NCJ Number
147332
Journal
Archiwum Kryminologii Volume: 18 Dated: (1992) Pages: 51-101
Date Published
1992
Length
51 pages
Annotation
The attitudes of the personnel of community and social service agencies in Poland toward offenders are examined in terms of their implications for community services to support offenders after their release from prison and to facilitate their social readjustment.
Abstract
The analysis assumed that assistance to offenders will be successful only if those involved in it are genuinely motivated to that activity. However, empirical studies reveal that the norm demanding that prisoners be helped is not too deeply rooted in social consciousness. Offenders are usually perceived in terms of stereotypes based on simplified and mainly unfounded beliefs. Nevertheless, some persons feel a general sense of duty toward all those in need of help. In Poland, the institutional structures for helping prisoners were organized without reference to these concepts; they carry out the official government policy and are organizationally included in the system of governmental agencies whose activities they supplement. A possible reform of this approach would make it possible for those who feel a general desire to help those in need of help. Footnotes