Leading an Offender Learning Revolution - Essay Example

LEADING AN OFFENDER LEARNING REVOLUTION Table of contents page Table of content 2 Research Question 2 Research hypothesis . 3 Research aims .. 3 Literature review . 3 Methodology a) Research design .. 11 b) Sampling and sample size .. 12 c) Data collection tools ... 12 d) Data collection procedure ... 13 e) Data analysis .. 13 References .. 14 Abstract The problem of integrating offenders back to the society has been a tricky issue. It has contributed to increased rate of re-offending as most offender lack the basic skills the can help them to go back to the society and live like others. The government has been using a lot of money to incarcerate offender in jail and prison while a good number of them have been put under community probation. This research will be out to research on the effectiveness of putting in place a commercially viable correction system that will help the offender to gain life skills and at the same time help the government to reduce its budget on the offenders. This will also have an advantage to the community as it is likely to reduce the rate of crimes. The research will also look into the way in which the government can empower community probation program in order to make it more effective like the correction program used in prisons. The aim of this proposal is to develop a commercially sustainable management model for the delivery of value added education to offenders in the community probation program. This research will be carried out using the survey design in which case study of correction institution will be used. The sample size will be selected using random sampling and a sample of 5 correction officials, and 10 offenders from each institution will be interviewed. A question will be used as the main data collection tool. Secondary data will be corrected from review of different literature that has been written on this issue. Data will be analyzed using simple data analysis tools. Research question How can current theories in Leadership and Management help develop a commercially viable and sustainable adult education delivery model Specifically focusing on the growing market of low skilled adults who are sentenced to community based punishment and rehabilitation orders in the East of England probation areas. Research hypotheses The hypothesis is that offender learning in the community is not as developed as it is in the prisons, and with the growing trend of community based sentencing, this issue needs to be sorted if government are ever going to lower conviction rates. 1.0 Research Aims The overall research aim of this proposal is to develop a commercially sustainable management model for the delivery of value added education to offenders, who are serving a community-based punishment order. The preliminary research aims of this proposal are to undertake both qualitative and quantitative examination of the needs and goals of the different power structures in community based offender adult education, truly identifying what "value added" means to each group . It is the hypothesis of this research that the current educational provision offered to offender's serving a community-based sentence, does not offer the same outcomes as offender learning found within the prison estate. This can partially been seen in the levels of available research found on the two different subjects and has been raised as an issue to the author by the Regional Offender Management Service. If the hypothesis is found to be factual by the research, change is needed to help offenders gain qualifications, skills and employment, which are linked to reoffending rates. If society reduced crime by 1 per cent, the economy would benefit from between10 million and 320 million per year. 2.0 Objectives for research 2.1 To identify the current literature written on managing education, relevant to community based offender learning. This will be completed in order to identify which variables have been previously identified in power structures, needs and goals of educational power structures and any research into the management of end-to-end community based offender learning. 2.2 To conduct qualitative research to identify the power structures in community based offender learning. This evaluation is to critically identify and evaluate what groups belong to which power structure, using the groups of customers, leaders and stakeholders as a structure. This will involve focus groups cross referenced with the current literature. It is essential to firstly identify the members of these groups before formulating any learning design or corporate vision, as this will stimulate commitment among customers, leaders and stakeholders and aid the institutionalization of the educational vision to be achieved by all parties, boosting success rates. 2.3 Once the different power structures have been identified, both qualitative and quantitative research will help identify the needs and goals of each group in the areas of (1) Legislative, (2) Educational, (3) Pro-Social and (4) Financial as a structure to the research questions. These areas have been primarily identified from analyzing the governance framework of educational companies and the probation service, using current literature and an example taken from national offender management statutory guidance materials. 2.4 The outcomes of the two supportive research methods will then be developed into a model of the membership of the different power structures and their needs and goals, clearly identify any differences between the motivations of each group. 2.5 This information, cross referenced with an analysis of the three probation areas current learning delivery offer, will enable a detailed gap analysis to be conducted, identifying where gaps in provision need to be filled to enable the achievement of each group's needs and goals. 2.6 Once the above points have been successfully achieved and quality checked, a comparative analysis would identify the common needs and goals of each group and clearly identify any differences between the motivations of each group. 2.7 At this stage in the research a detailed knowledge of the community based offender educational market would have been formulated. This knowledge will enable the research to progress onto the analysis of current management theory, examining; formal, collegial, political, subjective, ambiguity and cultural models. It is the intent of this stage of the research to develop a management model that is commercially viable and sustainable for adult education delivery, specific to offenders serving community based punishment orders, designed to deliver the achievable outcomes identified. 3.0 Literature Review Offenders and ex-offenders are usually at a risk of social exclusion once they are released from Jail. They are faced with multiple disadvantages as far as their integration in the society is concerned. Once they are released back to the society, they feel that they are not accepted like other member of the society. There is still a very high degree of social exclusion and stigma as far as inclusion of these offenders back to the society is concerned. Those who work with the offenders, ex-offenders and those who are at a very high risk of committing an offence have described their lives as chaotic. Though there are various institutions that have been put in place in order to deal with the problem, offenders have never been accepted back to the society like other people. They are still seen as criminals who are supposed to be punished. (Anderson, Hardy, and Leeson 2008, p. 4) Lack of proper integration in the society makes them have slim chances of starting their lives again and therefore most of them prefer to commit crime again and return to the world where they belong. With time they turn out to be jailbirds. There are not structures that can support these people in order to help them to secure employment and start their lives again like other. The life in prison and the life outside prisons become two different lives that are not compatible. In prison there is a sense of equity as all of them are convict. But ones they are out of prison, they are faced with another life in which they are seen as offenders. The difference in these two lives makes it difficult to integrate offenders back to the same society where they belong. The social construction of offenders does not provide for a reconciliation space with is more important in understanding and living with offenders (National Offender Management Services, 2006, p. 29). While it is in the interest oaf the government and the whole society in general to safeguard the interest of the community by containing offenders, there are some special interests in offender that goes again the need for containment. The criminal justice system in the world has been torn between meeting the interest on the growth and development of offenders and the need to contain them as away of controlling the level of crime in the society. For example the criminal justice in the US has been undergoing change in juvenile conviction and jailing. The establishment of the approved schools and the consequent jailing of young people have not helped to improve their status but on the contrary it has made them more radical criminals. Coupled with this is the need to help them access basic education that can help to make their future better. But containing them in jails reduces their chance of accessing quality education. Therefore the correction system has been changed in order to accommodate community rehabilitation of the young people. This helps them to access their education and at the same time it helps their parent to play an effective role as parents. One of the most important ways of reducing the rate of crime in the society is by empowering offender with life skills that will help to make them independent. In 20005, the government put in place a Green Paper that was aimed at reducing re-offending through skill and employment. This was one of the most important steps in fighting against re-offending. Under the new strategy offenders would be helped to become self reliant and reduce their engagement in crimes through educating them to gain skill and helping them to get employment after being releases. Research have shown that the cost of re-arresting and trying a re -offender is more than the cost that could be used by the government to impart life skills to the offender. In numerical terms a prison who reoffends has been shown to cost the government more than 65,000 pounds from what time they are released to when they are re-imprisoned. After that they cost more that 37,000 pounds to be maintained in prison. This is just the numerical cost and it does not take into account the cost to the society. According to these studies a re-offenders can cost the society as more as 11,000 billion every year as per the crimes that they commit. There is also a lot of impact on the level of crime and the cost in mobilization of government machinery to fight these crimes (Feinstein, 2002, p. 87). This is one of the most important facts that justify that there is need to have the offender prevented from re-offending again. This can only be achieved through taking appropriate measure that will ensure that offender are empowered to become self reliant. One of the that h as been proposed to help them become self employed and have a good time when integrating back to the society is through putting them under the community correction system (Johnson and Sholes, 2002, p. 39). Although community correction system has been argued most when it comes to the youths, it is also quiet important when it comes to dealing with the grown up. For the youth, the main reason behind community correction has been to enable them access their education and put them under the parental care. But for the old, it would help them to be accepted by the society and at the same time help the government to save a lot of money that is used in maintaining them in prisons. Therefore the main issue here is whether correcting offender is prison helps to reduce the rate of reoffending when compared to those who are put under probation to work in the community while living with the community (National Audit Office, 2002). Community based correction CBC has been successfully used in the US and other place in the world to reduce the rate of re-offending. It provide offender with sanction, supervision, and with treatment in the same community where they belong. A study that was correction in Iowa showed the CBC had the same effectiveness and at some places they showed to be more effective in deterring the rate of re-offending. In Iowa the system has been used to correct more that half of the offender. The growing preference to CBC has been based on the success it had recorded compared to the prison correction. The same study found out that empowering the community correction with the capacity to give education to the offenders helped to reduce the rate to re-offending by more that 40%. This shows that instead of the government spending a lot of money in containing prisoners in jails, they should be put under CBC while that money that was used is channelled towards providing effective education. However there has been working structures put in place in order to support the operation of the program. In order for CBC to provide effective management of the offenders that was almost half of the offenders' population, there has to be increased staffing by more than 37.6%. At the same time there was enactment of the legislative laws that stipulated the level of crime that can be corrected at the CBC. For example all murder offences could not be put under community probation. This also came with increased spending in holding facility, electronic monitoring especially for the juveniles, and a heavy spending on the streamlining of the education program. The education system also used the community correction intervention literature which targets attitudes, beliefs, values and support for the convicts in order to change their behaviours. There is also intensive supervision of the offender in order to track the progress in the change of their behaviours and in the skills development. This is an important step in order to decide whether to keep the offender under the CBC or to take them to prison if they don't record an improvement of their behaviour. Electronic monitoring is used either other system in order to monitor the progress of the offenders. Fore example the telephone may be fitted with breathalyzer to test the use of alcohol. The monitoring office also used hand-held monitor and can drive past the client schools or home in order to verify that the cline is at the needed place. The day program is designed to be more intensive and is treatment oriented as compared to the regular probations. It structures most of the activities that the client is doing through ht day especially when it come to monitoring their education. There is a comprehensive assessment at the end of the day or the week in order to inform the client of their progress. In the intensive monitoring program, there is development of the an individualized treatment plan which is used to assess offender attitudes, values, beliefs and other factors like education deficiencies, employment problem, and other problem that inhibit full integration of the society and development of pro-social law abiding behaviour. In order to have an effective CBC Iowa and Ohio state in the US have put in place correction program in community schools, residential office, health treatment facilities like dispensaries and others. In these centres the main kind of skills that are imparted to the offender include life management skills, conflict resolution skills, financial management, relationship, community involvement and others. In Ohio there is s Community Correction Act that support the CBC programs. This provides for the development of programs that have jail and prison diversion approach in the correction of the offenders. This put sin place Bureau of Community Sanctions which is a program that is carried out with the collaboration of the State of Ohio and Local Community Correction Planning Board. The correction board is given the mandate to run the activities of the whole process providing time to time management activities. This shows that in order to have an effective management of the CBC there has to be participation across the board. It calls for the need to have an effective working program in place that ensures all the participants are playing their part well. Therefore it is based on working structures that defines the role of every one (Bush 2007, p. 45). According to Jacquie Mutter (2008) qualification is an important thing for the offender when they enter the world of work. They are usually taken to be equal to other people and therefore able to compete effectively. But the certificates are given for those who have achieved academic qualification while life skills are ignored. The world is changing and the need to have a working rehabilitation system that recognize the qualification of the offender has become more important than ever in the criminal justice system. While there has been a rising trend of introducing offender to high education, the others who cannot access high education are ignored. If working education system is put in place in our prison that will help to reward offender according to their qualification, this will have helped them to gains access to employment and reduce the rate of re-offending (Leitch Review of Skills 2006, p. 30). This shows us that we don't just need to have a CBC education program in place but we need to have a structured education that will offer certificates that can be recognized by all the employers. The Qualification Curriculum Authority has been working on a curriculum that would help to provide offenders with education same as that offered in colleges. But in order to reduce the congestion in prisons there is need to develop this training to the CBC in order to ensure that more offenders are accessing life skills (DFES 2006, p. 32). In UK the Social Exclusion Unit has already been shown as a success in talking the problem of reoffending by the ex-prisoners. This unit has shown to be one of the most powerful tool that need to be developed in order to give the offender life skills that will reduce the probability of them engaging in offenses again (Princes Trust 2007, p. 5). It has been an important correction tool that has enabled the government to deal with most of the problem that are affecting illiterate offender who find it hare to find employment to start their life. This shows that were need a strong education structure for the offenders that will help them to gain life skills (Social Exclusion Unit, 2000). Methodology Research design The research will use survey research design. In this case it will collect data from the secondary sources but it will also use primary data that will be collected from case studies. The secondary data that will be collected will be used to analyze the success or failure of the programs that has been implemented before. It will help to show how adult education models in CBC have been developed in other places and the challenges that have been faced. This will help the research to come up with a standard way of designing working education models. Data collected from the case studies will be useful in giving a first hand experience of how these models can be well designed. The case study will be carried out on those community probation centres and from offenders in order to understand which is the best method they feel that can help to design the program. Sampling and sample A sample of 5 correction institution will be collected for the case study. In these 5 institutions, 10 offenders and 5 correction officers will be interviewed. In the selection of the interviewees random sampling will be used in order to reduce bias in the study. Random sampling will be the best technique to use here since it will help to a varied view of the offender on the most appropriate way that can be used to come up with the education correction framework. The correction officials will provide important information on how they feel about the correction system in generation and whether they would prefer incarceration or community probation as the most effective ways of dealing with the problem. The correction institution will provide data regarding the rate of correction, offender and the number of the re-offender who have gone through imprisonment compared to those who have gone through community probation. Data collection tool In collection the secondary data, a variety of literature will be consulted included various legislation by the government that have been enacted in pursuit of the correction system. For the primary data, a questionnaire will be used. The questionnaire will be structured such that it will collect data on their view of the correction system, the changes that can be made on the correction system, the best structure that can be used to implement education in the correction system, the possible benefits this can have on the offenders to preventing re-offending, and other important data as per the objectives of the research. Data collection The fist step in data collection will be the formulation the questionnaires that will be used in the interview. After this the questionnaire will be pretested in order to verify their validity and accuracy in the data correction process. Before data collection there will the sampling procedure and seeking of permission from the correction institution and other necessary authority to collect data from these correction institution. Once the permission will be granted, the process of sampling the participants for the study will be implemented. To ensure that the process is fair, the researcher will insist on doing the selection the participation themselves rather than being hand picked by the correction officials due to the high level of control that is exercised in these institutions. The next step will be booking and scheduling interviews with the correction officials. In this case the research will seek the involvement of the prison officials and community probation official who are likely to have better information about the correction process. The next step will be collecting the data from the selected samples. Then there will be collection of the secondary data from the government officials and other sources from other countries. This secondary data will be compared to the primary data collected in the process of data analyses. Data analysis Data will be analyzed using simple data analysis method. Simple percentages, means, standard deviation and others will be used. The primary data collected will be analyzed and compared to the secondary data. From the analysis made a conclusion and a recommendation will be reached in designing an effective community probation model. Bibliography Anderson, F., Hardy, C., and Leeson, J. (2008), Leading a Learning Revolution: The Story Behind Defence Acquisition University's Reinvention of Training, Pfeiffer, San Francisco Bush, T. (2007), Theories of Educational Leadership and Management 3rd ed. Sage Publications, London DFES (2006), Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment: Next Steps Department for Education and Skills Feinstein, L. (20002), Quantitative estimates of the social benefits of learning, 1: Crime Research report No 5, Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning Johnson, G (2002), and Scholes, K, Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases 6th Ed, Prentice Hall, London Leitch Review of Skills (2006), Prosperity for all in the global economy world class skills. Final Report TSO Mutter, J. (2008) Recognizing the skills of offender in prisons and on probation. Oxford University National Audit Office, (2002), Reducing Prisoner Reoffending: Report by the comptroller and auditor general, HC 548 Session 2001-2002: 31 January 2002 National Offender Management Services, (2006), A Manual on the delivery of unpaid work, National Probation Service. October 2006 Princes Trust (2007), The Cost of Exclusion: Counting the cost of youth disadvantage in the UK, The Princes Trust Social Exclusion Unit, (2000), Social Exclusion Unit to tackle reoffending by ex-prisoners, Press release 4 September 2000. Retrieved from http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page2849.asp ' on 6th June 2008 Read More