NCJ Number
173736
Date Published
1996
Length
45 pages
Annotation
This paper examines moral health in prisons and jails.
Abstract
Moral stability is defined as "the tendency to follow the established code, willingly and with genuine satisfaction." It is the strength of the desire to do what is right, and to avoid doing anything wrong. The National Character Laboratory, Inc., is an interdisciplinary group that encourages better use of prior research results on character and more research on character or moral health. Character corrections among inmates offers real prospects of reducing recidivism, thus reducing the total number of offenders, the demand for prisons, and crime rates. The report includes several memos helping to coordinate projects of the National Character Laboratory and the Crime Prevention Committee aimed at improving mental health via better character development in the family, schools, corrections, welfare, and the community in general, as well as providing better character therapy. One of the memos discusses the role of psychiatry in moral health in general, and in character therapy in particular, and what is being done about it. Figures