Correctional Rehabilitation Comparrison

Correctional Rehabilitation Comparison

There are two different views on how to deal with criminals. There are those who believe that criminals should be punished and those who believe that criminals should be rehabilitated. This paper examines two views on the effectiveness of rehabilitation efforts.

Rehabilitation according to Walker (2011) means stopping the offender from committing further criminal acts. Walker (2011) explains that most offenders commit crimes when they are younger (between the ages of 14 and 24) but eventually stop committing crimes. Therefore the goal of rehabilitation programs is to "make offenders stop sooner rather than later through a planned intervention program" (p. 251). In his chapter, Walker (2011) examined the effectiveness of traditional rehabilitation-based programs as well as newer intermediate punishments in the criminal justice system in reducing recidivism. Programs assessed included probation, parole, diversion programs, home confinement and electronic monitoring, special treatment programs, faith-based programs and drug courts.

In examining the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs Walker (2011) concludes that with the exception of drug courts, programs are generally ineffective in reducing recidivism. Walker (2011) provides three reasons to explain why probation and parole fail to reduce recidivism: lack of meaningful supervision; high caseloads of probation officers; and the quality of treatment services. Walker (2011) concludes that the success of offenders on probation depends more on the social network in which the offender is embedded. Walker (2011) also examined the effectiveness of diversion programs such as employment programs and boot camps and concluded that these programs are ineffective for a number of reasons. First of all is the net widening effect, which means that participants of these programs are offenders whose charges would probably have been dismissed had there not been such a program. Secondly, as with parole and probation, treatment services are not always delivered and when they are the content and effectiveness of the treatment is questionable. Walker (2011) did find, however, that drug courts, which are a new type of diversion program, are yielding promising results.

In the end, according to Walker (2011), it is a problem of prediction. As Walker (2011), states "some programs work for some offenders" (p. 277). The problem is accurately identifying which programs work for which offenders.

Whereas Walker was concerned with recidivism, Worrall's (2008) definition of rehabilitation includes "intervention that is intended to change offenders for the better" (p. 228). To address Walker's (2011) concern that some programs work for some offenders, Worrall (2008) explains that it is important to consider the risk, needs, and responsivity of offenders when planning interventions. These interventions include: cognitive skills such as morals training and reasoning training; anger management, victim awareness, and life skills training such as drug resistance skills, personal self-management, and general social skills.