Recidivism by Young Adult Male Felony Offenders in New York State as Related to Type of Prison Training Programs, Cognitive, and Personal Variables

• NCJ Number: 75608
• Author(s): B Mullen
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 230 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. University of Sarasota - doctoral dissertation

Annotation

Data from the inmate files of 216 male offenders aged 16 to 18 incarcerated in New York State prisons were examined to determine the effect of rehabilitation programs on recidivism.

Abstract

The subjects were incarcerated in medium and maximum security prisons in the State corrections system. A total of 66 percent of the participants who were given vocational training were later recidivists, compared with 40 percent of those who had not received training. A total of 58 percent of the subjects who became recidivists had worked at jobs for 3 weeks or less or were unemployed at the time of their arrest; 42 percent of the nonrecidivists also experienced short-term or unemployed at the time of their arrest; 42 percent of the nonrecidivists also experienced short - term or unemployment under these conditions. Academically, 42 percent of the recidivists and 34 percent of the nonrecidivists scored below the seventh grade level in reading. Nonrecidivists scored higher on reading and IQ tests than recidivists. While the number of parents in the home was not significant in determining which of the subjects would be arrested and imprisoned, it did play a part in which of those released would return as recidivists. Those released to homes containing both a male and a female parent or guardian were less likely to return to prison. A total of 91 percent of the subjects were high school dropouts, and 89 percent had a history or drug and alcohol abuse. Placement in existing treatment programs had no effect on the future success or failure of the subjects. Intake and assessment procedures should be streamlined; inmates' past activities, prison programs, and future expectations should be coordinated, and prison programming should concentrate on making inmates' returns to the community safe for the residents, rather than on removing the offender from the community for a period of time. The State prison system should be reorganized to facilitate the efforts of staff at the institutional level, rather than to impede them. Tabular data and about 45 references are provided. Appendixes contain survey materials, correspondence, correctional staff job descriptions, and sample forms. (Author abstract modified)