Saving Our Criminal Justice System: The Efficacy of a Collaborative Social Service (Report) Saving Our Criminal Justice System: The Efficacy of a Collaborative Social Service (Report)

Saving Our Criminal Justice System: The Efficacy of a Collaborative Social Service (Report‪)‬

Social Work 2011, Jan, 56, 1

    • $5.99
    • $5.99

Publisher Description

The Second Chance Act of 2007 (EL. 110-199), signed in 2008, marked a fundamental shift toward rehabilitation to achieve successful community reentry for offenders, an endeavor in which social workers can play a major role (Eckholm, 2008).The act authorizes services to reverse skyrocketing incarceration rates and costs. It provides state and local grants to government and nonprofit groups for services--including housing, health, drug treatment, and employment--and encourages pilot programs to test the effectiveness of reintegration and diversion programs for nonviolent offenders. This article reports on an effort supported by this act and best practice--the Allegheny County Jail Collaborative (ACJC) system, which is operated by jail and social service agencies--showing a 50 percent reduction in recidivism rates (Mellow, Mukamal, LoBuglio, Solomon, & Osborne, 2008; Solomon, 2008). Based on its success, we posit that such a collaborative system can serve as a model for communities throughout the country to aid jail inmates, reduce criminal justice and societal costs, and increase public safety. For decades, the "get tough" approach that fit the mood of a crime-weary public led to three interrelated criminal justice challenges and some startling statistics. The first challenge is out-of-control incarceration rates. The United States represents only 5 percent of the world's population, but we hold 25 percent of the world's inmates in our prisons and jails (Pew Center on the States, 2008). We have more people behind bars in total numbers and per capita than any other industrialized country--2.3 million out of nearly 300 million (750 per 100,000 residents)--one out of 100 U.S. adults. Annually, an estimated 12 million people cycle in and out of nearly 3,500 U.S. jails (Beck, 2006). On a typical day in mid-2008, 776,573 individuals were in jail, up from 618,319 in 2000 (Minton & Sabol, 2009). The same study reported that 258 per 100,000 U.S. residents were in jail custody (up from 226 in 2000)--nearly all of whom would reenter society. The U.S. aggregated corrections costs rose from $12 billion in 1987 to $49 billion in 2007, $20 billion of which was for jails and local criminal justice (Hughes, 2006).

GENRE
Non-Fiction
RELEASED
2011
January 1
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
21
Pages
PUBLISHER
National Association of Social Workers
SELLER
The Gale Group, Inc., a Delaware corporation and an affiliate of Cengage Learning, Inc.
SIZE
202.8
KB

More Books Like This

Rural Jail Reentry Rural Jail Reentry
2017
The Philosophy and Practice of Corrections The Philosophy and Practice of Corrections
2012
Prisoner Reentry Prisoner Reentry
2017
Routledge Handbook on Offenders with Special Needs Routledge Handbook on Offenders with Special Needs
2018
Routledge Handbook of Corrections in the United States Routledge Handbook of Corrections in the United States
2017
Probation and Parole Probation and Parole
2013

More Books by Social Work

Fighting for Child Custody when Domestic Violence is at Issue: Survey of State Laws. Fighting for Child Custody when Domestic Violence is at Issue: Survey of State Laws.
2003
Harm Reduction: A New Perspective on Substance Abuse Services. Harm Reduction: A New Perspective on Substance Abuse Services.
2004
Documentation in Social Work: Evolving Ethical and Risk-Management Standards. Documentation in Social Work: Evolving Ethical and Risk-Management Standards.
2005
A Social Worker's Reflections on Power, Privilege, And Oppression (Guest Editorial) (Personal Account) A Social Worker's Reflections on Power, Privilege, And Oppression (Guest Editorial) (Personal Account)
2008
Native Americans and Brief Spiritual Assessment: Examining and Operationalizing the Joint Commission's Assessment Framework (Report) Native Americans and Brief Spiritual Assessment: Examining and Operationalizing the Joint Commission's Assessment Framework (Report)
2010
Do Unions Matter? an Examination of the Historical and Contemporary Role of Labor Unions in the Social Work Profession. Do Unions Matter? an Examination of the Historical and Contemporary Role of Labor Unions in the Social Work Profession.
2006