Using Evidence-Based Practices on Rehabilitation To Reduce Recidivism by Studying Individual Traits That Lead People to Commit Crime
Evaluation of aspects that subject individuals to criminally offend remains key to implementing successful anticrime programs and generally fostering long term rehabilitation. Within the context of the American Criminal Justice system, recidivism remains to be a major concern for most criminal justice system agents, law enforcement as well as the public in general. The likelihood that an individual is recommitted to a correctional facility after they have already been released from the facility continues to rise, due to inadequate interventional programs to cater for the individual to reform, within and out of the system (Crane, 2019). This evaluation seeks to outline that although the structural and procedural functions of the criminal justice system, such as incarceration remain to be depended on, they rarely are adequate to fruitfully compel an individual to reform and gain meaningful rehabilitation. The institution’s major aim has not been to rehabilitate, but historically, they have been to punish the individual for the crime.
The American system mainly implements the classical theory. The classical school of thought advocates an eye for an eye principle. This school of thought outlines that the punishment should be as lenient and possible and work to fit the crime and be as quickly dispensed as possible. This is retrogressive, as it does not seek to address the intrinsic motivation for the crime, such as the social, cultural, political and economic factors that might have motivated the individual to offend. As such a murderer may face capital offence, and a thief may be punished in a manner that fits their offence as a means to deter them from crime in the future (William et al., 2018). On the other hand, the positivist perspective advocates that crime is linked to an external or internal (intrinsic) influence or both. These influences have contributed to the upbringing of the criminal and as such should be taken to account when punishing them for the crime. The notion that crime should fit the criminal manifests, since from learning about his experiences it is easier to see why they are a criminal (Barak et al, 2018). Biological traits as well affect the individual’s propensity to criminality according to the positivist theory (Wiliam et al, 2019). This evaluation takes this critical approach and elaborates on the need to challenge traditional understanding on crime, and the criminal justice system and focus on social and racist justice to curtail and punish crime.
As such, restricting offenders to a change of lifestyle or subjecting them to a secured social setting is critical action used within the criminal justice system to control and subject offenders to a variety of environmental changes to force a new perspective in life. Historically, law enforcement and criminal justice agents have made predictions based on an individual’s race, socioeconomic status, criminal record, age and gender, to outline their likelihood to offend or re-offend. Generally, research outlines these prediction errors used within the criminal justice system to forecast the likelihood for individuals to offend are generally filled with errors. 50% false negatives and true positives in the Wenk study show that there was a greater error in trying to predict who would do the crime, and subsequently subjecting them to rehabilitation (Walker, 2010). Researchers in the Wenk study critically showed that there were numerous errors within the prediction thanks to a variety of biases within the criminal justice system. Acknowledging that the criminal justice system in some regard is biased. According to researchers “Most of these decisions were based on a hunch, guesswork, or just plain bias” (Walker, 2010). Generally, there are various factors that promote recidivism within the criminal career community. Walker (2010) shows that learning on the prior history of the criminal career is more than likely to inform the judge’s decision making. This may often compel them to be biased.
While reviewing the prior history of the offender is relevant, justice system agents are encouraged to keep in mind that the individual is also affected by their limitation in their social and economic setting, with aspects such as poverty remaining key in directing their criminality intents. Nonetheless, the agents within the criminal justice system are likely to review the seriousness of the last crime severely to make biased predictions instead of reviewing the person themselves . Walker (2010) identifies this to include their backgrounds in life which define their experiences and compel them to crime. As such, this evaluation dictates that when born to a dysfunctional community with limited avenues for upward social mobility, crime is more likely to occur and delinquency even more common among these communities. A major suggestion for the criminal justice agents is to implement evidence-based practices in rehabilitation, to reduce recidivism, the tendency to crime.
The evaluation as such suggests that society plays a major role in shaping how an individual conceptualizes their role within the general social organization model. It provides members of the society the freedom to judge others and create a perception of the other person, and in the process define their own perception, behaviors and personality based on the concepts they have learnt when interacting with others (Solomon, 2015). But while there is greater freedom in interaction, there are also consequences that are achieved in the same regard. Under the socialization process, is the theory of symbolic interactionism, which critically explores the fact that within a society, individuals create and co-create meaning of themselves, their environment and those they interact with thorough communication and day to day interaction (Hutchinson, 2018). As such, within a social setting, an individual and their behaviour are affected as much by the social value system, as it is by his intrinsic needs and goals. Socialization provides individuals with the right to make a judgement on others and receive judgements as well. This is referred to as labelling theory, where society sanctions some behaviour while condemning others and linking them to individuals, as such defining the individuals by their behaviors. Often, the ability to judge others and others’ ability to judge and categorize an individual person manifests in stereotype threat. Hutchinson (2018) identifies stereotype threats to represent a risk for an individual by often compelling them to conform to negative stereotypes, and labelling by society.
In the case of dysfunctional families, poverty, poor background in educational experiences, and lack of adequate social inclusion create a propensity for an individual to criminal activity, and delinquent behaviors. Having established the role of upbringing, social factors and labelling in forcing an individual to criminal tendencies, the following report will outline how society can intervene and reduce crime. The following evaluation will also seek to outline how Strain theory may lead individual to crime, and how evidence based practices on rehabilitation, centered on understanding an individual’s social background and its role in the individual’s criminal behavior may lead to creating adequate rehabilitation models that overall reduce the likelihood for an individual to reoffend.
By use of strain theory, as well as other relevant theory in criminology, this evaluation will outline that in most minority communities across America, where crime is prevalent, the lack of government policies to tackle centuries of social injustices achieved through racist and discriminatory policies persists to create a cluster of citizens who are economically excluded. This means they have little or no access to avenues of healthcare, food, housing, water, education and employment. It also implies greater exposure to drug and substance abuse which have historically been linked to violence and criminality. In these communities, there is the development of alternative attitudes and means to economic inclusion to allow for the provision of these basic resources. This may include activities such as crime. Understanding crime perpetuation from this perspective becomes critical in creating avenues for rehabilitation of these individuals that the current criminal justice system ignores as its correctional facilities are not propelled by rehabilitation.
References
Barak, G., Leighton, P., & Cotton, A. (2018). Class, Race, Gender, and Crime: The Social Realities of Justice in America (5th ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Crane, J. (2019). Becoming Institutionalized: Incarceration and “Slow Death”. Retrieved 3 February 2022, from https://items.ssrc.org/insights/becoming-institutionalized-incarceration-and-slow-death/#:~:text=11-,The%20incarcerated%20people%20we%20spoke%20with%20described%20a%20slow%20erosion,PTSD%E2%80%94particularly%20following%20solitary%20confinement.
Ford, J. A. (2016). Poor Health, Strain, and Substance Use. Deviant Behavior, 35(8), 654–667. DOI: 10.1080/01639625.2013.872523
Hutchinson, C C. (2018) Interpersonal Communication: Navigating Relationships In Changing The World. 4th ed., Macmillan Learning Curriculum Solutions, 2018.pdf.
Solomon, R. (2015) “The Impact of Labeling in Childhood on the Sense of Self of Young Adults” Department of Child & Youth Studies. Faculty of Social Sciences, Brock University St. Catharines, Ontario. Retrieved from https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol2/OSTCB/TC-OSTCB-6252.pdf
Walker. (2010). Sense & Nonsense about Crime, Drugs, and Communities, (7th ed.).
Williams, Frank P., & McShane, Marilyn D. (2018). Criminological Theory. Pearson.
