Evidence-Based Public Policy Options to Reduce Crime and Criminal Justice Costs - Assignment Example

ACTIVE LEARNING 3 CRJ 520 Mia Banks 1845 What are you going to recommend and why? Good evening Rhinehart and peers: My recommendation regarding building new prisons would be to gather more information regarding alternatives to incarceration for adult offenders and speak with citizens of my home state. Building additional prisons is not in the best interest of the State. Therefore, an examination of current research and more alternatives is needed, particularly in the area of mental health (counseling and therapy) for adult offenders. In addition, specialized training for current correctional personnel (probation officers included) is worth considering. These alternatives must be effective and cost worthy to the citizens of the state. Current research suggests drug court programs and juvenile programs, which include therapeutic, educational, and family components, appear to be effective in recidivism reduction (Drake & Miller, 2009). According to research, cognitive-behavioral programs often lead to positive outcomes. These positive outcomes are expected to result in a 6.9% recidivism reduction (Drake & Miller, 2009). With regards to high risk offenders, Lipsey and Landenberger (2005) found smaller sample size, attendance monitoring, intervention adherence, and mental health professionals characterized the research and demonstration programs. Positive outcomes were reported. Researchers further suggest positive outcomes are depended upon the quality of the cognitive-behavioral program provided. Perhaps implementing adult treatment programs that resemble juvenile treatment programs will prove to be effective. If you determine building additional prisons is not in the best interest of the State, how will you “sell” your recommendations to the public without appearing “soft” on crime? First, I would receive feedback from citizens in my home state in order to get a general consensus. I would hold a town hall/community meeting in large/key jurisdictions. I would invite key players to speak including county jail and state prison officials, individuals who specialize in offender treatment programs, probation officers, correctional officers, a budget analyst, and a few rehabilitated inmates who have benefited from treatment during and after confinement. In addition, I would also invite family members of inmates to speak regarding the effectiveness of rehabilitation. Of course this seems a bit over board, but we are discussing an issue that affects everyone in the state. My speech: We are all aware that crime rates fluctuate. Some research and statistical data contend crime rates have dropped. Yet some research and statistical data contend crime rates have increased. In addition, throughout this country including this state, we have witnessed an increase in incarceration rates, without any plausible explanation only theory. Some states, including this state, have reported jail/prison overcrowding in most jurisdictions. This state spends more money to house criminals opposed to rehabilitating them. When an offender is released from jail/prison, he/she will typically return to his/her respective community. Once that happens, you must ask yourself has this person been rehabilitated or will he/she exhibited the same criminal behavior and return to jail/prison. Jails/prisons do not house most offenders for live nor does prison confinement stop criminal behaviors, rather they take away the opportunity for an offender to commit a crime for a short time or is depended upon sentencing. So, would you rather spend money on additional jails/prisons or would you rather spend money on alternative options, which are effective in rehabilitation efforts thereby achieving the overall goal of crime reduction/control. The bottom line is whatever avenue we decide to take is going to cost, so the question becomes what is in the best interest for this state? Building more prisons is merely a temporary solution for criminal behavior prevention and/or crime control. Arguably, transforming current prisons to effectively rehabilitate criminal offenders is cost effective. Crime control and reduction are issues, which require not only confinement but social, educational and therapeutic interventions. Therefore, alternative options for adult criminal offenders should be further discussed and considered. Mia References: Drake, E. K., Aos, S., & Miller, M. G. (2009). Evidence-Based Public Policy Options to Reduce Crime and Criminal Justice Costs: Implications in Washington State. Victims & Offenders, 4(2), 170-196. doi:10.1080/15564880802612615. Lipsey, M. W. & Landenberger, N. A. (2005). Cognitive-behavioral interventions: A meta- analysis of randomized controlled studies. In B. C. Welsh & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Preventing crime: What works for children, offenders, victims, and places. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York Response: We are all aware that many of the inmates in the prison are considered as recidivist already due to the frequency of their incarceration. It gives us an indication that the perspective of the prison system is misplaced. Building more prison will not solve the issue. And instead of making the prison as a place to punish inmates, I would agree to instead make it a reformatory institution whereby inmates can be reintroduced to society as productive citizens after serving his or her term in the prison. ANNA CRUEY What are you going to recommend and why? As a legislator in Washington State, I have been assigned the task to implement the States best course of action in regards to building new prisons, or come up with an alternate plan of action to reduce the number of prison beds needed, as well as saving money for the state, and local taxpayers, all while still being able to reduce crime (Drake, 2009). My goal is to come up with the plan that will best represent Washington State, and the people residing in Washington State. After I completed a systematic review, these are my actions to be put into place. With over 4,500 new prison beds needed by year 2020, and 7,000 beds needed by 2030, there giving us 16 years to come up with an alternate plan other then building more prisons, I have decided to implement new plans that will meet the cost needs as well as assist in the rehabilitation of the people that need it the most, in order to prevent more people of Washington State from becoming offenders. The cost of a new prison that can hold 2000 offenders is $250 million dollars. Instead of spending that money one prisons, less then that can be spend of rehabilitation, and community based programs that will lessen the numbers of offenders, then not requiring the build of any new prisons (Drake, 2009). If you determine building additional prisons is not in the best interest of the State. how will you sell your recommendations to the public without appearing "soft" on crime? Since I have determined that building additional prisons were not in the best interest of Washington State, here are my recommendations for the pubic to get behind and support, because appearing "soft" on crime is not my concern. The residence of Washington State want to see results, and spending less then $250 million on helping rehabilitate and saving the lives of our own residents and saving money for the taxpayers speaks volumes over "appearance" any day. Programs for Adult Offenders Drug treatment Cognitive-behavioral treatment in prison and community correction Education in prison (basic education or post-secondary) Vocational education in prison Sex offender cognitive-behavioral treatment in prison and community corrections Employment and job training programs in community corrections Adult drug court Electronic monitoring in lieu of jail time (Drake, 2009) Programs for Juvenile Offenders Functional Family Therapy in juvenile courts and in the state Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration Aggression Replacement Training in juvenile courts and in the state JRA Multi-systematic Therapy in juvenile courts Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care in the state JRA Interagency coordination programs in juvenile courts Family Integrated Transitions in the state JRA Juvenile drug courts Restorative justice programs in juvenile courts (Drake, 2009) Representative Prevention Programs Nurse Family Partnership in community settings Pre-k education for low income 3-and-4-year olds (Drake, 2009) These programs can be expanded to serve a larger number of people and the cost is roughly $171 million dollars, which is much less then the cost of building new prisons. Every single one of these programs will assist in the reduction of crime, at a lesser cost then building new prisons, and the people of Washington State will be making strides of rehabilitating its citizens. References Drake, E. K., Aos, S., & Miller, M. G. (2009). Evidence-Based Public Policy Options to Reduce Crime and Criminal Justice Costs: Implications in Washington State. Victims & Offenders, 4(2), 170-196. doi:10.1080/15564880802612615 Response: Selling the idea to the public to transform prison system into a reformatory institution does not equate to being soft on crime. It follows that the general public may be more worried about their safety because crime may shot up due to our “softness to crime”. The reverse will instead happen because criminals who would go to prison will not become “hardened” criminals as the prison system tend to make them but rather a reformed individual. Daniel A As a legislator in Washington State and having read Evidence-Based Public Policy Options to reduce Future Prison Construction, Criminal Justice Costs and Crime rates, I have decided that the best option for the State is not to construct new prisons. The best option is to find other ways of reducing crime using Evidence-Based Programs that have been researched and proven to work. What are you going to recommend and why? I recommend rehabilitation, reintegration, prevention, and community based programs for offenders. This is because prisons are very expensive to operate and far expensive than the alternative measures that have better effect on preventing crime. According to Drake et. al (2009), an increase in imprisonment has not led to a reduction in the crime rate. It is one reason why I recommend rehabilitation, preventive and community based programs. Evans (2013) asserts that, "imprisonment creates a class of new social outcasts and the already marginalized are further marginalized as reflected in housing, employment, and restrictions." Rehabilitation and community based programs for adult offenders such as cognitive-behavioral treatment in prisons and community corrections, education in prison, vocational education in prison, employment and job training programs in community corrections, as well as restorative justice, interagency coordination programs for juvenile offenders helps rehabilitative and reintegrate offenders back into the society as better citizens ready to abide by basic rules and regulations and respect for other peoples rights (Drake et. al, 2009). Preventive programs such as Nurse Family Partnership in Community settings and Pre-K education for low income helps prevent future crimes and assist the youth from getting into future problems(Drake et. al). I will also recommend the hiring of more police officers. With more officers on the streets to help combat crime, it can serve as a deterrent as a result of perceived risk of apprehension, crime and imprisonment (Bratton, 2011) How do I sell my recommendation to the public without appearing soft on crime? I will explain to the public the reasons why it is unnecessarily to construct new prisons. With the help of the media, I will outline the cost involved as far as building a new prison is concerned and the cost of maintaining it. Drake et. al (2009), stated that the construction of new prison cost about 250m dollars and about 45m dollars to operate. The alternatives can help save money for the state and local taxpayers, reduce future crimes, and help lower crime as well (Drake et. al, 2009) The incarceration rate in Washington is another reason why the state has to focus on intervention and preventive programs rather than building new prisons. The incarceration rate is 56percent of the national rate and expected to increase by 23percent by 2019 (Drake et.al, 2009). Measures should be taken to reduce that percentage instead of building new homes to accommodate offenders. Washington State cannot have all its citizens in prison by 2019. Irrespective of all these measures, serious offenders would be punished according to the full rigors of the law. References Bratton, W.J (2011). Reducing crime through prevention not incarceration. Criminology and Public Policy. 10 (1), 63-68. Drake, E.K., Aos, S., Miller, M.G (2009). Evidence-Based Public Policy Options to reduce crime and Criminal Justice costs: Implications in Washington States. Victims and Offenders. 4 (2) Evans, D. G (2013). Reducing Prison Populations: Discussions at the World Prison Conference. Journal of Community Corrections. 23 (1), 4-22 Response Incarcerating someone without any reintegration program will not break the cycle of criminality. A criminal who does not know any livelihood aside from criminality will go back to his old criminal ways making society unsafe again. Thus, having a reintegration and reformatory program is in fact favorable to the public because criminals will be transformed as productive individuals making our society safer that it is no longer needed to build more prisons. Read More