Essay about Recidivism Prison and Ex-offenders - 2347 Words

The Argumentative Research Paper Melissa Walker (an acquaintance of the author) sits within the walls of her concrete cell at Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women (FCCW). Walker is making a contribution to this year’s recidivism rate. She was released from prison in 2008 after serving seven years of confinement. Sadly to say, this year she reoffended by stealing credit card information from her â€Å"Productive Citizenship† instructor. Her new charges are credit card theft, forgery, as well as probation violation. The price for Walker’s reoffending is incarceration until March, 2015. Wayne Luke, a retired probation officer with the Virginia Department of Corrections, says that the difference between successful and non-successful†¦show more content†¦Most importantly the offender learns how to answer any questions in regard to being a convicted felon. The Fast Track Program provides limited services to inmates who are nearing release and have not been able to participate in the Productive Citizenship Program. Both programs provide a list of resources to assist each inmate preparing for release. Other programs offered by DOC are Breaking Barriers, a six week course on overcoming the barriers associated with release, parenting classes, and the opportunity to obtain a GED certificate. There are several employment placement services available for ex-offenders upon release. Goodwill Industries of Richmond offers employment and training programs for ex-offenders and will often offer employment opportunities upon completion (â€Å"Employment and Training†). Boaz and Ruth is a faith-based organization that also assists in job training and employment placement in the Richmond area. The State of Virginia has the Virginia Workforce Center that offers training and employment assistance as well (Virginia. Virginia Employment Commission). The Internal Revenue Service offers incentives to employers to hire ex-offenders by offering a tax credit by submitting tax form 8850. Employers qualify for this tax credit by hiring an ex-offender who has been convicted of a felony under federal and state law and then is hired no more than one yearShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Recidivism On The United States958 Words   |  4 Pagesof recidivism as it relates to communities within the United States. Yet recidivism remains a problem in the US. The focus here is not recidivism itself, but to understand which aspects of case management services may assist in lessening recidivism after an offender’s incarceration. Nationally within three years of release, about two-thirds (67.8 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested (National Institute of Justice, 2014). In Illinois, over 45 percent of offenders released from prison eachRead MoreEvaluating The Effectiveness Of Maryland s Correctional Education Program1486 Words   |  6 PagesCorrectional Education program, by examining Maryland’s Criminal Justice Reinvestment program. The goal of the reinvestment program is to reinvest freed funds from closing select prisons back into the criminal justice system and use them to improve correctional education and rehabilitation programs. The end goal is to have an ex-offender that is able to provide for themselves without returning back to crime. Studies have shown that those who complete a correctional educational or rehabilitative program areRead MoreCrime And Imprisonment : The Higher Chance Of Recidivism1569 Words   |  7 Pagessentencing, the higher chance of recidivism. â€Å"Based upon the existing evidence, both crime and imprisonment can be simultaneously reduced if policy-makers reconsider their overreliance on severity based policies such as long prison sentences† (Wright, 12).There is an infinite amount of variables contributing to the rate of recidivism.Three extralegal variables are included in the analysis: age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Age, one of the most robust predictors of recidivism, is measured from the offender’sRead MoreRecidivism Is An Important Part1606 Words   |  7 PagesRecidivism is an important part and essentially one of the main problems of the criminal justice system. Recidivism occurs anytime an individual reverts to committing illegal activities, after they have endured some form of punishment for a previous (if not the same) crime. Every neighborhood and every community experiences crime. Every community sends its criminals away and once their time is served they are released back into that same community. Under the canopy of recidivism, regardless of theRead MoreHuman Rights Watch Describes Housing Policies1342 Words   |  6 Pages Introduction Upon release from prison, approximately 600,000 of ex-offenders are being released back into the community annually and will confront legal obstacles in their journey to reenter society. Many prisoners’ ex-offenders return to prison because they are unable to make the transition back into society. One factor that influences recidivism is lack of access to housing. In a study of 404,638 exoffenders in 30 states in 2005. 67.8Read MoreEffects Of Prison Sentence And Reintegration964 Words   |  4 Pages Effects of a Prison Sentence and Reintegration Ex-offenders need help with integration into society, bottom line, they are still part of society. Without proper support ex-offenders risk re-offending which becomes a burden to society as a whole. Providing proper support for housing, education and employment may decrease the rate of re-incarceration. Incorporating ways to include education can avoid re-arrest and re-incarceration after release, ex-offenders can and will experienceRead MoreDiscovering Practices That Reduces Recidivism1362 Words   |  6 PagesDiscovering Practices that Reduces Recidivism Kemisha Reid John Jay College of Criminal Justice Abstract Prisoner reentry has recently returned to policymaking agenda, as the need to remedy the cycle of incarceration is being acknowledge and addressed. With this renewed interest in reentry come federal funds and an effort to rigorously evaluate programs aimed at helping prisoners successfully reintegrate into their communities. This paper examines these initiatives, describing lessons learnedRead MoreBeing Released From Prison : A Positive Outlook On Returning1075 Words   |  5 PagesBeing released from prison can be very hard and often the released do not have much of a positive outlook on returning to their communities and staying out of prison. These ex-offenders often return to an area that is disenfranchised and they themselves have a strong sense of anomie and disconnect. This coupled with the lack of resources, skills, opportunities, family ties, health issues, and the now added stigma of a criminal record often leads them back into the lives they may want to escapeRead More The Effects Of Incarceration On Life After Incarceration1301 Words   |  6 Pagesfirst time in years. Most people generally come home to nothing and have to try to make a life out of it. As an ex-con you face stigma, lack of opportunities and the constant risk of recidivism. Recidivism is the ongoing cycle of incarceration. You continue to be in and out of prison because you cannot successfully re-transition into society. This topic is worth investigating because recidivism is a current problem in the United States and it usually takes place because the justice system fails to prepareRead MoreThe Strain On Taxpayer s Money Essay1429 Words   |  6 PagesBureau of Prisons, on average, it costs 31,286 dollars to house one inmate. Some Maximum-Security prisons cost as much as 60,000 dollars an inmate and goes on to name that the most expensive prison, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, costs approximately 90,000 dollars a year (The Law Dictionary, 2012). While the thought of alleviating the c ost associated with jails and prisons, is an unreachable goal, the goal of lowering the number of recidivist and in turn lowering overcrowding is attainable. Prison programs

The Role of Rhythm and Intonation in Language Acquisition Free Essay Example, 1250 words

An important trait of human language is known as prosody which consists of the musical features of speech such as rhythm, pitch, and intonation. Infants have the ability to differentiate between rhythms since birth. A study concluded that those infants who were 2 to 3 months old could differentiate tones on the basis of the sequence of the rhythms. In order to study the capacity of an infant to process sentences, Mehler et al (1988) conducted an experiment that was based on the method of nonnutritive sucking. This experiment was performed by measuring the number of sucks that the infant produced when he was listening to speech passages. He evaluated that a French infant who was merely 4 days old had the ability to differentiate between French; which was his mother tongue and Russian. Furthermore, these infants could also differentiate between English and Italian, both of which were unfamiliar for the baby (Hesketh, Christophe Lambertz, 1997). Researches have also proved that the sensitivity of an infant the prosodic units and intonations serve as the building block in a Child s language acquisition. We will write a custom essay sample on The Role of Rhythm and Intonation in Language Acquisition or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page Another concept of bootstrapping is used to reveal more from one word. A study suggested that infants who are 8 months of age quickly learn to differentiate between flows of syllables based on the sounds which occur more often than others. Babbling is another speech-related phenomenon that usually occurs between 6 to 10 months of age.

My Life Changed My Character - 916 Words

The event that permanently changed my character happened as I was on a life-changing trip to Africa. For some background information, I learned about the trip a year before and was immediately ecstatic. At first it was just going to be me with some family friends journeying to Africa. With the personality God gave me, I was probably even more excited with the aspect of being basically on my own. Ever since I could read and fully utilize my imagination, the unsocial life of living in the abundant fantasy worlds that authors and producers have created throughout the century has always been a solid thing to fallback on whenever an escape is needed. Also, the sense of being utterly detached from my old life entirely was another huge factor in the building of my anticipation. However, my dad got his schedule rearranged and thus an unforgettable father-son trip was born. If anyone were to ruin my alone time and me be happy, the one person would have to be my father. The flights were going to be long and awful if it was not for a good book that I picked up in an airport bookstore. I do not possess the ability to sleep well on planes. Therefore, a long and enthralling book was perfect for me. Before I knew it the plane landed in Kigali, Rwanda. My corrupted American view of Rwanda immediately vanished once I saw a beautiful city on top of an even more beautiful plateau. The hotel car drivers were polite and informative. They were also full of some great stories, but alas theShow MoreRelatedLooking For Alaska By John Green1093 Words   |  5 Pageslook at my room, I see a girl who loves books†, said Alaska Young in the book Looking for Alaska, no I don’t personally have a room filled with books but I sure do love them. The thing I find amazing about books is how they can change how you view things in life, or how they can make you discover a possible career for your future but sometimes they can make you do negative things. For me a couple of books have do ne this and it has almost been life changing. By life changing I mean it has changed someRead MoreThe Revision Of The Wedding1010 Words   |  5 Pagesand the instructor’s critiques. I changed the opening into an attention getter suggested by the instructor. I also chose the perspective of the main character to add more depth to the poem. I took the dramatic tension and gave more life to that so I could tie it into the character’s perspective. I changed the ending to make it more effective for this poem using the thirteen ways of looking at revision. For the revision of The Bra, I used the suggestions of my peers. Several suggestions cameRead MoreGrowing Up Is A Hard Thing For Me1554 Words   |  7 Pagesmean by that is not that it was hard for me to grow or develop literally, but that it was very hard to grow up mentally. When I was in high school an event happen to me that completely changed my life from being a typical average high school kid who didn’t care about school, to a hard working dedicated student. Life can change in an instant, and change everything in an instant too. it happened to me once, and I am truly happy that it did because now I now that everything I have is a blessing, andRead MoreVideo Games And The Video Game947 Words   |  4 Pages I’ve been playing video games and watching various forms of animation for years. I started to play video games on my Sega Genesis, like Sonic the Hedgehog and Phantasy Star. From then on, I advanced in gaming platforms and experienced games from Nintendo since the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and from Sony on the first PlayStation. I spent countless hours playing video games. However, I also spent a fair amount of time watching animation. I’d wake up on Saturday mornings to watch shows likeRead MoreFootball Is More Than A Sport Essay1223 Words   |  5 PagesDown..., Set†¦, Hike, those are the words that changed my life forever. Football is more than just a sport and an activity. Its more than entertainment for people to watch and enjoy. It is greater than people yelling at the TV when something bad happens. In all honesty, have you ever thought how football impacted the players and how it changed their lives, because it did for me? It did change my life a nd still has a great impact on me, greater than you can imagine. The fact that the game got me throughRead More The Not So Great Gatsby Essay1425 Words   |  6 Pagesan abundance of evidence to the contrary. We see that he is just a man looking for the lost love of his life, Daisy. He is a man looking for the American dream and when he does not find it, we see at last that he is just like the rest of us. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The word great is somewhat vague in meaning. Whether someone is great or not often times depends on the person judging them. My personal beliefs as far as greatness are concerned are not very complicated. When I think of someone whoRead MorePersonal Experience: My Weaknesses and Strenghts as a Writer1470 Words   |  6 Pagesand changed greatly throughout mathematics, science, and history, but I have learned the most about writing properly. Throughout the year, I have changed and recognized my strengths and weaknesses as a writer, my strategies and my progression, and what has caused change and the change to come. My strengths, weaknesses, and preferences as a writer have changed and have been recognized in my eighth grade year. My strengths as a writer are my vivid imagination, my descriptive vocabulary, and my abilityRead MoreMy Experience At The Military Service1611 Words   |  7 Pagesthree years ago, and serving the military service was my perfect turning point that changed my entire life. I remember that when I was 20, I was very introverted that I could not even talk with other people to ask the directions. I remember that I just reached young adult who did not know about the world and just graduated from high school. I remember that I didn’t have any confidence, passion, patience, and willingness to challenge myself for my goals when I graduated from high school at 20. I rememberRead MoreDrama: Joe Turners Come and Gone Essay683 Words   |  3 Pagesor truth about the characters in Joe Turners Come and Gone, and as the story progresses each symbol accrues complexity beyond the original meaning. August Wilsons complex use of symbolism is grossly demonstrated through Mr. Wilsons use of the road, Martha Pentecost, and Herald Loomis. Some of the first and most significant references to the road are discussed very early in the play. The character Bynum Walker is telling the story of the shiny man, and the secret of life to Rutherford SeligRead MoreEssay on How I Changed in High School785 Words   |  4 PagesPersonally looking back to my grade nine self and comparing her to my grade twelve self of today, I am able to see changes in my character, my athletics and my goals. There are many aspects within my personal character in which have changed since entering grade nine. One of these aspects is my time management skills. When I first started out in grade nine, I used to rush home and rush through all my homework. Although this would seem like a good habit, the â€Å"rushing through my work† part was not working

Salem witch trials1 Essay Example For Students

Salem witch trials1 Essay Historical Overview and Brief AnalysisAmidst millenniums of debate, argument, and conflict concerning racial prejudges and those issues which surround their implementation, there has consistently existed a certain historical prejudice regarding various stereotypical ideas for those things which people can not understand or explain logically. While more contemporary examples of such circumstances include concepts such as McCarthyism, it is generally accepted that the most classic example of all such social tragedies based on fear and ignorance is that of the colonial eras Salem Witch Trials. While Mc Carthyism was illustrated as a widespread fear of communism that led the United States to pursue unnecessary investigations, imprisonments, and often unprovoked acts against those who were often only remotely accused of being a dreaded communist, the Salem witch trials led to well over a dozen executions of local women accused of practicing witchcraft and directly associating themselves with evil magic. Although the two historical periods were parallel in their nature and content, it can be argued the much earlier witch trials were the more severely inhumane and irrational as they rendered a constant trend of senseless deaths with little or no justice ever prevailing. The Salem witch trials were held during the year 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Beginning in May of that year, the proceedings led to the hanging deaths of nineteen suspected witches and the imprisonment of many others over the five months that would follow. The courtroom episodes of those being tried for witchery were complete, and utter travesties of justice. Women were actually considered guilty as accused until proven innocent. In addition to the known hangings, other cruel forms of punishment such as the burning of witches on a stake and the slow torturous human crushings by brick are evidenced to have existed as Salems justice for their alleged witches. (Brown., Pages 37-41;43). That which is said to have initiated the trials and related hysteria has become an historical irony in our time and is the subject of many contemporary jokes and theatrical performances. Caused by the accusations of a few young girls against women in the Salem community; a special court was co nvened; and trials grew quickly into socially stereotypical prejudices regarding any women seen acting out of or performing witchery. Within time the social chaos did not even exclude Salems more prestigious women as the local governors wife was even implicated in accusations of witchcraft. The dramatic irony is re-exemplified through an examination of the young ladies who intentionally lied to a religious authority and created the spark to cause the fire. Based entirely on their beliefs and accusations, the fear and ignorance of an entire town led to hundreds of imprisonments and nearly two scores of senseless deaths. (Brown; Pp. 67-74). When community leaders did finally begin to cast doubt on evidence; special court was dissolved and those imprisoned were pardoned. Eventually indemnities were paid to the families of those killed yet of the three judges who presided over the trials, only Samuel Sewall admitted error in a public statement The Salem witch trials were clearly Americas most notorious episode of witchcraft. The actual practice of witch persecution, is not however one created in North America at all. The belief in witchcraft was carried to colonial America from Europe, where in the two centuries before 1650 thousands had been executed as witches. The Salem incident, as I wrote, began when two young girls in the household of the Reverend Samuel Parris began to behave oddly. The girls had participated in meetings at which incantations had been cast and attempts made to foretell the future. They were examined by a doctor, ministers, and magistrates, who all concluded that they were bewitched. The resulting f renzy spread rapidly and the new royal governor, Sir William Phips, established a special seven-member court in which to try the prisoners. Jurors were drawn from church membership lists, and the chained defendants had no counsel. In early June, Bridget Bishop was convicted. A brief delay followed because somejudges were uneasy about the validity of spectral evidence such as testimony givenby witnesses about voices or apparitions perceived only by them. The trials were resumed after several leading ministers advised the court that such evidence might be used, but only with exquisite caution. By September 22, the court had tried and convicted twenty-seven persons. Nineteen were hanged, and one, Giles Corey, was said to have been pressed to death by stones. In addition, about fifty had actually confessed, one hundred were in prison awaiting trial, and accusations had touched another two hundred on top of that. (Hansen, Pp 103-111;133-114). Cause And Effect Essay On SmokingIn 1994, the events of the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are viewed as unjust and even barbaric. It is however necessary to consider the standard cliche of relative history; those involved at the time believed that they were doing right. Therefore from a more philosophical perspective it is possible to question the validity of our contemporary justice system; Have we created yet another witch-hunt for terrorists ?For probably as long as there is society, there will exist things which we do not understand and things which we can not rationally explain. As long as there such questionable items; there will exist ignorance and over-dramatized fear. So even today, as we stare into the skies and question the existence of U.F.Os, I wonder only if we will ever advance and stop holding Salem Witch trials. Arnold and Nissembaum, Stephen, Salem Possessed: Printed in 1974 Brown, David, The Salem Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692. Printed in 1984. Hansen, C., Witchcraft at Salem. Printed in 1987. Gitterich, K. McCarthyism. Printed in 1979. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Re-printed in 1986. With an Emphasis on The Crucible and McCarthyismGurko, Leo. The Heroic Impulse in The Old Man and the Sea.Bibliography:

Is Your Organization Ready To Consider An HRMS Essay Example For Students

Is Your Organization Ready To Consider An HRMS? Essay Before you look at acquiring an HRMS, look inside your organization. How intrinsic to your companys strategic direction is the acquisition of an HRMS? What is the meaning of an HRMS to your executives? Are they convinced of the strategic importance of HR? Or will your executives views be limited to an HRMS with only basic record keeping functions (such as demographics data or payroll information)? Your success in obtaining strong executive sponsorship will dictate where you look and what package you will select. You will need to consider the overall budget. Who needs to be on side to develop a credible business case?What about technology? Is your organization ready to consider solutions that allow widespread web access? What impact would technology have on external organizations like employee groups? Should they be brought on board early in the cycle?Finally, competing projects may impede your executives consideration of thisproject. Your companys resources may be fully engaged in other initiatives. This will affect your overall timeline. What Functionality Do You Need?There are many options. Basic HRMS include payroll applications with little or noHR functionality. Comprehensive systems include payroll and may include compensation, benefits, positions, health and safety, training and development, and time and labour. In addition to raw function, some packages make it easier to do your job by offering workflow capability. For example, an email message can be automatically triggered to a benefit administrator to enroll an employee on benefits when an applicant ishired. Others have non-traditional ways of accessing information: for example, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) married to workflow can trigger actions like job scheduling. Alternatively, your organization may want to use a kiosk to enable employees to access and update their own personnel information. To determine your scope, your organization should go through a requirements. study or needs analysis. Consider where the payroll system fits in. Should you track detailed payroll records in your financial system? Do you have extensive requirements in the areas of pension administration?Considering both present HR activities and future directions of HR in your organization, list ten case studies that will give you the greatest return on investment. For help with creating the case studies, obtain the HR Matrix available from HRMS Directions or the International Association for Human Resource Information Management (IHRIM). By relating your case studies to return on investment, you can avoid being distracted by insignificant items in vendor demonstrations. Remember to consult with individuals within and outside of the HR functional area to develop your detailed case studies. Other users across the organization may have systems or even desktop applications that will be replaced by this package. If needed, hold facilitated sessions to draw on the experiences and ideas of individuals throughout your organization. Finally, consider whether your case studies rigidly mirror current practice, or area reflective of ways you might consider addressing the target business processes.You want the latter. But What About the Technology?Involve your information technology (IT) group early in your requirements discussions. While they may not be interested in the detailed case studies, they will be interested in the application usage. For example, how many potential users will be accessing the software at the same time? What platform will the software run on? How compatible is it with current technology? If you are considering web access to information, this may mean significant changes to your IT environment. What are the interfaces to the system? Will the HRMS package need to supply data to or receive data from any other systems?Still Is an Implementation Feasible? The Hot Buttons:Resources Based on the application you choose, look at your companys resources to determine whether you are likely to have both the people and the skills available in-house when you will need them. Senior staff who best understand the business area and individuals with implementation experience will need to b e part of your team. Project roles will depend on project size and scope and will include, for example, project manager, sponsor, functional experts, technical experts, database administrators, change management and business process improvement experts. If you do not have the required resources in-house, you may be wise to look externally to one or more consulting organizations that specialize in project implementation to partner with you or lead the project. Young Goodman Brown - Losing Faith EssaySite Visits Optimally, visit organizations in your industry that have already implemented some of the products under consideration. Remember, however, that the organization you visit may not want or have time to communicate less than pleasant experiences. Try to ensure that the benefits will outweigh the costs. Short List Once initial responses are analyzed, develop a short list to consider further. Based on your case studies, request at least one scripted demonstration of the system. This is your chance to see the software and delve further into areas of concern or interest. Subsequent Information Gathering Based on your analysis to this point, you may request additional demonstrations from potential vendors. This provides you with an opportunity to ask additional questions regarding functionality, and will enable you to examine in greater depth questions regarding vendor support, future versions, etc. In addition, interviews with the sales team, technical support staff, and vendor executives may give you valuable insight to determine whether your company should embark on a long term relationship with a particular vendor. Contracting Prior to signing any agreements, make sure a lawyer, knowledgeable in software and ideally HR systems, reviews the contract. Consider incidental costs that may not be included in the initial costing, for example, training, support, or additional resources. Finally, remember that HRMS are complex systems. To derive the greatest value, implementation will take time, planning and energy. Set realistic goals. Your organizations ability to absorb change will directly drive and impact the overall implementation schedule. By taking the time to assess your organization, you can feel confident in answering the key question posed at the outset of this article: Does your organization really need an HRMS and is it ready to step up to the implementation?Recruiting and Staffing:The entire recruiting function is undergoing a virtualrevolution. Self-service systems are being installed on both the supply side forapplicants and the demand side for hiring managers, using the Internet not only tohelp provide the match, but also to help handle the hurdles along the way, such asapplicant testing and background screening. Companies can search thousands of resumes, internationally, either throughproprietary databases or those of vendors such as The Career Connect,CareerMosaic, CareerWeb, The Monster Board, or SkillsScape. Most resumes stillcome to companies on paper but whatever the media, paper, e-mail, the Web or fax,they can be scanned and re-formatted according to corporate specifications, andthen made available to the hiring manager or HR manager anywhere in a company,anywhere in the world. Improvements in optical character recognition have played an important part in thisnew capability, as have improvements in expert systems that providecategorizations and recognition of terms and rules. Systems can make inferencesabout skills and potential based on the words and phrases used in a resume. Newtechnology not only helps with the review of a large number of resumes, but it alsogets them to the right people quickly, using a variety of media and vendors. Thenext generation of recruiting software is incorporating skill-based questionsenabling the hiring company to pre-screen applicants. In ConclusionThe HR function, being one of the most data-intensive in any organization, is one ofthe leading beneficiaries and exploiters of these new achievements in technology. Now, HR professionals are more computer literate. They know how to use thetechnology to their advantage and to the overall benefit to the company. Utilizing thepower of new computers and software applications, notably the web, coupled withthe reengineering process, many organizations have started capturing self-servicedata for all personnel actions, such as new hires, salary changes and transfers,enrollment for training, as well as recruiting and staffing. All of this means more time for employees to do their job and it has meant valuableinformation for line management.