tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186890287279568808.post3328732255075875931..comments2023-10-30T20:58:57.351+00:00Comments on Unlocking Potential: Is jailing drug addicts really the way to strengthen community sentences? Rob Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205742107009573223noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186890287279568808.post-81635647481313247532014-06-23T21:52:06.826+01:002014-06-23T21:52:06.826+01:00As a professional in the US federal system, I woul...As a professional in the US federal system, I would say that this article starts off with an anecdote, while mildly humorous, is quite false. Clearly, the person that made the initial statement does not know really what goes on in the United States. Regardless, no where in our policy of graduated sanctions was there a any type of sanction for us to go armed to arrest an offender who had missed an office contact. First, in the US federal system, our supervision policy was to see and contact offenders where they lived and worked to get a better evaluation of how they were truly doing. <br /><br />Second, were they required to report to the office, it would be for a specific reason. I would suppose from my reading of this article that what my counterparts across the ocean do is hole up in their offices and wait for offenders and defendants to report. Sounds like a very reactive model to me. Granted, I believe in a crime control model and the policies put forth by James Q. Wilson. I do believe the medical model was, is, and will continue to be a failure in a large amount of the cases. <br /><br />Now, on another note, I would argree in some part with the author's point. Using data collected on results in the United States and expecting the same results with a different population as significant degrees of error. For instance, I would be very surprised if the results that were received in Hawaii could be replicated in Kentucky, Alabama, or Ohio. Different populations will give different results. <br /><br />In the early part of the 2000s, the Federal Bureau of Prisons found that the difference in recidivism between those inmates that completed substance abuse treatment and those that did not was slightly less than 10 percent. While those that completed vocational education and learned valuable job skills were 30 percent less likely to recidivate. Basically, it would appear that when more people have "skin in the game" versus those that don't, you have a greater chance at offenders being successful and achieving that loft goal of promoting and maintaining law abiding behavior. AUColonelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07163946509133857642noreply@blogger.com