NCJ Number
161094
Journal
Forum on Corrections Research Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: January 1996 Pages: 18-20
Date Published
January 1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Correctional employment in Canada has recently come to be viewed as potentially influential in offender rehabilitation and reintegration into society; although correctional employment typically focuses on concrete skills, it may also contribute to the development of positive work attitudes and behaviors that are transferable to postrelease employment and life situations.
Abstract
Research shows that many offenders have little or sporadic work experience apart from correctional employment. Offenders have also identified employment problems as contributing to their criminal behavior, and they believe employment preparation is vital to their postrelease success. Correctional employment can have several positive outcomes, apart from teaching specific job skills. For example, the correctional institution benefits from increased structure in daily inmate schedules, more inmate activities, and improved inmate adaptation to prison life. Many rehabilitation programs under the Correctional Service of Canada focus on changing offender attitudes and beliefs that support antisocial behavior. These programs are based on social learning theory which suggests it is possible to modify beliefs and on the premise that the combination of steady employment and participation in programs designed to modify criminal attitudes will develop the work habits and values necessary for successful community employment. A study of 128 offenders examined work attitudes and behaviors, based on a set of generic skills deemed important by real world employers. Overall, offenders felt their performance was effective; the higher an offender's intrinsic job motivation, the more effective they rated themselves on various work behaviors. The authors conclude that, given the potential impact of positive work attitudes and behaviors, correctional employment policies should be directed toward helping supervisors develop and enhance positive offender attitudes. 12 footnotes and 1 table