Research and testimonial evidence indicate the importance of postsecondary education in the rehabilitating inmates and in decreasing reoffending. However, limited research exists on improving critical thinking skills and cognitive processing among inmates. The purpose of this quantitative study was to (a) examine the influence of a psychology course on the critical thinking scores for individuals who took an online psychology course and to (b) analyze how the scores of inmates and other students in the course differed. Using a social cognitive theoretical framework, pretest and posttest scores were compared using a paired t test of statistical analysis of secondary, archival data (n = 25).Secondary data analysis using ANOVA was used to examine the effect of the course on inmates' test scores after course completion. Results indicated that critical thinking skills improved for all students; there was no significant difference based on incarceration status. The outcomes of this study, as well as future data on graduation and recidivism rates, need to be integrated into policy and programs developed for correctional facilities, collegiate classrooms, and for other professionals. It is recommended that correctional facilities, colleges, legislators, and other organizations with direct impact on inmates should collect and analyze these specific variables in a longitudinal study. The results can be used to improve the delivery of online courses offered to inmates, thereby improving opportunities for inmates, easing reentry into society at large, and resulting in positive social change.

Illegal substance use in the United States is a growing problem, and a western state has a higher than average rate of drug offenders. Many courts, including misdemeanor courts, have limited to no budget for drug treatment programs outside of the drug court treatment programs. As such, many court-ordered drug treatment programs, when drug counseling is ordered in exchange for a reduction in charges, are outsourced to privately owned companies. The drug counseling entails a single 8-hour outsourced drug counseling course, which includes either in-person, online, or correspondence-based counseling. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the three modalities of the lower level drug counseling course. Effectiveness was measured by comparing recidivism rates of offenders completing each of the three modalities of the program. A second goal of the study was to investigate whether relationships exist in recidivism rates as a function of modality of program delivery, type of drug used by offenders, risk of re-offense, or an interaction between the three. Archival data (N = 395) were collected from a misdemeanor court, and the results of an ordinal logistic regression indicated a statistically significant relationship between recidivism, risk, and modalities of counseling. The modality that was most effective was the online modality of counseling, for offenders who had no risk, and reduced the potential for recidivism by 79%. The results of this study could assist the local government in determining the effectiveness of each of the three modalities of the abbreviated drug counseling program and assist in future decisions regarding development of drug counseling programs and necessary funding for those programs, providing potential for positive social change.

Reentry programs have been demonstrated to reduce recidivism. These same programs experience high attrition rates that degrade effectiveness and reduce capacity. Recidivism rates are reported as over 77% after 5 years from release which negatively impact society, victims and the released offenders. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to examine recently released offenders' insights regarding attrition from reentry programs to provide program administrators with themes that may be useful in addressing attrition. Social learning theory was used to frame the study. Audio recordings were collected during semistructured interviews with 21 reentry program participants. The recordings were transcribed and organized by stage and individual participant. The data was then coded to develop emergent themes about attrition. The themes were unawareness of reentry programs, inefficient learning processes, and lack of cooperative relationships. The themes that offer insight into the self-reported feelings were optimism turns to frustration when learned skills do not provide the expected outcomes and willingness to inform others about the reentry program. Results may provide reentry program administrators with insights to improve the design and execution of reentry programs to facilitate completion by high-risk offenders, which may lower the risk of recidivism.

Prison management and key stakeholders lack an understanding of how institutional obstacles interfere with probation officers and parole agents' ability in managing offenders to reduce recidivism in a Midwestern state. In 2014, 1 out of 52 adults in the U.S. were under the supervision of probation officers or parole agents. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to identify the institutional obstacles that exist for probation officers and parole agents in terms of their lived experiences in their jobs. The participants were 5 probation officers and 6 parole agents from a municipal district in a county in a Midwestern state. The conceptual framework that grounds this descriptive phenomenological study is Meadows' three concepts of systems thinking (elements, interconnections, and purpose). The data collection process involved in-depth interviews and field notes. One hundred percent of the participants identified several themes as institutional obstacles including: lack of community programs, lack of jobs, and heavy caseloads. The implications for positive social change for the key stakeholders identified in the study to reduce recidivism in the criminal justice system were to remove the institutional barriers outlined in the themes and improve institutional practices. Making policy reforms that included drug and alcohol treatment, addressing the issue of prison authority and the creation of rehabilitation programs that feature cognitive development would aid in reduction of recidivism.

People released from incarceration are not equipped to deal with the challenges of transitioning back into society. Previous research on reentry suggests that correctional institutions may fail to adequately prepare inmates to transition to community life at the time of release, and little research addresses the perspectives of incarcerated people who have experienced reentry. Using social justice theory and the institutional analysis and development framework as guides, the purpose of this ethnographic study of reentry programs in a western state was to (a) determine how well they meet the needs of ex-offenders receiving reentry services, (b) identify best practices if their needs are being met, and (c) document challenges experienced by participants and program staff. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 2 staff members, and 12 male and 3 female ex-offenders recruited through flyers at three different reentry programs. Interviews were transcribed, subjected to deductive coding, and a thematic analysis procedure. The key finding of this study was that participation in reentry programs supports the values and hope of second chances for ex-offenders, but formerly incarcerated people need access to resources and support in order to achieve social and financial independence. The results of this study validated the two theoretical frameworks used. To the results of the study indicate that program administrators should establish methods to monitor and track outcome success, and policy makers should consider increases in funding to expand reentry projects that have demonstrated successful reentry projects and thus promote improved public safety outcomes.

Batterer intervention programs (BIPs) were developed to address high recidivism rates and low treatment completion rates in domestic violence offenders. Segregation between these offenders and their victims has been traditional in BIPs, but there has been no research exploring if this separation is related to treatment outcome. This research explored the relation between offender contact with their children or victims and outcomes including recidivism and treatment completion. Most domestic violence interventions are psychoeducational in nature and are based on the cognitive behavioral theory premise that if an individual'€™s thinking process can be changed, a change in actions can result. This was a quasi-experimental study using archived data including 213 individuals who participated in a BIP in Oregon between 2010 and 2012. Nonparametric analyses were used to investigate the relations between categorical variables. There were no significant associations between victim-partner contact and/or child contact and treatment outcomes. There was also no statistically significant association between victim-partner and/or child contact and the treatment outcomes of general recidivism, person-on-person recidivism, or treatment completion. The null hypothesis was retained for all of the research questions, as there was no apparent relation between victim family contact and any of the dependent variables. The findings may be used to guide social change in that they may help inspire future research on the topic and may also be used to help BIPs re-examine policies of segregating domestic violence perpetrators from their victim families.

Près de deux tiers des sortants de prison sont recondamnés durant les cinq années suivant leur libération. Ce constat simple interroge : peut-on imaginer des solutions au problème social de la récidive ? Quel peut être le rôle de l’économiste et du sociologue en la matière ? Comment sont construits ces chiffres et qu’omettent-ils de dire ? Combinant méthodes quantitatives et qualitatives, cette thèse examine la construction sociale des statistiques pénitentiaires. Elle apporte une contribution en matière de connaissance économétrique des comportements de récidive, mais aussi en matière de sociologie de la quantification et plus largement de sociologie et d’économie du droit. Elle mobilise également la théorie de l’économie des conventions.Dans la première partie, nous passons en revue la littérature économique existant au sujet de l’efficacité des sanctions pénales, avant de présenter une étude originale montrant que les condamnés ayant bénéficié d’un bracelet électronique récidivent moins ceteris paribus que ceux qui ont été incarcéré. Dans la seconde partie, nous plongeons dans la fabrique des statistiques pénitentiaires, c’est-à-dire dans les prisons : comment sont fabriquées les données que nous avons utilisées pour nos travaux économétriques ? Dans la troisième partie, nous explorons un autre angle mort des statistiques en nous intéressant au biais de sélection construit dans les tribunaux : comment les juges de l’application des peines choisissent-ils les bénéficiaires d’un aménagement de peine ? / About two third of ex-inmates are re-convicted during the five years following their release. This simple fact raises many questions: what can we do to fight recidivism? What role shold economists and sociologists play in this regard? How are these statistics established and what do they omit?Based on mixed methods, this thesis investigates the social construction of prison statistics. It contributes to econometrics in terms of recidivism behaviors, but also to the sociology of quantification and more broadly to law sociology and economics. It also uses the economics of convention theory.In the first part, we review the existing economic literature about the efficacity of penal sanctions. We then present an original study which shows that convicts who undergo electronic monitoring do re-offend less ceteris paribus than those who have been into jails. In the second part, analyse how prison statistics are established in detail: how is the data that we used in our econometric work created?In the third and last part, we explore another blind spot of the econometric method, namely selection bias. How do judges chose who will obtain an alternative to prison?

The problem is Florida is ranked as having the 10th largest incarceration rate in the United States, with a recidivism rate of almost 30%. Therefore, this researcher conducted a systematic review of the literature to determine any benefits to providing college courses to inmates, including the reduction of recidivism. To determine the effectiveness of higher education in prisons, three states that offer higher education options were reviewed. The Campbell Collaboration outlined the framework for the systematic review protocol. Multiple electronic databases were searched for literature including Education Resource Information Clearinghouse (ERIC), Google Scholar, Journal Storage (JSTOR), LesixNexis Academic, National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), ProQuest, and Psychological Information Database (PsycINFO). In addition, the Campbell Collaboration website was also reviewed to search for additional systematic reviews relating to the availability of postsecondary education opportunities in the prison system. There is growing concern about the problem of mass incarceration in the United States as well as increasing recidivism rates. Although several federal policies have been enacted in an attempt to decrease the number of America’s prison population, the findings revealed that the most cost-effective method is providing inmates with an opportunity to earn a college degree during incarceration. The implications of this research may have an impact on many entities such as legislative and policy measures, availability of economic resources, improved family and community structures, an increase in the number of taxpayers, and the reduction of prison inmates.

The purpose of this research study is to understand the characteristics of the people arrested for felony charges and transferred into the Broward County Felony Mental Health Court (FMHC) program. This research project will review previously collected data on the subjects who participated in the FMHC program between January 2007 and September 2008, and who were diverted to a residential dual-diagnosis program. Problem-solving courts have been developed in many states as a way to effectively restore offenders and reduce recidivism (Stefan & Winick, 2005). The goal of mental health courts is to prevent criminal behavior and recidivism by accommodating necessary mental health services to those who need it. However, most offenders placed in a mental health program commit new violations or offenses. A frequent question that is raised when evaluating mental health courts is whether they are successful in allocating resources for mentally ill defendants, as well as whether jail diversion programs are effective in preventing recidivism or rehabilitating mentally ill offenders. The difficulty to find answers for those questions may be due to the diversity of each jurisdiction's population, complexity of mental illnesses and differences in each unique jail diversion program. Some reports state that in contrast to drug courts, current mental health courts seem to lack resources to assess the participation of services mandated (Steadman, Davidson & Brown, 2001.) In this current study, the data collected on the subjects is comprehensive and include criminal, family, trauma, abuse and psychiatric histories. The levels of compliance were taken from re-arrests records including new crimes and violations of probation for up to two years after entering the jail-diversion program. This study is seeking to investigate the relationship between recidivism and different diagnoses, types of trauma experienced as a child as well as trauma scales from the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI.) It is hypothesized that elevated scores on trauma scales as well as early exposure of abuse will be related to high recidivism among a subset of participants in the mental health court program.

No description available.