NCJ Number
223914
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 70 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2008 Pages: 82-85
Date Published
August 2008
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article discusses issues related to the reentry process of offenders back into society.
Abstract
The article opines that the offender’s criminal history, crime, and demonstrated desire to change should allow an offender’s behavior to dictate the way the system responds in sentencing and release. The vision briefly outlined of a “human resource recovery system” comprises four broad areas: vision, continuum of control, habilitation, and efficiency. The article discusses issues related to the current system, such as increased incarceration rates, focus of detention, and increased pressures on governmental budgets. The article cites research that indicates the more successful the system is at changing inmate behavior and returning a better product to society, the less crime will occur in a community, with the ultimate goal of making those communities a safer place to live and enhancing public safety. The vision of this human resource recovery system is to change the rules of operation of the current system and place responsibility upon the criminal justice system to hold offenders accountable for changing criminal behavior, while at the same time holding itself accountable for the product that it releases back into the community.