Education, employment, housing, and substance abuse pose significant problems to the successful reentry of individuals released from prison. The current research project utilized a natural experiment, an oil boom in a Midwestern state, to examine changes in offender reentry and recidivism outcomes overtime. The first part of the study compared a sample of offenders released from prison prior to the oil boom to a sample of offenders released from prison during the highest peak of the oil boom. Comparisons were made on variables known in the literature to be predictive of recidivism during the reentry process; these include risk, education, employment, housing, substance abuse, and treatment. Recidivism was measured as a new conviction, technical violation, and re-incarceration. The follow-up period for both samples was two years. The second part of the study incorporated the perspectives of probation and parole officers. All officers in the Midwestern state were surveyed on their perception of offender reentry and how it may have changed as a result of oil boom influences. Officer attitudes, philosophies, and supervision strategies were analyzed in relation to their perceptions on offender reentry and the oil boom.

An empirical investigation at a southwestern minimum security federal correctional institution was designed to assess the value systems of incarcerated embezzlers (N = 31) as they compared to a matched offender control group (N = 31). Based on their responses on the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS). no statistically significant differences between these groups were found. Therefore, this finding suggested that these embezzlers possessed similar value systems held by those inmates convicted of other crimes. When the responses of the embezzler sample were combined with their matched offender control group, a few differences were revealed between the combined inmate group and the general population norms (National Opinion Research Center [NORC]; Rokeach, 1968, 1973). Simple comparisons of the composite medians of the male inmate group and the NORC showed differences on the following survey items: "a world at peace," "equality," and "national security." Among the items which demonstrated differences between the female prison group and the NORC were "an exciting life," "wisdom," "independent," "intellectual," "logical," "a world at peace," and "national security." The findings provided partial support for Cochrane's (1971) conclusions that prisoners are self-centered, and place low importance on those values which do not have immediate or personal relevance. However, because many of the inmates' responses emulated the NORC data, it was concluded that their value systems resembled the general population more than other prison populations. In addition to the empirical analyses, this project addressed the practical implications of value systems research by proposing value clarification programs for correctional institutions. The selection of value clarification programs was inspired by the implications of the emerging perspective of sociological practice. Sociological practice was described as it relates to these programs as well as to sociology in the larger context.

This dissertation describes the role of architects in the development of the prison system in the United States. In the late eighteenth century, penologists sought to standardize conditions in penal institutions and to develop reliable methods for the social conditioning of inmates. Architects designed prisons that embodied the standards of penal theory, arguing that the form of an institution could serve as a powerful means of assuring that prison routine adhered to the dictates of modern penology. While early prison architects focused upon the development of a standard institutional type, the growth of the penal bureaucracy in the twentieth century forced them to develop a structural vocabulary commensurate with the scale of the modern prison system. They broke the prison down into a series of flexible components, each of which could function effectively in diverse institutional contexts. As criminologists sought to address the ostensible urban crisis in the 1960s, moreover, architects envisioned the extension of the new carceral infrastructure to the city. These techniques served the standardization of the prison system in the twentieth century. Like the early prison architects, modern designers sought to make each element of their structural vocabulary determinative of the activities of inmates and guards in penal institutions. By freeing these elements from the compositional order of early penal institutions, moreover, architects facilitated the rapid expansion of the prison system and the extension of carceral space into new contexts. By the 1970s, the refinement of advanced techniques for the construction of prisons meant that architects no longer played a pivotal role in shaping the prison system. As legal policymakers abandoned rehabilitative penology and emphasized the punitive function of confinement, the techniques of efficient prison construction developed by architects served a massive institutional building campaign whose sole justification was the incapacitation and segregation of the inmate population.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

M.A. / The aim of this study was to compare the effect of violence on the rendering of social work services in severely strife-torn areas with its effect in moderately strife-torn areas. The social workers in the Gauteng Department of Welfare and Population Development were divided into two groups according to the area in which they render services. 2. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF VIOLENCE AND SOCIAL WORK A broad theoretical outline followed which consisted of the definition of violence, the rendering of social work services and crime. Furthermore attention was given to theories of violence and different types of violence. Then a description of violence in South Africa was given, followed by a layout of the many factors contributing to violence in South Africa. This section concluded with a description of violence in the rendering of social work services nationally and internationally. RESEARCH DESIGN The research concentrated on a comparative study which was undertaken between social workers rendering services in severely strife-torn areas and those rendering services in moderately strife-torn areas with regard to the effect violence had upon them in the rendering of services to clients. RESEARCH RESULTS Six types of hypotheses were postulated beforehand and these were then compared with information that was received from respondents from the two identified areas. The results may be summarised briefly as follows: Social workers in both strife-torn areas were prevented from visiting clients; they were prevented from going to work; their vehicles were hijacked; their vehicles were stoned often; they were abducted; they had to run away or hide; their service offices were damaged; they were late for work; their service offices had to close at times; there were times they felt that their families were in danger; they didn't want to visit clients living in certain areas; violence caused them to postpone dealing with other social problems; their relationships with their clients were strained; their clients were prevented from keeping appointments; their clients were mildly injured (no hospitalisation); their clients were seriously injured or killed; the social workers had to take leave as a result of violence; some of them possess licensed firearms (11 out of 81 social workers); they can testify to incidents where people were killed or seriously injured; they felt negative about the effect violence had on their rendering of social work services; and they were positive about the proposed ways to handle violent situations. In addition, when comparing these two areas, clients known to social workers in severely strife-torn areas can testify to more incidents where they witnessed people being killed or seriously injured, than those in moderately strife-torn areas; clients themselves were also injured more in the former than in the latter areas; and the social workers in the former areas felt that their families were in greater danger than those of their counterparts in moderately strife-torn areas. But the other variables was found not to be statistically significant. 5. RECOMENDATIONS The respondents' reaction to the proposed ways to handle violent situations led to the prioritisation of the following fourteen ways in descending order of importance: two-way radios or cellular telephones in vehicles; replacement of "G" by "T" registration of vehicles; verbal telephone codes to request assistance; in-service training in order to handle violent situations; awareness of high-risk procedures, for example the removing of a child; reporting and recording incidents of violence; retreating and getting away if possible; obtaining discreet police assistance; using conventional alarm systems; the proximity of a "stand-by" person; paired home-visits; pre-arranged interview interruptions; carrying a service firearm; and supervised office interviews. The above-mentioned ways of handling violent situations were then included in four main categories to form part of a safety strategy for this specific organisation.

This study aims to explore the management of offenders’ education for optimum rehabilitation in a Correctional Centre in Gauteng. In this study the nature of correctional education management is explored in relation to the self-concept of offenders as learners, as well as their view and experience on their future position as released parolees striving for reintegration into the society. Methodologically, the study is located in the qualitative paradigm where a questionnaire was designed to gather the respondents’ demographic profiles, and to extract from them the factors that influence crime propensity and amenability to correction through correctional education. The questionnaire was targeted at all functionally literate participants who indicated their interest at the sampling stage. The research site was a Correctional Centre in the Gauteng Province. Respondents comprised sixteen offenders and five officials. The key findings of this research are that policy intervention is crucial to improve the management of offenders’ education, so to remove barriers that hinder the exercise of effective education. How offenders’ education is managed impacts on their receptiveness of education. This implies their fate as future ex-offenders and their prospects of employment after release as citizens are tarnished with the stigma of a criminal record. Their self-esteem seems to improve with the acquisition of well managed education, while on the other hand, propensity to recidivate is high where the management of their education has failed and hopelessness and lack of motivation in planning for a better future pervade. Thus, proper management of offenders’ education can go a long way to ensure their successful reintegration in the society. The research report concludes with recommendations that could have implications for future research in the context of correctional education management, as well as implementation and monitoring of such management via policy in order to achieve optimum rehabilitation of offenders. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-06-06T12:06:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Anaclara Pedroso Fernandes Valentim da Silva.pdf: 1490477 bytes, checksum: 078eed46a15ac8b4076f9eb4ce9485b2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-06T12:06:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Anaclara Pedroso Fernandes Valentim da Silva.pdf: 1490477 bytes, checksum: 078eed46a15ac8b4076f9eb4ce9485b2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-06 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The resocializing purpose of the penalty, in the course of history, has been placed as its primary purpose. This claim is supported by the fact that some of the dogmatic theories on the subject never exclude it as the ultimate goal of the sanction or even place it as a limitation on other purposes, as for example in Claus Roxin's Dialectic Theory. Moreover, the Brazilian legal system, if analyzed in a systematic way, prioritizes re-education and social reintegration of the convicted in society, which demonstrates crystal proof because the Law on the Execution of Criminal Sanctions contains numerous resocializing mechanisms to be applied. The purpose of this study is to analyze, through the hypothetical-deductive method, whether the hypothesis of resocialization of the condemned prisoner is a myth, besides being essentially obedient to the guiding values of the national legal system and likewise being a motivating purpose of numerous legal institutes included in the Law on the Execution of Criminal Sanctions. Thus, it was verified that social integration is not really implemented, either because it is not in fact the purpose of the intended penalty or because of the dysfunctional use of the available legal instruments, it became only a legitimating speech of the existence of the sentence and has as a consequence the mistaken production of legal and legislative decisions, impacting significantly on the criminal policy adopted by the State / A finalidade ressocializadora da pena, no decorrer da história, vem sendo colocada como finalidade precípua da pena. Tal afirmação encontra respaldo no fato de algumas das teorias dogmáticas a respeito do tema nunca a excluírem como objetivo final da sanção penal ou mesmo a colocarem como limitação das demais finalidades, como acontece, por exemplo, na Teoria Mista Dialética, de Claus Roxin. No mais, o ordenamento jurídico brasileiro, se analisado de forma sistemática, prioriza a reeducação e a reintegração social do condenado, o que resta cristalinamente comprovado no texto da Lei de Execução Penal, do qual constam inúmeros mecanismos ressocializadores. O objetivo deste estudo é analisar, através do método hipotético-dedutivo, a hipótese da ressocialização do condenado à pena de prisão ser um mito, ainda que essencialmente obediente aos valores norteadores do ordenamento jurídico nacional, além de ser finalidade motivadora de inúmeros institutos jurídicos constantes da Lei de Execução Penal. Assim, se comprovará que a integração social não é verdadeiramente implementada, quer seja por não ser de fato a finalidade da pena pretendida ou por uso disfuncional dos instrumentos legais disponíveis, tornando-se apenas um discurso legitimador da existência da pena e que tem como consequência a produção equivocada de decisões jurídicas e legislativas, impactando significativamente na política criminal adotada pelo Estado

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

South Africa as a developing country faces the challenges of providing a better life for all its citizens. The South African society is of two extremes, a small population of the wealthy and a large portion of the poor. In a growing economy there is an increase in the gap between rich and poor. The rich work to keep their wealth and the poor work but struggle to provide the bare necessities for their families. The challenges facing South Africa are of alleviating poverty, through providing adequate shelter, jobs, education and health for all South Africans. These are essential elements that are needed to create better communities and functional families. The solutions to these problems are sometimes not thought through and integrated with other sectors of society. This leads to quick fix solutions to deep routed problems which are isolated to the countries’ developments. South Africa has a deep history rooted in apartheid. Living within a post apartheid society South Africans have inherited a built environment that was aimed for specific segregated population groups. In a democratic society people have an opportunity of “equal sharing” within the economy. This leaves a large portion of the population struggling to rid themselves of poverty. These are the major issues which lead to committing crime and consequently imprisonment. This research study specifically deals with the correctional services institutions built form, rehabilitation and reintegration processes for the ex-prisoner. The built forms role in society can be far reaching and shape the life form of its inhabitants. It can facilitate a positive role in deterring the social ills of society. Presently the built environments cannot accommodate the growing and integrated population groups. The role of the correctional facilities is important in providing safe communities by removing those individuals harmful to society. A thorough approach to imprisonment, rehabilitation and social reintegration of ex-prisoners will assist in keeping safe communities. The understanding of prisons, their environment and the role of the built form with regards to social reintegration processes is important. This will assist in lessening the amount of recidivism of ex-prisoners once released. This research seeks to establish the role in which the built form can support rehabilitation for ex-prisoners in the view of reintegrating them back into society. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.