Response_2

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Michael

Assuming that the offender that stole my vehicle went to prison and then was accepted into the work release program, then the offender was allowed into the program because he or she was trusted. Everyone that is about to complete their time is not offered the work release program unless they can be trusted. I would not have any concerns with the approach due to inmates needing the ability to get back to a normal lifestyle before rentering society; however, I would only wonder if the offender was legit before returning back and not go back to their old ways. However, if the offender never goes back to their old ways, then his time spent on punishment was successful, and he was able to turn his life around to bigger and better choices. I was a correctional officer before and I have seen countless times when offenders say they learned their lesson but ends up back in prison, even on the work release programs. So I do believe the programs should be implemented with more peer pressure on the offenders to see if they are ready to enter society again. Most of the offenders come back to prison due to parole violations, so focus on the number of reasons why offenders come back to prison so the offender can avoid those situations once they get out.

John

I believe work release programs have a larger benefit than they do hindrance to our society. We are all humans and thus make mistakes such as this. The idea that we should throw the key away on anyone for a crime such as this is sad. Taking the emotion out of it, while people are incarcerated their world may pause but on the outside, we are changing daily. Re-entry to society is something that inmates struggle with. Think about your life as it was in 2018, as the average time for a property crime is 26 months (US Department of Justice 2018) . Pause everything you knew and imagine it is today, things have changes drastically in just 3 three months! Placing someone in prison and then not providing them structure up reintegration to society is an injustice and for those who say why pay to help people that broke the law, studies have shown that re-entry services such as those outlined can also yield a significant cost savings when provided effectively (Greene, E. & Heilbrun, K. 2012). With the structure these programs provide, this seems like a no-brainer. Having said that, this is not 100% effective and there are those that fall through the cracks and fall back into their old ways but again the pros outweigh the cons.

References:

Greene, E. & Heilbrun, K. (2012). Wrightman’s Psychology and the Legal System (8th Ed.) Belmont, CA., Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

US Department of Justice (2018). Time Served in State Prison, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/tssp16.pdf