Recidivism is among the significant challenges facing criminal justice professionals within the criminal justice system. It refers to an individual's ability to recommit a criminal activity after release from conviction. The rate of recidivism is found by the number of criminal acts that bring about re-conviction or re-arrests after a short time following a person's release from prison. The largest prison population comes from the United States which has about 45% recidivism rate from federal prisons and a 77% rate from state prisons within the U.S. (Zoukis, 2016). These recidivism rates are very high in spite of the various governmental and non-governmental efforts to reduce it.
Moreover, the reoffending rate in Norway is meager compared to that of the U.S meaning that its liberal attitude to justice is working to reduce the rate of recidivism. It calls for the need for more research regarding the effectiveness of rehabilitation and reentry programs including those involving substance abuse counseling and mental health plans on reducing recidivism. The identification of the most significant needs of an offender which are embedded into the counseling program may help prevent recurrence and can be done through making gender-responsive interventions and fostering pro-social support which allows for the inclusion of the resources that contribute to effective reentry.
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Literature Review
Gender Responsive Interventions
Women differ much from men, and life experiences and perspectives influence the pathways leading to criminal behavior. Women's crimes are less severe than those of the men and thus neglected by the criminal justice system throughout history (Senser, 2017). Women have not been receiving the same opportunities for treatment and programming in prisons as the men, and most of the programs designed for the male offenders do not meet the needs of the female offenders (Senser, 2017). Women get incarcerated for substance abuse, and there are some kinds of interventions provided for them outside incarceration that has proved to be effective. Ex-prisoners can get such help if they get released into a rehabilitation program that would help them address their specific needs such as the ones offered to ex-prisoners in Norway (The Economist, 2015). Interventions such as Dialectic Behavioral Therapy are among the most effective treatment forms for substance abuse which enhances symptom management, reduces problematic behavior, and creates emotional regulation. It primarily identifies and corrects questionable behavior and addresses the issue that drives the behavior. Women have been found to respond differently to treatment depending on the kind of rehabilitation present (Senser, 2017). The problem of recidivism is not brought about by recurring criminal behavior but is instead caused by the non-addressed underlying need (Senser, 2017). By offering gender-specific programming, practitioners can address the unique needs of both genders. Gender-specific treatments have a high chance of preventing recidivism as they discuss the individual needs of women during and after incarceration thus having a positive impact on the possibilities of re-offending.
Preventing Recidivism through Pro-social Support
Pro-social support is a very significant factor that can help prevent recidivism among ex-convicts. Pettus-Davis and Epperson (2015) carried out a qualitative and quantitative study to show that skill groups are appreciated within prisons, but social support systems were a significant concern. According to The Economist (2015), the justice system will not be able to reduce recidivism through a no-nonsense approach but rather by treating inmates like humans like in the Norwegian prisons. Pro-social support is particularly important and necessary for people who get incarcerated because it prepares them as they try to reenter society. Pettus-Davis and Epperson (2015) found that many reentering prisoners rely on the support from the people they know for social support such as food, clothing, housing, and financial help. According to McDaniel (2014), organized human relationship networks offer support to ex-convicts resulting in low rates of crime. Pro-social support entails support from family and friends as well as from surrogate strangers. Such support provides significant community ties that help prevent recidivism once an offender is released from incarceration and find the success of an individual.
Furthermore, pro-social support is of the essence as ex-convicts try to reenter the society but lack personal resources such as education, job skills, and consistent employment records. Former prisoners are then forced to depend on their family and friends for supplies. Likewise, they face difficulties when it comes to setting up stable family lives, and the ones with strong family ties are highly unlikely to go back to crime. Therefore, interventions to enhance social support are crucial in the efforts to prevent recidivism.
Conclusion
Preventing recidivism is a matter that has proved to be of great concern to the Criminal Justice System, and with the proper measures and programs, the rate of recurrence can go down immensely. Appropriate reentry programs are vital in preventing, and correctional facilities should to adopt appropriate rehabilitation techniques such as the ones in Norwegian prisons and add them to the existing prison reentry programs to make sure the rate of recidivism reduces to the least and prevent the reoccurrence of criminal activities. Making gender-responsive interventions can help all former prisoners equally without living out the female gender which is often forgotten and even discriminated. Besides, since female offenders have different needs than those of the male offenders, the interventions used to help them in the reentry to the society should also consider them differently and address the needs of women separately from those of the men. Additionally, pro-social support has also proved to be of great significance in preventing recidivism as it softens the reentry process and allows former prisoners to have a normal life in society. Therefore, effective reentry can be attained through gender-responsive interventions that would attend to the needs of all former prisoners equally and the encouragement of pro-social support to make accessible the reentry process.
Annotated Bibliography
McDaniel, Kimber, (2014). Recidivism Prevention through Prosocial Support: A Systematic Review of Empirical Research. HIM 1990-2015. 1598.
This article focuses on the importance of pro-social support to prevent recidivism. It looks at the social networks that a former prisoner builds while in prison and the ability of those networks to help the individuals succeed in reentry to the society. McDaniel’s main aim with the article is to inform people of the importance of pro-social support to offenders and its ability to prevent recidivism.
Pettus-Davis, C., & Epperson, M. W. (2015). From mass incarceration to smart decarceration . Retrieved from https://aaswsw.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/From-Mass-Incarceration-to-Decarceration-3.24.15.pdf
The focus of this article is to transform the criminal justice system into a proactive and transdisciplinary as well as empirically driven smart decarceration approach. It looks at the rate of incarceration in the United States and the challenges associated with it such as recidivism. Pettus-Davis and Epperson’s main aim is to show the importance of social work on contributing to the decarceration effort in the criminal justice system.
Senser, Brittani. (2017). Clinical Interventions that Reduce Recidivism among Female Offenders: A Systematic Review . Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/msw_papers/783
This article focuses on clinical interventions that can help reduce recidivism among female offenders. Its main aim is to examine the clinical responses that meet the needs of women while in prison and after release. Senser focuses on those interventions that are specific for women to help reduce issues such as post-traumatic stress disorders, substance abuse, and mental health diagnoses.
The Economist. (2015). Can Norway help the US break the reoffending cycle ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBUSzXvMWCk
This YouTube video focuses on how Norway helps its prisoners and prevents them from re-offending. It mainly shows that its rehabilitation techniques are effective in reducing recidivism as the rate of re-offending in the country is very low compared to that of the U.S. it focuses on how the Norwegian prisons value and respect the humanity of their inmates and offers them the ability to live well through proper rehabilitation programs.
Zoukis, C. (2016). The report documents U.S. recidivism rates for federal prisons. The Huffington Post . Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopherzoukis/report-documents-us-recid_b_9542312.html
This article focuses on the recidivism rates for federal prisons in the U.S. Zoukis provides useful background information on the issue of high recidivism rates for prisoners and offers insightful data on the re-arrest rates for ex-prisoners. The focus on the high standards of recidivism means that something needs to be done since recidivism is becoming a severe problem for the criminal justice system.
References
McDaniel, Kimber, (2014). Recidivism Prevention Through Prosocial Support: A Systematic Review of Empirical Research. HIM 1990-2015. 1598.
Pettus-Davis, C., & Epperson, M. W. (2014). From mass incarceration to smart decarceration . Retrieved from https://csd.wustl.edu/Publications/Documents/WP14-31.pdf
Senser, Brittani. (2017). Clinical Interventions that Reduce Recidivism among Female Offenders: A Systematic Review . Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/msw_papers/783
The Economist. (2015). Can Norway help US break the reoffending cycle ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBUSzXvMWCk
Zoukis, C. (2016). Report documents U.S. recidivism rates for federal prisons. The Huffington Post . Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopherzoukis/report-documents-us-recid_b_9542312.html
