NCJ Number
198569
Date Published
2001
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This videotape from Hazelden Corrections Services in Center City, Minnesota, discusses ways for inmates to learn to control their violent behaviors upon reentry into their communities.
Abstract
Focusing on inmates’ violent behaviors and substance abuse, this videotape details ways for inmates to learn to recognize and control their violent behaviors. Developed to instruct inmates in taking responsibility for their actions, the videotape features a narrator responding to various excuses, made by inmates, for their violent behaviors. Presenting a series of statements made by jailed inmates detailing the reasons they committed the violent crimes that landed them in jail, there is a discussion of why offenders lose their tempers, get carried away, and commit violent acts. After arguing that most inmates claim that other people “push” them to commit violent acts, the narrator states that offenders are solely responsible for their violent behaviors, make choices regarding whether to be violent, and are the only ones who can change their violent behaviors. Arguing that sobriety is not a solution to controlling violent behaviors and interactions with others, the narrator maintains that the videotape is designed to help offenders recognize their responsibilities in regards to violent behaviors and presents tools to enable inmates to change their undesirable behaviors upon return to their communities. Following a series of inmate statements justifying the ways they were “pushed” to commit violent acts, the narrator states that violent behavior is a choice, violence is intentional, and that offenders use violence in order to achieve control and domination. The narrator further contends that violence is a result of how offenders think and are programmed by society. Claiming that offenders believe they have a right to show who is in charge, to hit women, and to make excuses for their violent behaviors, the narrator maintains that racism, desires for domination, and beliefs that men should control women are the basis for violent acts among inmates. Arguing that offenders have to change the ways they think in order to stop believing they have the right to hurt and dominate others, the narrator suggests that substance abuse is often used as an excuse for committing violence. The videotape concludes with the narrator making suggestions for ways that offenders can learn alternatives to violence through negotiation, compromise, and respecting other people.