NCJ Number
230934
Date Published
2010
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This chapter promotes contact with nature and working with people in forest and conservation management as providing critical elements in helping some prisoners and probationers develop lives that refrain from crime.
Abstract
The chapter features Offenders and Nature (O&N) schemes operated by the Forestry Commission in partnership with various prison and probation services across England. By examining their characteristics and impacts on participants, the chapter identifies lessons to be learned and how they inform existing concepts for crime reduction. The authors evaluation research on O&N programs has thus far focused on projects operating in cooperation with prisons; however, regarding the development of a model of desistance (approach for stopping criminal behavior), the chapter discusses implications of these programs for the overarching offender management model, including probation practice. The chapter first defines and describes the component of various types of O&N schemes and observed outcomes based on the authors' research. Existing criminal justice and environmental policy contexts that are part of the rationale for having work placement O&N schemes for offenders are reviewed. The chapter then provides an indepth review of the theoretical context for O&N schemes, focusing on the "meaningful work" literature and the concepts of desistance and identity shift. Insights from a range of O&N schemes, the highlighted concepts, and other work from several disciplines inform the authors' conceptual framework for these schemes. The chapter identifies key criteria for and links between the individual, societal structure and social relationships, and connections with nature in facilitating positive changes in offenders' lives. The chapter concludes with insights gained from these O&N schemes and how the evaluation findings fit into existing debates about policies for offender management. 2 tables, 2 figures, and 75 references