Rehabilitation of Criminals

Introduction Being reintroduced into the outside world and the re-socialization of newly freed criminal offenders has been a reoccurring setback in society. With the United States having recidivism rates upward of 69%, it is apparent that freed convicts are finding it hard readjusting and going back to their normal lives in society (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2008). Retribution, incapacitation, deter, and rehabilitate offenders, are all characteristics of the purpose of prison, but much of the research on recidivism rates criticize the idea that “prison works” (Dhami, 2006). However, with offenders finding their way back into jails and prison within at least one year of being released, it is clear that the prison system is not providing inmates with the rehabilitation and therapy needed to function once they return to the outside world. In the past many studies have shown that inmates who take in vocational and therapy based programs are more successful with reintegration into everyday life upon their release. The combination of vocational programs with the use of counseling, health and fitness programs, transcendental meditation, academic programs and religious programs are they way to go. These rehabilitative programs are usually based on the notion that criminal behavior in suspects is caused by some contributing factor such as a history of violence, psychological or mental disorders. Rehabilitation not Punitive Deterrence
Why Rehabilitation Programs?
Moreover, this assertion of these factors does not mean that some offenders make their own personal choices to break the law but rather it reasons that these personal choices are habitually caused by certain factors, which contribute to unlawful behavior. Most of these programs are thus focused on the perspective, which is aimed to deal with criminal attributing behavior. For example, counseling programs could be aimed to focus on the behavior that led to the criminal offender committing the offense