Life After Bars - Expert Article

 Life After Bars

A Deeper Look Into Criminal Rehab Programs

By Camille Burman

Growing up in the age of YouTube, I’m sure we can all attest to the universal experience of going down the rabbit hole of niche crime videos. Whether it is 60 Days In, Behind Bars, or World’s Strictest Parents, I can sit and be entertained for hours and hours. My favorite part is at the end when the show says “3 years later” and updates the audience on whether the person has continued improving their behavior and successfully integrated back into society. This got me asking the question: Do criminal rehabilitation programs really work?

Let’s start by defining what a rehabilitation program consists of. All incarcerated individuals have access to a multitude of services which are divided into pre-release or after prison programs. Within those divisions are specific programs like adult education, cognitive behavioral interventions, male community reentry, and parolee services. For the sake of this article, I will specifically be delving deeper into the Cognitive Behavioral Interventions (CBI).

Cognitive Behavioral Interventions

As defined by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, “CBI is an evidence-based treatment which helps Incarcerated individuals understand the thoughts and feelings which influence behaviors.” The program typically lasts about 14-28 weeks depending on the level of care needed. It focuses on “goal oriented treatment that takes a hands-on approach to problem solving that transforms thinking patterns and behaviors.” (cdcr.ca.gov) Participants are split into groups of 8-10 where they meet multiple times a week to discuss problem solving skills, emotion management, and critical reasoning. The primary benefit of CBI is that both violent and non-violent individuals can partake in the program and get the same successful outcomes.

A statistic that makes me immediately doubt the effectiveness of these programs is the fact that over 65% of released prisoners will return within 3 years with 73% of them committing a new crime or violating parole within a year of release. The system has even created a term for re-offenders: recidivist. The good news is that studies have shown that prisons with CBI programs have much lower recidivism rates. So although it is a very difficult, nuanced problem that is yet to be solved, there is evidence to show that the programs are working by preventing about 7-10% of re-offenders.

Reentry To Society

The question then shifts from focusing on the effectiveness of the programs while in prison to the process of reentry to society when released. It seems to be that the issue lies in what goes on when a felon is introduced back into the community. In recent years, our nation has begun prioritizing improving our criminal justice system, including helping felons reassimilate. Starting in 2018, President Trump signed the First Step Act which “provides guidance on the type, amount, and intensity of recidivism reduction programming and productive activities to which each prisoner is assigned.” (bop.gov) Since the passing of this act there have been thousands of compassionate releases as well as an increase in fair sentencing.

Now I don’t know about you, but I do not feel very reassured by the fact that a violent sex offender will probably reoffend once released back into society, possibly in my very own community. This brings up the question of whether there are alternatives to rehabilitation programs that would be more effective. This is a highly debated topic of whether the United States should focus on rehabilitation programs or harsher punishment for inmates. Studies have shown that the public tends to support harsher punishment for criminals than the actual legal penalties for their crimes. (Rogers) Unsurprisingly, public punitiveness towards sex offenders is generally much stronger than attitudes towards other offenses. There is also a direct relationship between the increase of punitiveness as the offender's age increases.

FIGURE 1 Punishment attitudes scale (PUN) scores with error bars (±1 SE) for sexual (SO) and nonsexual offenders (NSO) across all offender ages. Potential range: 4–16. Dashed horizontal line indicates conceptual “middle” PUN response. (Rogers)

Different Criminal Justice Systems

I would like to sit here and write this article from an unbiased point of view that values numbers over emotions, but it is simply impossible to ignore my natural reactions. I think that after witnessing or hearing about any kind of traumatic, violent crime, the majority of us are quick to endorse harsher punishments and label these criminals as deranged and not capable of changing. We’ve all heard the phrase “an eye for an eye.” But, the bottom line is that CBI does improve recidivism rates and at the end of the day, that’s what we should all want for a better society, right?

What if I told you that China has much lower crime rates than the US while also being the world leader for the use of capital punishment? On the contrary, the Netherlands has one of the world’s lowest crime rates with a benevolent attitude towards inmates. They believe that traditional prisons are dehumanizing and all prisoners should instead undergo treatment during their sentences. Both countries lie on the extreme ends of the spectrum but have produced similar outcomes. If I had to place the US on this spectrum of tough on crime to benevolence, I would put us somewhere in the middle.

If rehabilitation programs only work at a 7-10% rate, what can we do to reduce recidivism even more? There are several factors that contribute to a solution. An important factor to note is that the prison system in the Netherlands is extremely costly. It costs about 93k a year per prisoner versus 35k in the US. Not to mention, the US prison system is already extremely overcrowded. So if we were to choose the route of increasing the resources and living conditions in the US, we would have to spend an additional 126 billion dollars per year in funding. On the other hand, we could be tougher on crime while slowly introducing more rehabilitation programs to more prisons. But what would being tougher on crime look like? I’m not familiar with the many criminal justice laws but let’s just say it meant an increase in the death penalty. Many US citizens are not in support of the death penalty. In the end, it is very difficult to narrow down a simple solution.

After contemplating all the different criminal justice systems, it comes down to what goal we want to achieve as a society. Some argue that capital punishment is an overreach by the government. Others believe in giving everyone a second chance. Ultimately, there is no right answer but we can only try our best to stay active in the political sphere to enact the change we seek.

Works Cited

Middlemass, Keesha M., and Calvin John Smiley. Prisoner Reentry in the 21st Century: Critical Perspectives of Returning Home. 1st ed., Routledge, 2020, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351138246.

Mpofu, Elias, et al. “Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Efficacy for Reducing Recidivism Rates of Moderate-and High-Risk Sexual Offenders: A Scoping Systematic Literature Review.” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, vol. 62, no. 1, 2018, pp. 170–86, https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X16644501.

Rogers, Darrin L. and Christopher J. Ferguson (2011) Punishment and Rehabilitation Attitudes toward Sex Offenders Versus Nonsexual Offenders, Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 20:4, 395-414, DOI: 10.1080/10926771.2011.570287