‘Social Services will not touch us with a barge pole’: social care provision for older prisoners

Older prisoners are the fastest growing subgroup in the English and Welsh prison estate. Older prisoners have high levels of health and social care needs. This mixed-method study involved the distribution of a questionnaire examining the availability of health and social care services for older prisoners to all prisons housing adult males in England and Wales, followed by qualitative telephone interviews with representatives from eight prisons. Over half of establishments had some contact with external social care services, but reported significant difficulties in arranging the care for individuals. A professional lead for older prisoners had been identified in 81% of establishments; however, the value of this role to positively affect practice appeared questionable. Statutory social care was often non-existent in prison due to the lack of understanding of what it constituted and who was responsible for its provision.     

SOCIAL ECOLOGY AND RECIDIVISM: IMPLICATIONS FOR PRISONER REENTRY*

Despite the marked increase in incarceration over the past 30 years and the fact that roughly two thirds of released offenders are rearrested within 3 years of release, we know little about how the social ecology of the areas to which offenders return may influence their recidivism or whether it disproportionately affects some groups more than others. Drawing on recent scholarship on prisoner reentry and macrolevel predictors of crime, this study examines a large sample of prisoners released to Florida communities to investigate how two dimensions of social ecology—resource deprivation and racial segregation—may independently, and in interaction with specific populations, influence recidivism. The findings suggest that ecology indeed is consequential for recidivism, and it differentially influences some groups more than others. We discuss these findings and their implications for theory, research, and policy.     

“首要标准”下刑释人员归正保护对策之探究

深入落实“首要标准”，建设社会治安综合治理工程，关注刑释人员回归保护、救助，并提供相应的解决对策，使其顺利回归主流社会已成为一个非常现实而紧迫的课题。刑释人员归正保护需要探究回归心理机制，内化刑释人员的主流意识；构建回归过渡机制，启动重返社会工程；设计人格恢复制度。展现回归社会的自然法原则；探索前瞻保护救助机制，寻求安置帮教的长效对策。     

外国监狱的囚犯娱乐计划

在外国,尤其是在西方国家,监狱普遍设置有囚犯娱乐计划,开展娱乐活动。监狱犯人娱乐活动包括体育和文化艺术活动两大类,具有功能的重要性、内容的多样性、开展的普遍性特点。监狱犯人娱乐活动,可减轻监狱生活的单调性,有利于维护监狱安全,减少监狱暴力行为和违纪行为,有助于预防犯人重新犯罪和培养犯人有益的业余爱好。当然,娱乐活动,尤其是力量型的体育锻炼活动,应进行适当限制。     

论监狱学视野下的以人为本思想

以人为本是科学发展观的核心,它的提出解决了发展"为了谁"、"依靠谁"、"服务谁"的问题。监狱学视野下的以人为本就是以广大民警为本,依靠人民群众,以优异成绩服务人民,促进社会和谐稳定。以人为本的"人",是具体的人、现实的人,而不是抽象意义上的人,具体是指最广大的人民群众,不包括监狱的服刑人员。所以,对服刑人员谈以人为本是非常值得商榷的。     

TURNING OFFENDERS INTO RESPONSIBLE PARENTS AND CHILD SUPPORT PAYERS*

This article describes four demonstration projects that strive to promote responsible behavior with respect to parenting, child support payment, and employment among incarcerated and paroled parents with child support obligations. These projects, conducted in Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Texas, with support from the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement and evaluated by the Center for Policy Research, led to a number of common outcomes and lessons. The projects revealed that inmates want help with child support, parenting, and employment and that prisons can be effective settings in which to conduct such interventions. Family reintegration programs were popular with inmates and may have helped to avoid the rupture of parent–child relationships commonly associated with incarceration. Although employment is the key to child support payment following release, rates of postrelease employment and earnings at all project sites were low and the employment programs were of limited utility in helping released offenders find jobs. Agencies dealing with child support, employment, and criminal justice need to adopt more effective policies with incarcerated parents including transitional job programs that guarantee immediate, subsidized employment upon release, child support guidelines that adjust for low earnings, and better training and education opportunities during incarceration.     

论海峡两岸逃犯移交中的“政治犯罪”

＂政治犯罪不引渡＂是国际引渡的重要原则,但由于＂政治犯罪＂概念本身难以界定等原因,导致该原则的适用具有很大的不确定性。当今国际司法协助中,政治犯罪不引渡不断受到限制,产生了越来越多的＂例外＂,甚至已经有取消的理论主张和实践。在海峡两岸的区际刑事司法互助中,具体而言就是在逃犯移交---＂刑事犯和刑事嫌疑犯＂的遣返中,同样面临着是否适用＂政治犯罪不移交＂的问题。作为区际刑事司法互助,海峡两岸应当摒弃政治犯罪不移交原则。     

A randomized experiment of a prisoner reentry program: updated results from an evaluation of the Minnesota Comprehensive Offender Reentry Plan (MCORP)

Using a randomized experimental design, this study evaluated the effectiveness of the Minnesota Comprehensive Offender Reentry Plan (MCORP), a prisoner reentry pilot project implemented in 2008. In an effort to reduce recidivism, MCORP attempted to increase offender access to community services and programming by producing greater case management collaboration between caseworkers in prison and supervision agents in the community. Results from Cox regression models showed that MCORP significantly reduced four of the five recidivism measures examined, although the size of the reduction in hazard ratios was relatively modest (20–25%). The findings further suggested that MCORP reduced costs. Sensitivity analyses showed, however, that the cost avoidance estimates were not robust across all assumptions that were examined.     

Rehabilitating the Terrorists?: Challenges in Assessing the Effectiveness of De-radicalization Programs

Renewed interest on how and why terrorism ends has emerged in parallel with increased visibility of some new and innovative approaches to counterterrorism. These are collectively known, whether for good or bad, as “de-radicalization programs.” However, and despite their popularity, data surrounding even the most basic of facts about these programs remains limited. This article presents an overview of the results of a one-year pilot study of select de-radicalization programs and investigates critical issues surrounding assessment of their effectiveness and outcomes. We argue that Multi Attribute Utility Technology (MAUT) may offer promise for future empirical assessment of what we prefer to designate “terrorism risk reduction initiatives.” Perhaps less obviously, and until more data surrounding the efficacy of such initiatives becomes available, MAUT may also provide a conceptual basis for planning, evaluating, and guiding the development of future such initiatives and may have the unanticipated consequence of facilitating progress by encouraging greater exploration of efforts to change behavior from other contexts.