Community Based Corrections Process and Recidivism

Prison overcrowding leads to serious problems for prison authorities. It is related to serious health hazards and disturbs penal rehabilitation and reformation programs. As a result, security problems, terrorism, and subversive actions may occur. If prison is overcrowded hard and soft criminals interact with each other, which may lead to connecting mild offenders to hardcore criminals. Overcrowded prisons cause stress for prison officials and further strain prisoners as they live in unacceptable conditions. In Sri Lanka, we have very few non-institutional treatment methods, and those methods have not been effective due to administration problems and provisions. Therefore, it is time to improve the treatment of offenders through the enhancement of community-based corrections process alternatives to incarceration. Many countries have probation, parole, and community service which are commonly known as traditional alternatives to imprisonment. These non-institutional treatment methods are widely used in many developed and developing countries. The non-institutional measures are mostly community-based corrections. The concept has evolved with the thinking that correction if linked to the community, will be less costly, more humane, and more effective than imprisonment in dealing with offenders convicted of minor offenses. There is a need in the field of community corrections for a systematic and orderly development having due regard for local conditions and local needs. In developing such a system, it is necessary to ensure that no individual who does not require incarceration for the protection of others is confined in an institution and that no individual is subjected to more supervision or control than required. On the other hand, the creation of community-based programs should ensure that they respond not only to the needs of the offenders but also to the interest of the community. If they are not administered properly it will amount to the criminal justice system going soft on crimes and criminals. (Glaze, 2011).

The research leads to identifying the effectiveness of community-based corrections when the initial threat is recidivism. Recidivism means the person who relapses in the rehabilitation process frequently. And how it’s developed through the community-based corrections functions. There are several direct and indirect causes of recidivism from a psychosocial perspective, but this research focused on community corrections itself because community-based corrections emerged as an alternative to prisons. When utilizing community-based corrections resources in an effect should be possible to reduce recidivism (Bouffard and Muftic 2006). The introduction clearly explains the evaluation of community corrections through the ancient period and then the rationale of the study explained the justification of the topic to the support conceptual study. To collect information and data about this problem a researcher able to use primary data and secondary data, to get primary data researcher use observation, focus group discussions and interview with clients & professionals. For secondary data researcher used a community-based corrections performance annual report. This data collection and data findings were clearly explained accordingly than explained the way of findings and the way of choosing the sample size and to analyze the whole data about the research and researcher used thematic analysis to find out the accurate problem which they are having when engage in proving services for respondents. Finally, it will focus on the social work interventions in the effective discharge planning for offenders, roles of professionals, specifically social workers, in discharge planning/re-entry planning, issues surrounding recidivism, community-based programs, and evaluation of the work surrounding them. I hope this research helps to study future researchers to do better involvement in their research and it’s allowed to empower Community based corrections parliament Act, policies, and programs in the process that especially focus on the challenges faced by community-based corrections officers and recidivists.