Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Exploring Perceptions Of Control Within Offender Cognition And Recidivism Paradigms, Anistasha H. Lightning, Danielle Polage

Student Published Works

Elements of perceived control are associated with recidivism in offender populations. We investigated the application of locus of control to the frequency of personal involvement with the law and to beliefs surrounding the likelihood of future contact with the legal system. We hypothesized that, as the number of sentencings or legal experiences increased, locus of control would externalize. We also predicted that increased legal involvement would lead to greater belief in the likelihood of future involvement. A statistically significant path model suggests that locus of control appears to be a predictor of increased criminality, as opposed to the other way …

Beyond The Revolving Door: Reducing The Risks Of Recidivism So African American Male Youth Not Only Survive But Thrive, Kristy O. Yanney

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This capstone project aims to reduce the recidivism rates for Black male youth. With 20 years of professional experience in law enforcement, and through the research and literature of this project, I have found that environmental influences contribute to the arrest, incarceration, and rearrest of African American juvenile offenders. These youth are often forced to figure out how to survive in environments that provide tremendous challenges. Adverse childhood experiences, the influence of gangs, poverty, rising rates of violence, lack of quality educational or employment opportunities, substance abuse, and negative family influences are some of the environmental factors that will be …

Combating Recidivism, Shaylin Daley

Senior Honors Projects

SHAYLIN DALEY (Psychology) Combating Recidivism Sponsor: Lisa Holley (Political Science) Many people believe that criminals cannot be helped. It is evident that at least some of society shuns people who break laws and have negative views about the amount of money spent on detaining inmates. Thousands of individuals are released from United States prisons a day. Many of these individuals have no plan in place for their return home and are sent into the streets with nothing except for a jail ID. Most of these people will end up returning to prison. A good sum of these people face problems …

Reformation Within The Nation: Adapting The Nordic Rehabilitation And Reintegration Model To Positively Recondition The United States Criminal Justice System, Jessica Cornell

Helm's School of Government Conference - American Revival: Citizenship & Virtue

An analytical and statistical based comparison of criminal sentencing, incarceration, rehabilitation and reintegration in the United States of America to those of the five countries which follows those of the Nordic Criminal Justice System.

Blurring The "Bright Line": Examining Age-Related Differences In Jail Incarceration Outcomes Using A Resources-Challenges Model Of Emerging Adulthood, Olive F. Lu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Jail incarceration represents an early and prevalent point of contact with the criminal legal system. While there is some evidence of age-related differences in jail incarceration outcomes such as rearrest and reconvictions, existing research typically only make comparisons between adults and adolescents. This bifurcation ignores the unique experiences of a third group: emerging adults aged 18 to 25. Evidence from developmental research combined with shifting social and cultural dynamics suggest that 18-25-year-olds, though adults by law, straddle the line between adolescence and adulthood while facing challenges that set them apart.

The current study incorporates a resources-challenges framework of emerging adulthood …

Positive Psychology - A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of Correctional Systems, Denitsa Kaneva

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This paper analyzes and compares the effectiveness of the correctional systems in the United States of America and Europe, with some emphasis on Scandinavia. To make the comparison, I looked at previous research on the correctional systems in the United States and Europe. I reviewed articles from PsycInfo EBSCO Host and Google Scholar. The main points of comparison used are recidivism rates and rehabilitation services offered by the prisons in different countries. The results of this comparison show that countries that offer better rehabilitation services in the prison system, like Scandinavian countries, have lower recidivism rates than the United States, …

The Efficacy Of Juvenile Treatment Program Services As Evidenced By Posttreatment Re-Offenses, Michelle R. Valenzuela

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractThe determination of whether juvenile intervention programs are effective in the reduction of future delinquency has been an ongoing research concern among scholars for over a century. Researchers have established that intervention programs are helpful for some juveniles but have not determined if intervention treatment outcomes continued beyond adolescence. The purpose of this quantitative study was to address the efficacy of services provided within juvenile intervention programs. This study addressed these gaps in previous research, focusing on the services provided within the intervention program and outcomes of continued delinquent behaviors beyond 3 years using multiple regression analysis. Social control theory …

Resilience Of Former Offenders Released From A Halfway House, Tasha Andrea Pritchett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Former offenders confront a myriad of obstacles that often lead to re-offending and return to prison. Re-offending also creates financial and social burdens for taxpayers. There is some evidence that the consequences of incarceration for offenders can be buffered through resilience. Factors that promote resilience can be personal (internal) and environmental (external), and may directly or indirectly affect offenders’ adaptation, well-being, and development as they transition out of prison. The purpose of the study was to explore the narratives of resilience in adult males who have transitioned from halfway houses to mainstream society. Richardson’s metatheory of resilience and resiliency was …

The Need For Belonging For Previously Incarcerated Probationers, Alaina Elam

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research on offender rehabilitation has primarily focused on providing those who are incarcerated with programs and resources to mitigate the circumstances that would lead to recidivism. There is an absence of research on how the need for belonging could reduce recidivism in probationers. Recidivism remains a social problem for many U.S. communities, as those being released are not properly equipped for their transition. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of probationers regarding their transition into their community, recidivism, and their need for belonging. As individual fulfillment and human motivation were examined, Maslow’s self-actualization …

Relationships Between Social Bonds And Non-Reoffender Status Among Female Offenders, Tiffinny Beard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractThe purpose of this quantitative longitudinal correlational study was to examine whether positive social bonds with caring, supportive family, prosocial peers, and spouses/partners were significantly predictive of non-reoffender status using archival data from a sample of female offenders who were under community supervision in the state of Michigan during the years 2011–2014. The study had three interval predictor variables: positive social bonds with family, prosocial peers, and spouse/partner. The dichotomous criterion variable was recidivism (i.e., reoffending within a three-year period). The study sample was 325 female offenders on probation or parole in Michigan during the years of 2011–2014. Most of …