If the New Jersey state sentencing laws continue to go down the path that they are on, there is never going to be any reductions seen in the recidivism rates and the goal of public safety is never going to be met. There are always going to be offenders, but it is how we handle these people within the system that matters. The laws not only have to include punishment, but they must also give direction for both rehabilitation and reintegration. Providing rehabilitation programs and making these mandatory, I feel will help to greatly reduce the number of offenders who're offend. There also needs to be a strong reintegration program set up in order to facilitate the re entry of these offenders back into society. If they have a network of help and support they will also be less likely to re offend. If the ultimately goal of our correctional system is to protect our society, then we need to do this to the best of our ability. And right now I don't think that we are doing that. Whether this needs to be done on a national level or within each state is still yet to be seen. With each state making their own rules it is very hard to get any consistency flowing. But one this is for sure, there needs to be a major overhaul in our sentencing structures so that the needs of our communities...
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CanHelp." SmartSentencing.com. 2004. 11 March 2009. http://home.comcast.net/~smmarcus1/Webpresentation.pdf
Buccino, Neal. "Rutgers Study Shows Parole Succeeds in Reducing Recidivism." State of New
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