Ex-Offenders Transitioning Back into Society - Research Paper Example

The size of prison population of America is astounding given the percentage of its population over the world .More worrying is the rateof re arrest of released prisoners .With the nation facing economic downfall the taxpayers money cannot be wasted on upkeep of prison and prisoners . The country need productive labor force, a sizeable portion of work force lies with the population of ex prisoners. If we take steps to rehabilitate the prisoners and ex prisoners by providing them education and employment. the country will be marching towards the goal of welfare state .This study analyses the ways to reintegrate ex offenders into the society. Ex-Offenders Transitioning Back into Society Introduction Is once a criminal always be a criminal? Are there no chances left for a criminal to reform and lead a normal life? These are the questions faced by the society today. America has only 5 percent of the global population and yet 25 percent of the world’s prison population. America has 2.3 million prisoners behind bars and 5.1 million people on parole. A teaming population of 9 million ex-prisoners are reentering the American society every year. These people have already “paid their debt to the society” for committing crime and now it is society’s turn to provide them a chance to earn for their livelihood, lead normal life and become good citizens. Ex-prisoners form a sizeable population of workforce and their inclusion in the job market will give a fillip to the nation’s economy which is under strain. If the opportunities for employment and the other supports are denied to them, nearly half the number of ex-prisoners may return to prisons which will cost heavily on tax payers money and national exchequer. The staggering cost of maintaining prisons and prisoners have already touched $49 billion and if this allowed to increase it will add another $25 billion by the end of 2011.The nation cannot afford to spend $65000 per prisoner which can rather be spent on welfare measures of ex-prisoners and on creating employment opportunities for them thereby reducing recidivism. The Second Chance Act of 2007 provides ex-prisoners the opportunities for transitioning back into the society. The goals of the act is to reduce recidivism and to provide the require help to the offender during his incarceration and after reentry into the society. But still the employment opportunities for the ex-offender is not adequate because of the employer bias and lack of skills of ex-offender to match the job marketer. Besides the ex-offender needs basic amenities like food, shelter, clothing, transport and identification status etc, to reintegrate into the society. This paper will explore the available ways to transition back the offender into the society and reduce recidivism. Literature Review The review of the literature on the need of ex-offenders’ reintegration in the society explains of historical approach and how the reintegration gained importance in the present day context and related laws to facilitate the reintegration of ex-offenders in the society. The first review is from “Re-integration or Recidivism of Released Persons in Washington State” by Daniel N Clark (8.9.04) from Friends Committee on Washington State Public Policy. The focus was on the people released from state prisoners numbering about 9000 annually and how they were going to be reintegrated in the society. A study by the Washington Institute for Public Policy said that around 50 percent of all persons released from prisons were reconvicted on various charges within 8 years from their release. Recidivism was a major problem. There were many in-house programs in prisons to reduce recidivism from early 19th century to late 1970. The rehabilitation programs were to provide education developing employment skills for prisoners and health care etc., However during 1974 when the idea of “nothing works” was suggested on the in-prison programs for rehabilitation they were down graded resulting in increase of recidivism. The highest rates of prisoners in America to the tune of 6 to 10 times higher than most countries created an awareness among public and correction professionals and the need of rehabilitation programs in prison and after re-entry into the society. The paper says the current approach to recidivism and reintegration emphasized the following measures to be adopted for reducing recidivism a) Improved education and training on vocational skills during incarceration b) Creation of community reintegration programs c) Housing the ex-offenders, taking care of their need of food and clothes d) Steps to provide them ID and Social Security cards e)Taking care of their health and counseling for drug dependency and f) Providing them employment opportunities and removing discrimination in their employment The paper concludes with that there is a need to change public policy to achieve successful re entry of ex offender into the society which will create a climate for ex offender to become normal law abiding and good citizens The second review is from the paper “ On the effectiveness of Prison as Punishment” by Stuart Henry .The paper was presented at the conference : Incarceration Nation: The Warehousing of America’s Poor, October 24,2003 Ivy Tech State College ,South Bend .Indiana. The paper researches and proves how education and skills training for the prisoners reduce recidivism. It analysis various data on the prisoners like demographics, level of education of prisoners and their criminal history etc., On analyzing these data, it showed that probationers who were trained in educational improvement programs had a re-arrest rate of 35 percent compared to people of 46 percent who did not receive any training. People who received a GED had re-arrest rate of 24 percent only. A New York study showed that younger persons who received a GED while incarcerating return to prison at a rate of 40 percent compared with 54 percent of inmates who have no degree. The research paper conclusively showed that literacy programs and skills training in prisons reduce recidivism. ( Stuart Henry (oct 24 2003), On the Effectiveness of Prison As Punishment. Paper presented at the conference : Incarceration Nation : The Warehousing of America’s Poor, Ivy State College, South Bend, Indiana) . The third paper analyses whether the rehabilitation programs on prisoners’ reentry are effective and achieve the desired results, and if not what steps have to be taken to improve their impact on ex offenders welfare. The research paper gives data on prisoners and ex prisoners coming under criminal justice system which were nearly 4.7 million during 1994 of which nearly 19 percent were having less than 8 years schooling.67 percent were less than high school education. Out of the total released prisoners 67.5 percent were re convicted within 3 years .Extrapolations on data showed that re arrest rate would touch 75 percent in 10 years The population of 600,000 released prisoners in 2001 meant approximately 30 percent of labor force required in that year. However that implication of labor force needed in the job market did not reduce recidivism. This was because of rehabilitation programs were not effective or there were some inherent flaws in the implementation of programs. There were some non experimental evidences showing that prison education programs and prison work improve the re integration levels of ex prisoners in the society . Ex offenders were facing daunting task in finding employment since they lacked education and job experience to match job market .The attitude of the employers in hiring ex prisoners were not encouraging and also aggravated the problem The data on physical end mental well being of ex prisoners showed the urgent need to address the problem in the context of their re entry into society. (Richard Freeman (2003) “ Can We Close the Revolving Door? : Recidivism Vs Employment of Ex offenders in the U.S.” : May 19-20 .2003 : Employment Dimensions of Re entry : Understanding the nexus between Prisoner Re entry and Work .Urban Institute of Re entry Round Table .New York University Law School ). Hypotheses The hypotheses adopted to study this paper is There is significant relationship exists between prisoners’ educational and vocational program to recidivism. Methodology It is a descriptive study utilizing survey Population study and sample Population study and data were from US government printing office ,Source book on Criminal Justice Statistics and Open Society Institute (1997) are included in Appendix. Discussion and findings Research has clearly found that the most effective way to reduce recidivism is through education of prisoners and particularly through vocational training and counseling for mental health etc., The Texas study showed that the re arrest rate for degree holders was 15 percent whereas the average national rate was 60 percent .The re arrest rate for associates degree holders was 13.7 percent , 5.6 percent for bachelors degree and nil for masters degree Conclusion We need to consider prisons for reforming and educating the prisoners. Upon his Release from the prison he should find employment, take care of his health, lead a normal life, contribute to the workforce and economy as law abiding and good citizen .Creating better employment opportunities for ex prisoners will be the most contributing factor for ex offenders transitioning back into society References BJS(2001) Source book on Criminal Justice Statistics. Washington DC. US Government printing office. Daniel N Clark (8.9.04),Re-integration or Recidivism of Released Persons in Washington State. Friends Committee on Washington State Public Policy. Open Society Institute, Research Brief 1997, Education As Crime Prevention: Providing Education To Prisoners” Centre On Crime, Communities And Culture. Research brief No:2. Retrieved from: http://www.soros.org/crime/reserach-brief-2.html/ Richard Freeman (2003). Can We Close the Revolving Door? : Recidivism Vs Employment of Ex offenders in the U.S: May 19-20 .2003 : Employment Dimensions of Re entry : Understanding the nexus between Prisoner Re entry and Work .Urban Institute of Re entry Round Table .New York University Law School. Stuart Henry (Oct 24 2003), On the Effectiveness of Prison As Punishment. Paper presented at the conference : Incarceration Nation : The Warehousing of America’s Poor, Ivy State College, South Bend, Indiana. Appendix Source : BJS Source Book 2001 1) Gender Incarceration in State Prison 1997 Male 94 % Female 6% 2)Race/ ethnicity among State prison inmates 1997 Black 47% White 33% Hispanic 17% Other 3% 3) Age of incarcerated State Prison inmates 1997 18-24 19% 25-34 38% 35-45 30% Over 45 13% Source: Open Society Institute, Research Brief 1997 4)Literacy levels for US adults General population Complete illiterate 3% Functionally illiterate 21% Prison population Complete illiterate 19% Functionally illiterate 40% Source : BJS Source Book of Criminal Statistics ,2001 5) Criminal History of State Prisons.1997 Prior convictions Percent of State Prisoners 0 24.5% 1 16.7% 2 16.2% 3 – 5 24.7% 6 - 10 12.0 % 11 6% Source : Open Society Institute , Research Brief Sept 1997 ,based on Tracy and Johnson 1994 6) Recidivism Rates for Degree Holders leaving the Texas Department of Criminal Justice , 1990-1991 No degree 60% All degree holders 15% Associate degree 13.7% Bachelors degree 5.6% Masters degree 0% Read More