NCJ Number
240674
Date Published
2012
Length
39 pages
Annotation
This document is a slide presentation for a Webinar that examined strategies, approaches, and tools that can help offenders successfully reenter society.
Abstract
This slide presentation, presented by the National Reentry Resource Center, discusses strategies, approaches, and tools that can help offenders to successfully reenter society upon release from custody. The presentation covers reasons to be optimistic about improving offenders' chances for successful reentry; suggestions for adopting organizational strategies informed by evaluation findings, practitioners, and those who have transitioned successfully; characteristics of successful offenders; experiences of ex-offenders; and the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model. Characteristics of successful ex-offenders include adequate coping skills, realistic expectations, and having triggers and strategies in place that are tailored for the individual. Successful strategies for use with ex-offenders are based on clear communication of expectations, careful and consistent monitoring, and following through with the promise of punishment or reward. The RNR model is an approach to offender supervision that has been found to have the most impact on successful offender outcomes. In the RNR model, staff manage offender behavior, develop a rapport with offenders through the use of effective communication skills, perform an assessment of risks and needs as a first step to working with offenders, outline clear expectations for offender behavior, provide rewards for compliance, and use motivational interviewing based on where each offender is in the stages of change. The presentation also includes information on the experiences of successful offenders. Offenders who were able to successfully reenter society had reasonable expectations, more advanced coping skills, and specific strategies they planned to use to deal with triggers that could potentially derail their efforts. Bibliography