Recidivism In Australia Essay

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Punishment in contemporary society is concerned with managing crime at an acceptable level rather than correction (Disagree)
The Australian criminal justice system today focuses on rehabilitating offenders to reduce recidivism rates. Rehabilitating offenders is not only beneficial, it is a cost-effective means of reducing society’s incarceration expenses and lessens further harm to that society. This essay briefly discusses these programs and demonstrates through studies the effectiveness of offender programs in reducing recidivism rates and how these programs help offenders reintegrate back into society as law-abiding citizens. If Australian society stopped caring about rehabilitation, offender programs would cease and imprisonment certainly becomes a punishment without any redeeming features.
Offenders who repeatedly offend create an undesirable impact on community safety. Financial costs also increase as recidivism consumes more money than an individual who commits one crime in their lifetime (Victorian Ombudsman, 2014, Someda, 2009). According to the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC, 2013) Australia spent 78,840 dollars per prisoner during the year of 2010-2011. …show more content…
Research conducted by Callan and Gardner (2007) involved 1,800 prisoners in Queensland, concentrating on education programs including literacy, numeracy, VET diplomas and university degrees. Finding 32% prisoners who did not partake in any form of education program returned to prison within two years compared to 23% of participants who completed an educational program. Baldry et al. (2003) study of 225 offenders with 101 completing a post release program, 32 offenders returned to prison. Therefore, the conclusion can be drawn that offender programs work and should remain an important aspect of Australia’s justice

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