The United States incarcerates a higher proportion of its population compared to any other nation in the world. Its prison population is even the largest; this means theres more people in American correctional facilities than in China, which has a wee more people Id dare to say. Many people in society focus on locking-up convicted offenders and throwing away the key; however, neither are most convicted individuals guilty of violent offenses nor do longer sentences lead to lower re-offending rates. Much reform can be done to improve the quality of correctional facilities and reduce violent offending. First, the basic idea that punishment is not a great tool for positive change is important to accept; using privileges and positive reinforcement to promote prosocial behaviors would be a more adaptive approach. Second, conducting risk and needs evaluations of offenders to construct an effective intervention program is crucial. For example, the profile of every person convicted of armed bank robbery or domestic violence assault is quite different; tailoring services to address the precursors to peoples difficulties and promote a more successful transition back into the community is important. Such a discussion is more comprehensively discussed in Dvoskin et al.s (2011) Using Social Science to Reduce Violent Offending.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 10:58:33 +0000