NCJ Number
170642
Date Published
1995
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Most corrections professionals have long recognized aftercare as an important part of reintegrating newly released offenders into the community, but over the past 20 years corrections has focused on deterrence, incapacitation, and just deserts and has given relatively little attention to aftercare programming.
Abstract
After years of neglect, aftercare may be making a comeback. Many jurisdictions are beginning to experiment with innovative post-release services and supervision programs. Although aftercare is not a term commonly used in adult corrections, aftercare in adult corrections has been loosely identified with parole supervision. Aftercare is generally linked to a rehabilitative goal and implies much more than traditional parole supervision. Challenges to the development of effective aftercare programming are significant, especially because offender-based interventions in adult corrections have never been firmly anchored in rehabilitative ideology. The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has defined correctional options as cost-effective interventions that reduce reliance on traditional modes of incarceration and enhance the reintegration of offenders into the community. Aftercare is not a central feature of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, but the Federal Government is encouraging the implementation of strong aftercare programming. The BJA has funded programs in Florida that contain an aftercare component. Trends in parole supervision are reviewed, and barriers faced by aftercare programming efforts are noted. 10 references and 4 photographs