiveness of the correctional intervention.
Works Cited
Brusman Lovins, Lori, and Brian K. Lovins. “Rethinking Community Corrections.” Victims & Offenders 16.7 (2021): 967-980.
Hanser, Robert D. Community corrections. Sage Publications, 2013.
Pleggenkuhle, Breanne. “Day Reporting Centers.” The Encyclopedia of Corrections (2017): 1-4.
