Rehabilitation and Recidivism

 

Abstract

            Rehabilitation involves reconstruction of an individual after an episode of life disorganization. It is aimed at bringing back life in to normal state. Recidivism is a situation where one repeats an offence after being punished of the same. Overcrowding in the prisons is mainly caused by presence of many prisoners who are mostly awaiting trials. Some of the causes of overcrowding are recidivism and imprisonment over minor cases. Another cause of overcrowding is prolonged retention of criminals in remand. Overcrowding might lead to many suicidal cases and escapes from the prisons. This is because it goes beyond the staff capability to monitor the large numbers of prisoners and when they become aggressive and cause chaos. In the process, they end getting frustrated and decide to escape or commit suicide. Some strategies to control the population include; lowering the rate of prisoners, realignment and application of other options of sentencing the offenders is useful for those who have committed less harmful and less serious cases rather than being imprisoned

Introduction

            Rehabilitation is where there is restoration of something to its normal state The purpose of rehabilitation is to bring back some or all the sensory, mental and physical energies that had been lost due to a certain event like disease, injury or criminal cases that had significantly interfered with the normal life. Recidivism refers to a case where one repeats an offence after being punished of the same. Prison overcrowding mainly happens when there is many prisoners who are mostly awaiting trials. Recidivism and imprisonment over minor cases are some of the causes of overcrowding in prisons. Another cause of overcrowding is prolonged retention of criminals in remand. Overcrowding might lead to many suicidal cases and escapes from the prisons. This is because the officers are unable to care for the overflowing number of prisoners and when they become aggressive and cause chaos. In the process, they end getting frustrated and decide to commit suicide. Some strategies to control the population include; lowering the rate of prisoners, realignment and application of other options of sentencing the offenders is useful for those who have committed less harmful and less serious cases rather than being imprisoned directly.

The Process of Rehabilitation and Recidivism

            The main goal of the programs that are found in rehabilitation is to lower the cases of recidivism.  In order to achieve an effective rehabilitation there is requirement of some principles. These include; principles of responsivity needs and risks. The risk principle aims to determine which group of offenders is at high risks in order to major the target on the. The needs principle major on what are the needs among the risk groups because these are the most people associated with recidivism. Lastly, the responsivity principle majors on how the rehabilitation programs will be delivered to the offenders in order to meet their needs (Shaul, Koeter & Schippers, 2016). Motivation is usually a key in the principle of responsivity. Motivation is considered to be essential during the rehabilitation program and highly determines the nature of outcome.  The government can be able to contribute to behavior change among the offenders through imposing external motivation. This enables the offenders to adapt on behavior change even after the control is over.  However, recidivism levels in the system of criminal justice outlines that the implications are not usually enough to change the behaviors of the criminals. The main aim of interventions by the law of justice over the criminals is rehabilitation as well as provision of a prolonged protection of people from crime cases. The ability to retain the behavior change after active control requires support through intrusive motivation. This can be achieved through applying techniques of interviewing motivation. It enables an individual to practice on positive behaviors and gain confidence in doing the same.

Causes of Overcrowding

            Overcrowding has been highly associated with recidivism. This mainly involves cases where the offenders have been accused of repeating offences. This leads to prolonged stay in the prison thus causing overcrowding. Another reason is imprisonment over minor cases (Gabriel, 2018). Any behavior that is harmful causes the offenders to be imprisoned thus leading to overcrowding. This makes the prisoners to flood within the cells and dormitories. Having the fact that the cells have been constructed to host only one prisoner, being overcrowded therefore means that there is occupation of more than one prisoner in a single cell. The size of the prison environment does not relate with recidivism but it has been found that there are high cases of offences in smaller prisons. Another reason is that many of the suspects are retained in remands as the police action is taking place in carrying out investigations. The investigations usually take many years and majority of such cases are murder incidences. The magistrate usually takes the offenders to remand where they might stay forever and this greatly yields to prison overcrowding. The cases are kept pending with the feeling that the investigation is under process. These criminals end up spending the rest of their lives in prisons and might even die within.

Effects of Overcrowding

            There have been major several effects of overcrowding in the prisons. One of them is suicidal cases (Fazel, Ramesh & Hawton, 2017). This has been associated with inability to offer care to the many prisoners in the cells. Overcrowding can be viewed as a case where in a prison where two offenders are being placed in a cell that has been meant to be occupied by a single person. In other cases, overcrowding might be viewed as cases where the number of the imprisoned in the dormitory is greater that the space available. Such cases have been impacting into negative effects among the prisoners. Overcrowding has been associated with numerous cases of immoral behaviors like suicide among inmates. These cases of misconduct have been highly associated with increased aggressiveness states, irritability and high cases of frustration among the inmates. As a result of increased capacities, there have been many cases of violation of the rules in the prison environment. Later on, there emerges chaos and irritability which might cause the victim to commit suicide. As the criminal is fighting others, there might emerge cases of harm to others or even deaths.

            Some prisoners in the overcrowded prisons are at risks of escaping. This has been associated with the overwhelming numbers which are beyond the capability of the soldiers’ supervision (Scott, Petrossian, Mellow & Peterson, 2018). They usually make way-out tunnels where they plan to escape through. This might happen without the staff knowing because it is not possible to monitor the large numbers. The fact that the criminals are in the position of escaping from the prison without official leave might end up failing to yield any kind of notable behavior change. After some time, they will be found in recidivism and end up in prison again. There is also failure to access rehabilitation programs which would rather assist them to have reconstruction in to normal life.

Control of the population

            Due to increased rates of overcrowding in prisons which have been leading to poor safety and healthcare among the prisoners, some strategies to control the population ought to be applied, for example lowering the rate of prisoners (Wootton, 2016). This can be done through avoidance of putting everyone who is caught with violence into prison. In depth investigations should be carried out to weigh the offence in order to determine if really it is worth imprisonment. Another way is through realignment. This will enable to reduce the number of the imprisoned offenders in the state prisons, lower the number of people who are being put in the prisons, lower the cases of re-offences and increase the ability to mingle easily with the community after finishing the imprisonment term. This will also enable the countries to develop an evidence-based strategy to be used while judging cases of imprisonment. By so doing, there will be just imprisonment and reduced cases of people who go to cells without having committed crimes hence reducing victimization cases. Application of other options of sentencing the offenders is useful for those who have committed less harmful and less serious cases rather than being imprisoned directly. This can be done through imposing relevant punishments. Shifting the monitoring of the offenders accused with less-threatening offences to the counties for supervision by the officers who are there rather the state is also another way of reducing overcrowding in prisons. Application of these strategies will highly facilitate to control of population in the prisons.

Conclusion

            Rehabilitation is meant to lower the cases of recidivism.  In order to achieve an effective rehabilitation the need, risk and responsivity principles are essential. Through this, the individual is assisted to go back to normal life that had been disorganized by the cause of imprisonment. Recidivism and imprisonment over minor cases are some of the causes of overcrowding in prisons. Another cause of overcrowding is prolonged retention of criminals in remand. Overcrowding might lead to many suicidal cases and escapes from the prisons. This is because the officers are unable to care for the overflowing number of prisoners and when they become aggressive and cause chaos. In the process, they end getting frustrated and decide to commit suicide. Some strategies to control the population include; lowering the rate of prisoners, realignment and application of other options of sentencing the offenders is useful for those who have committed less harmful and less serious cases rather than being imprisoned directly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Fazel, S., Ramesh, T., & Hawton, K. (2017). Suicide in prisons: an international study of revalence and contributory factors. The Lancet Psychiatry, 4(12), 946-952.

Gabriel, A. (2018). Nigeria and United States Prisons: A comparative Analysis of Mass    Overcrowding. J Foren Psy, 3(129), 2.

Scott, J., Petrossian, G., Mellow, J., & Peterson, B. (2018). Understanding risky facilities: an       analysis of factors associated with jail escapes in eight states. Security Journal, 31(4),             805-820.

Shaul, L., Koeter, M. W., & Schippers, G. M. (2016). Brief motivation enhancing intervention to             prevent criminal recidivism in substance-abusing offenders under supervision: a    randomized trial. Psychology, Crime & Law, 22(9), 903-914.

Wootton, A. (2016). AB 109 and its impact on prison overcrowding and recidivism: A policy       analysis. Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science, 4(1), 6.