Types of criminal offenders

¶ … Offenders

The career criminal

A career criminal is a person who repeatedly participates in criminal acts for both a constant and central source of income DeLisi, 2005.

A career criminal uses crime as their only source of income, and they will commit offenses on a regular basis even after they have been released from prison. No form of rehabilitation can help a career criminal because they have antisocial behaviors and they refuse any form of rehabilitation. The career criminal continuously commits offenses and even with the best criminal justice system, they are never rehabilitated. This causes a major problem to the correctional facilities because career criminals lead to overcrowding of prisons.

Since these criminals have amassed many sentences, the judicial system is forced to sentence them to life imprisonment. The main reason been the short prison terms the offenders have been given before have had no effect, and giving them a short sentence again will only ensure they return to their criminal life after they serve their prison time. Too many career criminals also lead to increase of crime within the correctional facilities. This is because the career criminals will train others within the facility or influence others to take up their bad habits.

The sex offender

The sex offender is a person who commits any form of sex crime Howitt & Sheldon, 2009.

Sex crimes differ by legal jurisdiction and culture. The main forms of sex crimes include child molestation, sending obscene messages via text, rape, statutory rape, sexual assault, incest, and bestiality. According to research conducted in the United States, of the 19 sex offenders released 1 will be arrested for committing another sex crime. This indicates that a majority of sex offenders are not likely to repeat the crime.

The main problem that sex offenders pose to the correctional facilities is that they may start abusing other prisoners, which might lead to rape of other inmates within the facility. Correctional facilities also have to invest heavily in programs for behavior modification for the sex offenders. These programs put more strain on correctional facility resources.

The mentally ill offender

A mentally ill offender is an individual who suffers from a chronic mental illness and poses a danger to others and self. The mentally ill offender may have been imprisoned many times and majority of them have no jobs or homes. Majority of their crimes are usually drug related as they are drug addicts. Sending these offenders to prison, does not have any long-term solution as they require specialized treatment to ensure they do not repeat their offenses.

Many correctional facilities are ill equipped on how to manage mentally ill offenders, and majority of them provide them with the same facilities as the other inmates. Once the offenders serve their jail term they return back to the streets and end up been arrested again. This causes them to become career criminals. The correctional facilities have to stock up on drugs they will administer to the mentally ill to help suppress their psychotic behavior. This increases the costs of running the facility as they have to purchase drugs often. The mentally ill offender may also attack other inmates, which endangers the lives of other inmates and prison officers.

Elderly offender