ipl-logo

Informative Essay: What Is Rehabilitation?

1128 Words5 Pages

What Is Rehabilitation? According to Tammy Duckworth, an American Politician and retired US army Lieutenant Colonel, “Sometimes it takes dealing with a disability- the trauma, the relearning, the months of rehabilitation therapy- to uncover our true abilities and how we can put them to work for us in ways we may have never imagined.” Rehabilitation is the action of restoring someone to health or through training and therapy, and is a key component of prisoners’ recovery journey. Prisoners need to work through their imprisonment, addiction, and illness in order to be rehabilitated. While the United States represents about 4.4 percent of the world’s population, it houses about 22 percent of the world’s prisoners. According to the article, …show more content…

According to Business Insider “Why Norway’s prison system is so successful,” by Christina Sterbenz “When criminals in Norway leave prison, they stay out. It has one of the lowest recidivism rates in the world at 20%... The majority of crimes reported to police there are theft-related incidents, and violent crime is mostly confined to areas with drug trafficking and gang problems. Based on that information, it's safe to assume Norway's criminal justice system is doing something right. Few citizens here go to prison, and those who do usually go only once. So how does Norway accomplish this feat? The country relies on a concept called "restorative justice," which aims to repair the harm caused by crime rather than punish people. This system focuses on rehabilitating prisoners.” This prison in Norway has a phenomenal rehabilitation center for their inmates, it is keeping them out of prison after they have left. According to “Rehabilitation- Correctional Programs In The United States,”It is estimated that the proportion of inmates participating in drug treatment programs rose from 4.4 percent to 32.7 percent.” This rose over 28 percent, and is a huge deal for prisons in the United States. While giving inmates their punishment, society is helping them get the help they need. “Correctional institutions frequently provide individual and group counseling aimed at having offenders forfeit their criminal way of life. Over the years, various treatment modalities have been tried. However, a method of increasing appeal—in large part due to growing empirical support for its effectiveness—is cognitive-behavioral treatment (Van Voorhis, Braswell, and Lester; see also Andrews and Bonta). Although they come in various forms, these programs target the criminal attitudes and ways of thinking that foster illegal behavior”(Rehabilitation- Correctional Programs In The United

Show More
Related
450 Words | 2 Pages

The kinds of Treatment received should target factors that are associated with criminal behavior. A mixture of attitudes and beliefs that support a criminal lifestyle and criminal behavior is “criminal thinking”. Treatments that are able to provide some cognitive skills training can help individuals recognize errors in judgment that

Read More
461 Words | 2 Pages

However, the penalty stands to be only temporary. Studies have shown that only seventy-one percent of those released from prison are convicted of a serious crime within only three years after their releasement ( ). Is prison housing the criminals or teaching them? A correctional facility is built to correct and rehabilitate, however prison systems in America appear to be only a short stop before the production of the criminals grand plan. The majority of those who are sentenced to prison have a high rate of returning due to their difficulty in gaining a position with a self-sustaining wage and a lack knowledge on a life without crime.

Read More
1280 Words | 6 Pages

Sammy Vogel Criminal RehabilitationTable Of Contents Background 3 Overview 4-7 What Rehabilitation is 5 Norway 6 Private Prisons 7 8-11 History History of the US justice system 9 History of Norway 10 History of California’s Rehabilitation Programs 11 Controversy 12-15 What people think 13 Reasons why it’s a good idea 14 Reasons why it’s a bad idea 15 2 Background Definition Rehabilitation programs are defined as programs that reduce recidivism by improving behavioral skills, mental health, social functioning, and access to education and employment. What We Have Right Now: We do not currently have a well-funded rehabilitation program in our prisons.

Read More
1579 Words | 7 Pages

“Rather than taking the time to understand the mind and the social environment of individuals who participate in criminal activity and helping to break the ever turning cycles, the criminal justice system is quick to criminalize these individuals, thus failing to realize that, in reality, these acts are just cries for help for necessary resources. There is something from their past that haunts their present and, ultimately, their future” (Johnson-Watkins 2017). And after an individual has cried out and been punished, they are going to constantly struggle because inmates are only punished, not rehabilitated or supported. “Crimes such as domestic violence, drug abuse, and theft are not looked into as actual mental illnesses that could elicit this type of behavior but just as a wrongdoing that must be punished by imprisonment” (Davis 2003). This is a sad future that many individuals in our current criminal justice system are facing.

Read More
665 Words | 3 Pages

Although crimes have been committed, it’s not too late to change the behavior of inmates. With the help of rehabilitation, it’s less likely for offenders to re-offend when they are released from

Read More
736 Words | 3 Pages

On several occasions is it quite possible through rehabilitation to target these predispositions and reduce or eliminate the possibility of committing crime all together. Many of these programs focus on an offender’s risks and needs. For example, if we find an offender who is highly addicted to drugs or alcohol and several of their offenses involve drugs and/or alcohol we can provide them drug and alcohol treatment, counseling, and support. Rehabilitation would allow the offender to overcome their addiction and better themselves. Other rehabilitation programs allow offenders to learn job and social skills, provides education, and overcome barriers (drugs, alcohol, violence, etc.)

Read More
1728 Words | 7 Pages

The Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program is another attempt to provide better treatment for people who are convicted. The study showed that drug offenders who underwent a treatment program outside of prison had a 26 percent less rate of re-arrest after two years than a control group that was sent to prison (Justice Policy Institute, 2010). Rehabilitative programs like the Second Chance Act and the Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program has shown to growth and positive

Read More
136 Words | 1 Pages

When the American prison system began, it was believed that rehabilitation, the act of restoring one’s character, could be beneficial for criminals to start over. According to Tom Wicker, “The system…began as a reform impulse, the idea that if offenders were isolated, shielded from the public mockery that had accompanied hangings and the stocks, given time to repent, and worked hard, they could be turned away from crime and transformed into useful citizens” (xii). Criminals could become better citizens and have a positive outlook for a future if they worked hard and were secluded from the outside world. Although this idea seems more humane, it did not last long in the prison system because many people believed that any crime committed deserved

Read More
1272 Words | 6 Pages

Many of the prisoners who participate in prison sponsored programs are more likely to return. The government and administrators believe prison is the best option to better rehabilitate them into the general public. Treatment centers and drug courts are the preferred way to rehabilitate for families, individuals and some of the government. Statistics show that low level drug criminals in treatment centers are less likely to commit crimes than those who were treated in

Read More
644 Words | 3 Pages

Mass incarceration is a large issue in the United States. Largely due to drug-related crimes. Researchers, government officials, and citizens are all attempting to push anti-drug policies to attempt and reduce the level of drug usage in the United States. Many individuals, myself included, believe that alternately there should be more focus on prevention and treatment of criminals rather than harsher punishments imposed. While anti-drug policies and harsher punishments may help deter crimes from happening it does not address the issue of inmates and their actions after incarceration.

Read More
1561 Words | 7 Pages

60 to 80% is the majority, with this amount of people committing new crimes once released and relapsing on those same drugs, no change has been made. The cycle is never-ending. Prison is not the correct method of betterment for a drug abuser, daily counseling and communication are key factors in the pathway to a life

Read More
815 Words | 4 Pages

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with approximately 2.2 million individuals currently behind bars. This number is staggering when compared to other nations, with the US accounting for only 5% of the worlds population but 255 of the worlds prisoners. The high rate of imprisonment in the US has been a topic of debate for years, with many questioning the effectiveness of this approach to criminal justice. According to a report by the World Prison Brief, the United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, with 655 prisoners per 100,000 population.

Read More
1928 Words | 8 Pages

Crime prevention has been a focus for a long time, but what most people do not think about is crime relapse, or recidivism. 275,400 out of 405,000 criminals let out of prison in 2005 committed another crime after three years of freedom outside of the prison gates, and 311,850 out of 405,000 criminals let out of prison were reconvicted after five years of freedom (Slifer). In other countries, prisoners are not kept inside of prison for as long as they are in the United States. Instead of having better rehab programs, the Unites States keeps prisoners in for longer without aid to help them get better, which is what is leading to the higher relapse once let out of prison (Dunec). The question now is: How can recidivism best be prevented?

Read More
728 Words | 3 Pages

The concept of ‘recidivism’ is central to understanding the criminal justice system. Recidivism occurs when a person commits a crime again despite having been punished before. One of the main goals of the criminal justice system is to reduce recidivism but in fact longer sentences may increase the probability of recidivism (Griffiths & Cunningham, 2000). One reason is that the climate within a prison is not helpful to the inmate in making personal changes that can lead to reduced recidivism. However, psychologists are trying to develop intervention programmes that in fact lead to such personal changes so as to reduce recidivism.

Read More
887 Words | 4 Pages

A very important aspect of the criminal justice system is to ensure there is a way to rehabilitate offenders, not only incarcerate them. Rehabilitation in the criminal justice system means that there is an attempt by the system to restore a criminal back to a productive and useful member of society free of the life of crime. By rehabilitating an offender, the system is trying to alter their behavior and attitude in a positive way and to make them once again, law abiding citizens (Seiter, 2014). Rehabilitation can come in many forms, such as drug treatment, education, mental health treatment, develop better decision making skills, therapeutic counseling and even job training. An offender does need to be punished for breaking the law, but they need to accept responsibility for their crimes and eventually change their

Read More

More about Informative Essay: What Is Rehabilitation?

Related Topics

Open Document