NCJ Number
119116
Date Published
1988
Length
7 pages
Annotation
The Research and Statistics Division of the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services conducts or supports extensive empirical research on corrections, with major studies focusing on offenders' personal resources and their relation to recidivism, evaluation of services, inmate stress, correctional personnel stress, and prison management and operations.
Abstract
Since 1980 the research has been published in four series of publications. The studies have shown that prisoners often lack personal resources of education, money, housing, support for law-abiding lifestyles, employment, and employment skills and that recidivism is more likely for offenders with fewer personal resources. Additional research has shown that remedial programs to prisoners or special support programs on release offer the potential for reducing recidivism. However, many services do not reach the prisoners who need the services. Aboriginal prisoners are particularly disadvantaged. Sources of inmate stress include lack of information about rules and restrictions, difficulty in establishing release dates, and lack of information about programs and services. Prison staff also experience stress, particularly in relationships with more senior staff, peers, and policymakers. In addition, studies of decisionmaking about prisoners have shown that recommendations about release are related to valid predictions of recidivism. Some projects have produced unexpected findings regarding the stress experienced by prison entry by both new and returning inmates and the possibility that some older prisoners are quiet and cooperative and can give constructive support and guidance to young prisoners or those serving first terms of imprisonment. Future research will increase the emphasis on evaluation.