Detectives and police officers are not the only people who make up the criminal justice system. Primarily, the human service workers play an essential role in supporting victims, preventing crime, and protecting offenders in several different locations. Human service worker mainly integrates with people of different demographics, and they include juvenile detainees, a victim of abuse, prisoners, and people of other crimes. Importantly, people working as human service in the criminal justice system have three primary objectives to fulfill, and they include developing the treatment plan, evaluating community’s or client needs, and putting the program into action. Moreover, human service workers in the criminal justice system have several personality traits that help them in their work, and they include responsible, analytical, patience, problem solver, compassion, excellent communication skills, and a people person.
Contemporary issues affecting human services provided within the criminal justice system
A criminal justice system that is democratic faces two main tasks and they include keeping the public safe through apprehending criminals and reducing crime and protecting individual’s freedom from the abuse by people in power. Moreover, having a criminal justice system that is centered towards safeguarding liberties and the rights of people is an essential feature in distinguishing dictatorship from democracy. Such a system is bound to have challenges and some of the problems that have been affecting human services provided within the criminal justice system for the last ten years include:
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Celebrating diversity
Celebrating diversity mainly means working as an advocate and ally for the oppressed and marginalized groups. Previously, the United States was a country that was overtaken by issues of racism and other forms of abuse ( Lee, Friedmann, Boney, Hoskinson Jr, McDonald, Gordon, & Nunes, 2015 ). Mainly there were gangs on each side that was trying to fight the oppression they were going through. The main issue was if the country was willing to accept the unjust act that was done to people and several groups in the society and work towards improving it. Over the last ten years, the United States has become one of the most increasing multicultural, multiracial, and multi-ethnic society in the world. This is to show that the issue the country has been facing have been resolved and the nation is moving forward in the healing process.
Crime cycle and drug use
Drugs are widely consumed across the globe. Primarily, around 50 to 80 percent of people when arrested test positively for a drug test. This has resulted in a cycle of drug use and criminal activities which does not end. The primary challenge is identifying the effects of such practices in the society ( Lee et al., 2015 ). This gives the social workers a hard time when dealing with such cases as the people involved have hare of different nature some abusive and others drug traffickers. The central question remains does decriminalization of drug make the activity less of a problem. With the decriminalization of bang, it has indicated that decriminalization is becoming a better solution for the issue of drug abuse.
Youth in the criminal justice system
The high number of youth who are getting involved in crime is alarming, and this poses a challenge to the human service in the criminal justice system. The teenagers are getting involved in activities such as assault, curfew violation, marijuana possession, disorderly conduct, alcohol offense vandalism, and theft among other crimes ( Katz, 2017 ). The youth are stubborn when dealing with and even assaults the human service workers.
High incrementation rate
In the United States, close to 2 million people are incarcerated for crimes and another 7 million people are under supervision. Such high numbers pose a challenge to the human service workers as it involves regular check-ups on the progress of the induvial and a lot of paperwork. The criminal justice system needs to figure out why this is a way to reduce such figure to a manageable rate. Moreover, the issue affects not only human service workers but also the criminals and the communities in which the crime takes place. Additionally, the criminal justice system spends more than $50 billions in a year in correctional efforts.
Violence against women
Women are subject to abuse by their husband and other men in the community. About 1.3 million people are physically abused by their lovers or intimate partners. Moreover, stalking has become a severe issue more than previously thought ( Katz, 2017 ). Dealing with such case is challenging for the human service work as he or she has to deal with people who are emotionally traumatized.
Therapeutic trends that may affect future human services as provided within the criminal justice system
The therapeutic trends that affect the future of human services as provided within the criminal justice system:
Corrections and re-entry: there is a high number of the prevalence of mental health problems among jails and prison inmates. With therapeutic trends such as correction and re-entry will be crucial in shaping the future of human service. The human service workers will be able to have a more natural way of dealing with such people as they have been already taken through the process and understand the issue ( Lee et al., 2015 ). The re-entry program that involves counseling is a good practice as it helps the inmates understand the community better and how to avoid from engaging in criminal activities shortly. This includes methods such as vocational training, drug treatment referral, employment directions, and other crucial referral programs. Moreover, the re-entry program is vital as it coordinates and cooperates with different strategies in the community to help the individuals integrate into the community peacefully.
Inmate group therapy: In the prison system there are therapy groups for treatment aspect program. In each group there are about 20 men and the group is facilitated by two leaders ( Katz, 2017 ). They have a minimum of one-year participation. The group leaders are one graduate and intern and a peer consoler. The inmate acknowledged that the group is useful in building a culture for prison stay and when they get released to the community.
How these two issues and trends affect society.
These two trends have influenced affected society in several ways firstly; the employees come out as reformed people. Regardless of the crime, they committed as the prisoners will have identified the needs of readjustment to the society and ways of overcoming the blocks to become free crime individuals. Secondly, the therapy sessions have made the community have reduced crimes ( Harris, 2016 ). This is because in prisons there are reform and therapy sessions that help the prisoners understand themselves better and become better citizens. This is crucial steps as they help the employees understand themselves better and even engage in constructive underthinking to help and community and their families. Additionally, the employees can enhance their communication.
Communication is an essential aspect of all the activities in the society. By a person being able to express themselves clearly, they can avoid criminal activities and be better citizens ( Harris, 2016 ). Furthermore, the through the prison therapy groups the inmates can share their problems and encourage each other to stop doing such activities once they are out of prison.
References
Delaney-Thiele, D., Lloyd, J. E., Abbott, P., Baldry, E., McEntyre, E., Malera-Bandjalan, K., ... & Harris, M. F. (2016). How primary health care can better support the families of aboriginal Australians in contact with the criminal justice system: A human rights approach. Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal , 40 , 25.
Katz, P. C. (2017). Supporting Families and Children of Mothers in Jail: An Integrated Child Welfare 1 and Criminal Justice Strategy. In Children with Parents in Prison (pp. 27-44). Routledge.
Lee, J. D., Friedmann, P. D., Boney, T. Y., Hoskinson Jr, R. A., McDonald, R., Gordon, M., ... & Nunes, E. V. (2015). Extended-release naltrexone to prevent relapse among opioid dependent, criminal justice system involved adults: Rationale and design of a randomized controlled effectiveness trial. Contemporary clinical trials , 41 , 110-117.
