Reinventing Criminal Justice, by David Farabee
Washington Post, February 11, 2006
This week a House subcommittee held hearings on a bill, the Second Chance Act, which is meant to deal with the problems that prisoners encounter on their reentry into society and also with their need for substance abuse treatment. [...] As a psychologist who studies offender interventions, I hope that, as lawmakers begin to survey the evidence to inform their decisions, they will give attention to the data showing that the more certain an offender is that he will be caught and (swiftly) punished for the next crime he commits, the less likely he is to follow through on that criminal act. In fact, the certainty and swiftness of being caught and penalized appear to be more important than the severity of the punishment.
Giving young offenders more support in the community is the only way to break the cycle of reoffending, writes Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform
The Guardian, February 8, 2006
Almost a half of all the children held in penal custody are officially categorised as being vulnerable, but the Howard League for Penal Reform contends that all of them should be treated as potentially vulnerable by virtue of being incarcerated. Prisons do not solve their problems, they only interrupt the mayhem, and almost 90% of children will commit more crimes on release.
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