Community reintegration of prisoners with mental illness: a social investment perspective

Responding effectively and efficiently to the needs of persons with mental illness returning to the community from prison requires identifying their differences in need and placement difficulties upon return and targeting reintegration investments to reflect these differences. This paper has three parts. The first part profiles the male special needs population in New Jersey prisons. These profiles describe behavioral health and criminal justice characteristics of 2715 male inmates with mental health problems, and are used to identify the scope and nature of the public's investment opportunity. The next part describes the costs associated with possible "investments." The special needs population is classified by need and placement difficulty, and then matched to reentry and community-based treatment programs. Costs are estimated for reentry planning and community-based treatment for the first year post-release. The third part recommends an investment strategy and a set of operational changes that might minimize the loss and maximize the return on the public's investment dollar in mental health.     

The perceived employability of ex-prisoners and offenders

A large-scale study was conducted to examine the perceived employability of ex-prisoners and offenders. Four participant groups comprising 596 (50.4%) employers, 234 (19.8%) employment service workers, 176 (14.9%) corrections workers, and 175 (14.8%) prisoners and offenders completed a questionnaire assessing the likelihood of a hypothetical job seeker's both obtaining and maintaining employment; the importance of specific skills and characteristics to employability; and the likelihood that ex-prisoners, offenders, and the general workforce exhibit these skills and characteristics. Apart from people with an intellectual or psychiatric disability, those with a criminal background were rated as being less likely than other disadvantaged groups to obtain and maintain employment. In addition, ex-prisoners were rated as being less likely than offenders and the general workforce to exhibit the skills and characteristics relevant to employability. Implications for the preparation and support of ex-prisoners and offenders into employment are discussed, together with broader community-wide initiatives to promote reintegration.     

Youth offending and youth transitions: the power of capital in influencing change

Neither the literature on offending nor that on desistance adequately explains the short-term nature of youth offending, young people’s propensity to desist from offending as they reach early adulthood and the importance of youth transitions in helping or hindering young people’s access to legitimate and conventional opportunities and responsibilities. It is suggested in this article that the three phases of offending—onset, maintenance and desistance—run parallel courses with the three phases of youth transitions—childhood, youth and adulthood and that both these processes are influenced by discrepancies in levels of capital for young people at each stage. In a recent Scottish study of desistance, Bourdieu’s concepts of capital are used to demonstrate the commonalities between youth offending and youth transitions and to better understand young people’s search for integration and recognition—whether this be through offending or conventionality. The article concludes that the concepts of capital and youth transitions could both be employed more usefully in the field of criminology to explain the transient nature of offending in youth and the greater likelihood of desistance once legitimate and sustainable opportunities are found to spend as well as to accumulate capital in early adulthood.

Treatment and reintegration of violent juvenile offenders: Experimental results

Studies of probation and parole officers' attitudes conducted in the 1960s and 1970s indicated respondents' preference for assistance over authority as the most important goal of community supervision. The present research compares results obtained from the 1970s and 1980s applications of the Authority/Assistance Questionnaire and the Correctional Policy Inventory. The findings point not only to increased concern for authority but also to the diminished meaningfulness of the assistance objective. The authors suggest that a new emphasis on surveillance, in which delivery on service is largely a means for monitoring client risk, has “crowded” the rehabilitative ideal.     

The life conditions of Australian ex-prisoners: an analysis of intrapersonal, subsistence, and support conditions

Successful reintegration of ex-prisoners into the community is multifaceted. The life conditions of 36 adult Australian ex-prisoners (20 male and 16 female) were examined via a questionnaire administered at 1 to 4 weeks post release, and a subset of 19 of the original respondents were interviewed again at 3 to 4 months post release. Interviews focused on intrapersonal conditions (physical and psychological health and substance use), subsistence conditions (housing, employment, and finance), and support conditions (social support, support services/program participation, and criminal justice support). The majority of ex-prisoners self-reported chronic physical and mental health problems as well as a history of substance use and/or current substance use. Although the housing conditions of ex-prisoners were largely favourable and constant, the employment and financial conditions of this group were generally unfavourable. Level of social support was variable. Theoretical implications and practical applications of the present investigation for reintegration theory are discussed.     

Maintaining programme integrity: the FOR . . . A Change programme and the resettlement of ex-prisoners

This article describes the process and results of monitoring the programme integrity of FOR . . . A Change, a group programme for offenders, as it was being delivered in three prisons in the United Kingdom. In so doing, it briefly describes the aims, structure, and theoretical orientation of the programme; explains what informed the particular approach to checking for integrity and how it was implemented; outlines the results; and finally, postulates the requisite conditions for the successful maintenance of programme integrity.     

Restoring the social: offender reintegration in a risky world

How to manage and reintegrate offenders released from prison is a vexing problem for governments. The challenge of reintegration has forced a pendulum shift in corrections toward a more social-psychological understanding of the nature of offender release, after decades of purely psychological paradigm dominance. This article explains how reentry problems and practice encompass the shift in a context of a risk-centric and averse public. New reentry models such as Circles of Support and Accountability demonstrate an approach to reentry that draws upon the tenets of restorative justice and desistance theories. Using qualitative data on reintegration within New Zealand, this article contributes to our understanding of the problems for correctional departments to facilitate reintegration in the context of risk managerialism, and theorizes about the dimensions and implications of “restorative reentry.”     

Psychosocial correlates of recidivism in a sample of ex-prisoners: the role of oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder

The present study aimed to (a) examine the role of Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and Conduct disorder (CD) in predicting recidivism, while controlling for childhood arrest, perceived neighbourhood crime frequency, alcohol consumption, age and gender, and (b) explore the relevance of these factors in predicting risk of recidivism for males and females separately. Participants were 669 ex-prisoners identified in the National Survey of American Life. Results revealed that gender, CD and average daily alcohol consumption predicted recidivism. When separate models were estimated for males and females, only average daily alcohol consumption was predictive of female recidivism. By comparison, recidivism was significantly predicted in males by CD in youth and childhood arrest. ODD was also negatively associated with recidivism in males. Consequently, targeting variables identified as significant predictors of recidivism for both males and females, or males, is unlikely to be an optimal way of reducing repeat offending.     

吉林省就业弹性变化及影响因素分析

本文分析了吉林省就业弹性变化的趋势与特点,旨在从经济增长模式、劳动力价格、所有制结构和城镇化等方面探讨吉林省经济增长与就业增长之间呈现出的变化趋势,并有针对性地提出促进吉林省就业增长的相应对策。     

Race,reintegration, and social capital in Singapore

Social capital, or the lack of, has variously been acknowledged as contributing to criminal and delinquent behavior among certain groups in society. It has rarely been employed to explain why ex-offenders are unable to break free from recalcitrant behavior and reintegrate into society. We argue that Indians and Malays, as racial minorities in Singapore and disproportionately represented in the prison and re-offending population, are significantly less likely to achieve reintegration than those who belong to the Chinese majority. Because Singapore is a highly racialized society, the effect of race on recidivism and rehabilitation is clearly identifiable. Understanding racial structuration by taking into account the differential impact of a hierarchically organized network of social relationships is central to this argument. For such vulnerable groups, social capital plays a critical role. The uneven distribution of ethnic capital restricts the ability of the Indians and Malays and enables the Chinese to achieve acceptance into the mainstream.     

人体内血醇浓度变化及其影响因素分析

目的探索饮酒后人体内血醇浓度(BAC)变化及其影响因素,建立BAC代谢的数学模型。方法采用顶空气相色谱氢火焰离子化检测器和内标曲线法测量酒后人体内的BAC,利用SPSS20.0和R软件对数据进行相关性分析并建立数学模型。结果女性的平均BAC消除速率为9.54mg/100m L/h,男性的平均BAC消除速率为12.19mg/100m L/h,女性消除速率小于男性,并且BAC消除速率与性别中等相关,与体重强相关,与年龄无关。通过构建混合效应模型可以准确的预测BAC,该模型的平均绝对误差(MAE)为1.60mg/100m L,其次利用决策树分析数据,其MAE为9.99mg/100m L。结论饮酒后人体内BAC消除速率与性别、体重有关,通过时间、饮酒量、性别、体重建立混合效应模型可以准确推断BAC。     

Pygmalion in the reintegration process: Desistance from crime through the looking glass

The study of desistance from crime has come of age in recent years, and there are now several, competing theories to account for the ability of long-term offenders to abstain from criminal behavior. Most prominently, recent explanations have borrowed elements from informal social control theory, differential association theory and cognitive psychology. In the following, we argue that labeling theory may be a neglected factor in understanding the desistance process. Drawing on interview data collected as part of a study of an offender reintegration program, we illustrate how the idea of the “looking-glass self-concept” and others is a useful metaphor in understanding the process of rehabilitation or recovery in treatment programs.     

眼部损伤程度鉴定意见一致性的影响因素分析

目的 分析眼部损伤程度重新鉴定意见不一致的原因,为此类鉴定提供借鉴.方法 选取法大法庭科学技术鉴定研究所2016～2019年受理的108例眼部损伤程度重新鉴定案例进行回顾性分析.结果 鉴定时机的选择、鉴定材料的利用、检验方法 的采用、损伤的论证、标准条款的理解等问题是重新鉴定与原鉴定意见不一致的常见原因.结论 针对上述...     

Differences in contract design between successful and less successful franchises

The aim of this paper is to identify differences in contract design between successful and less successful franchise chains. Comparing contracts from both groups of companies, we observe, on the one hand, that (1) franchise contracts are unbalanced irrespective of the chain’s success: contracts cover franchisees’ obligations more than franchisors’ obligations. On the other hand, we find that (2) contracts in successful franchise chains are more complete (i.e. cover a larger number of contingencies) than the less successful ones and (3) this difference lies in the contingencies regarding franchisees’ obligations, which are more fully covered in the contracts of more successful chains. More specifically, within the contingencies regarding franchisees’ obligations, (4) successful chains restrict the franchisee decision rights more frequently on day-to-day business operations than on financial conditions or post-contractual contingencies. These findings can be explained because successful chains are more sensitive to franchisees’ opportunistic behavior, because they have learned how to manage and solve any potential conflicts, or because of differences in bargaining power. Finally (5) franchisors’ obligations are not statistically different between groups, which we interpret as evidence that relational contracting mechanisms do not substitute formalization.     

Family role in the reintegration process of recovering drug addicts: a qualitative review of Israeli offenders

In an outcome evaluation of recovering addicts who participated in a prison-based therapeutic community, 39 clients, a nonrandomized subsample, are interviewed about their rehabilitation and reintegration experience. This study focuses on the family as the main source of support and as an agent of change for the recovering drug addict. Although many studies show marriage and family to be positively related to successful reintegration and rehabilitation, clients in this study report families as having a negative effect on the rehabilitation and reintegration process. This is especially true among those who reunite with their spouse. The findings are discussed in regard to role expectations and support mechanisms, and suggestions are made for further research.     

Speaking about sexual abuse in British South Asian communities: offenders,victims and the challenges of shame and reintegration

Abstract

Cultural dynamics have a significant impact on how sexual matters, including sexual abuse, are discussed in British South Asian communities. The ways in which these communities talk about sexual violence often reinforce patriarchal norms and values, especially those concerned with honour and shame. As a result, victims are either silenced or the blame for the sexual violence they have suffered is laid at their own feet. Addressing the fact that these problems are rooted in patriarchal norms and values is key to understanding how to tackle sexual offending effectively in such communities. Both retributive and restorative justice are necessary in responding to sex crimes; retributive approaches help to recognise victims’ suffering, while restorative approaches offer promising avenues for encouraging victims and offenders alike to speak about their experiences. Both approaches are essential components to reintegrating victims and offenders into their communities.     

The jury: Social and psychological variables

The selection of a jury is an important phase of the American court system. Many lawyers believe that wise choices at this point may mean the difference between winning and losing a case. Various means of selecting jurors have been practiced by attorneys, and there seem to be among lawyers general impressions about the type of people best suited for certain cases. These ideas have most often concerned social, economic and psychological variables rather then genetic factors.The purpose of this study is to add to the limited body of knowledge in this area by identifying and testing some of these variables. The first step was to design a research instrument to gather significant data relating to the jury system. Included in this examination were both psychological and socio-economic information. Also incorporated into the study were questions designed to reveal the respondents’ jury backgrounds. Items sought to disclose how a juror perceived the trial, interacted with the group, and voted.After the construction of the research tool, a survey was made using it in one of the counties of Florida. The interviews were conducted to gather data regarding perceptions of jurors and test the research tool. The people chosen to be interviewed came from the venire furnished by the county clerk. Analysis of the information was conducted. Statistical tests of significance revealed that the people illustrated a strong support for the jury system and a relatively high degree of commonality of attitudes. Comparisons were done on groups voting guilty with those voting not guilty. Voting tests on national origin and income further supported a homogeneity of attitudes. The importance of a trial vote to testing jurors was found.This case study aided in identifying some plausible hypotheses and providing data on the relationship of variables that are of import to understanding the jury system.     

The impact of community notification on sex offender reintegration: a quantitative review of the research literature

The purpose of this review was to better understand the impact of community notification, known as "Megan's Law," on sex offenders' reintegration into the community. Eight quantitative studies that examined the social and psychological impact of community notification on adult sex offenders (N = 1,503) were reviewed. The pattern of results across studies showed considerable similarities despite marked variability in the populations examined, survey methods used, and response rates obtained. Sex offenders rarely reported being the target of vigilante attacks. Substantial minorities reported exclusion from residence and job loss as social consequences of being publicly identified as sex offenders in their communities. The majority of offenders reported negative psychological consequences of notification but also identified benefits of knowing that others were monitoring their behavior. More intrusive notification strategies were associated with higher rates of socially destabilizing consequences. Results are discussed in terms of their policy and research implications.