Potential Mechanism

• Critique a colleague’s choice based upon whether the program selected appears to meet the criteria for evidence-based programming.
• Offer an additional element of effective programming for your colleague to consider. Please reply to Stacey White as if you are having a conversation with her. A few sentences and a question. 

To answer this weeks discussion we must evaluate the systems in place and weigh the pros and cons of the system, therein we take the pros or good stories and try to find what works within the system, not only using the resources provided in this section but also using academic research conducted in other areas across the United States.

In the resources provided in the e-text for this week, there is a wide range of studies that are supportive of the programs available to offenders, as much as they are critical. To that I would say that work programs are the most effective to date, keep the offender working and providing for himself, or herself and they are less likely to turn to crime to support themselves. Three elements of a successful work program are supportive management, willful engagement, and a stable work environment.

Supportive management calls for open-minded people who understand the person they’re hiring is an offender but has paid his or her debt to society and has been released in order to reintegrate back into their communities as a product member. If management cannot understand and support an offenders reintegration the program fails (Miller, 2012). Evidence has supported that with stability in the workplace most offenders avoid re-offending on a larger scale (Polaschek, Yesberg & Chauhan, 2018).

Having an effective probation and parole program is a key function to the success of the program, studies have shown that communities who put more of an investment into their probation and patrol programs boast higher success rates, this is where willful engagement comes in on various levels. From the top where legislators make policy, to the probation and parole officer who has to try and assist the offender in re-integrating back into their communities, for without the willingness to put the extra into the offender, the offender won’t feel compelled to engage in their willingness to avoid re-offending (Wilson& Petersilia, 2011).

The need for a stable work environment is a necessity, not as on the management level as mentioned before where specifically a companies involvement is a must, in this case, is a core group of business which comes together with the correctional agencies to build a work pool for the companies to draw from. In this pool, it is imperative that all involved understand the variables of each offender’s life, such as where they live, the treatment they require and the support mechanism’s that are or might not be available to them (Polaschek, Yesberg & Chauhan, 2018). Studies have shown that all the elements listed attribute to the successful integration of offenders, making work programs one of the more successful programs today.

References:

Miller, J. (2012). Does nothing work? In P. Priestly & M. Vanstone (Eds.), Offenders or citizens: Readings in rehabilitation (pp. 185–202). London, England: Routledge.

Polaschek, D. L., Yesberg, J. A., & Chauhan, P. (2018). A year without a conviction: An integrated examination of potential mechanisms for successful reentry in high-risk violent prisoners. Criminal justice and behavior, 45(4), 425-446.

Wilson, J. Q., & Petersilia, J. (2011). Crime and public policy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.