NCJ Number
204575
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 66 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2004 Pages: 80-81
Date Published
February 2004
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article reports on the proceedings of an inaugural training conference for Ontario halfway house managers and staff that focused on the following major themes: approaches to meeting the special needs of offenders who are returning to the community after incarceration, victim services, evidence-based approaches to reintegration, and the role of Canada's National Parole Board.
Abstract
Presentations that addressed the specific needs of offenders returning to the community from prison included discussions of programs designed to manage the collateral consequences of imprisonment for families, methadone maintenance of substance abusers in community settings, and domestic violence interventions. In the area of victim services, one presenter discussed the development of approaches to the needs of victims in the Canadian criminal justice system. He noted the lack of information supplied to victims on the nature of and their role in the criminal processing of offenders, the misconception that victims all want tougher sentences, and the need to have criminal justice staff trained and committed to identify and meet victims' needs. A representative of Volunteers of America Delaware Valley described this organization's efforts to implement the "what works" approach to programming for offenders. This evidence-based approach to offender interventions emphasizes the importance of evaluating halfway house procedures and programs to ensure that they are achieving their intended objectives. Two members of Canada's National Parole Board led a discussion about the Board's role in assessing risk and the setting of conditions that would enhance the manageability of risk.