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Reducing Recidivism

Reducing Recidivism Education and vocational skills are mandatory in life. Education factors all aspects of life. Without a proper education one is limited to basic life rewards. Not to say that money is the only reason for an education, but it seems to be the force that drives offenders to keep offending. If one does not possess a basic education then the next best thing would be vocational training. Vocational training is an excellent way for some of the low educated people to get out of the life that put them in prison and to achieve a Education is the area that society needs to be concerned with, according to a study by Beck and Shipley . The study was conducted on 16,000 prisoners from 11 states in the effort to reduce on recidivism. The study showed that “62.5% were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within 3 years.” This study proved that prisoners with an eighth grade education or lower were rearrested at a rate of 61.9%, while those who were high school graduates were rearrested at a rate of 57.4%. Just by the numbers alone one can conclude that an education is vital to the rehabilitation of offenders. There are many types of education that offenders can utilize. Many prisons already have programs established to help people incarcerated to obtain an education. Programs designed to help offenders to read and write, get a General Education Development (GED) certificate, and vocational training. Most of these programs are already in place and are effectively working. The problem occurs when prisoners are not exposed to the education while incarcerated. Programs should be mandatory and a convict should not be released until The South Carolina Department of Corrections also completed a study , which stated that offenders who attained their General Education Development (GED) only 22% of the offender’s recidivated, while 35% who had not received a GED recidivated. Clearly an education is an avenue that needs to be approached. If education were mandatory in prison, society would see these numbers in every state. Problems with recidivism do not rely with a criminal predisposition to commit crime, but with their lack of education to support their families and themselves. Vocational programs are excellent alternatives in the reduction of recidivism. When an offender is supplied with a job skill that will produce revenue in the civilian sector it should decrease the need for the offender to commit crime. This approach is addressing the cause of crime and not just the symptoms. The correctional field needs to go to the root of crime and start from there. The problem with recidivism is that the offender is subjected to a life of crime because that is all he knows and that is all he was ever taught. Convicted persons live a life of crime so long that is all they know how to do. A trade needs to be taught to them. In turn, the need to resume to a life of crime should be decreased. Of course this method will not work for everyone, especially the super predators, but it should work for the majority of offenders. A study of State Correctional Education concluded that offenders that participated in vocational or education programs were more likely to obtain their General Educational Development certificates, pursue further education, and succeed in finding employment and keeping employment after release. It seems like this is an easy concept, give the offender a skill and they will be less inclined to commit crime. According to Dr Cobun the prison system is simply a warehouse for felons. Warehousing is a term granted to offenders when there is no real chance of parole and the offenders simply server their time and are released back into the community. The offenders are not rehabilitated they have just been locked up for their sentence. Dr. Cobun felt that more emphasis should be placed on education and vocational programs that would give the prisoners a future in the community and give them a chance at parole. The states should not spend extra funds for education programs and the government should not fund higher learning for incarcerated individuals. Convicted felons should be allowed to obtain their GED but they should not have the opportunity to go to college while they are incarcerated. If the government wants to spend money on education it should be for the lower income families that can not afford it and not a convict trying to pass time. If states want to spend money, they should spend it on vocational programs that will help the prisoners once they are released. Bibliography:

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