Five Point Plan for Crime Reduction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Five Point Plan for Crime Reduction - Essay Example Yet, despite placing more and more individuals under the control of the country’s correctional center, the crime rate does not seem to be going down. A reasonable conclusion that can be reached from the aforesaid findings is that the present justice system is not working as expected. Alternative plans or policies, therefore, should be adopted to bridge the gap between law enforcement and effective reduction in crime rates. Such policies and measures should be able to address the shortcomings of the existing approaches to crime reduction as well as remedy the limited capacity of the criminal judicial system. Such measures should, at the least, include the following: reducing re-offence through education, training and employment; focused or individualized deterrence; addressing criminal gangs from the roots; Situational Crime Prevention (SCP), and; reducing drug use. Reducing re-offence through education, training and employment One way of reducing crime rates is to lower the ra te of recidivism or reoffending. A study of rearrest, reconviction, and reincarceration conducted by the Bureau of Jail Statistics (BJS) in the 1990s on inmates released in 1994 showed that within three years, more than 50% of them went back to prison within three years from release. Thus, 73.8% of property offenders released in 1994 were rearrested within 3 years and so did 61.7% of violent crime offenders, 66.7% of drug offenders and 62.2% rate of public order offenders (2002). In 2000, 42% of 459,000 US parolees reoffended within 18 months from release (Serin, 2005). A parallel study of reoffending in the UK published by the Audit Commission (1996) revealed that most repeat offenders come from disadvantaged groups, which could entail homelessness, unemployment, drug use, mental and alcohol problems. A majority of the offenders are unemployed at the time of arrest. The youth group has a high rate of recidivism, most of who are out of school. Generally, most prisoners lack necessar y skills for employment (Audit Commission, 1996) Intervention should be applied both in the prisons and in the community. According to Ofsted (2009), education, training and employment are the best ways of reducing re-offence. Joblessness triggers some people to engage in crimes and join gangs to get money. Education and training for prisoners will provide them with important knowledge and skills, which will work to their advantage once they are released from prisons. Employment will be relatively easier and ultimately, reintegration into society. Being armed with the necessary education and training also reduce feelings of inferiority upon return to their respective communities. Difficulties in re-integration can cause depression and frustration and compel newly released prisoners to resort to recidivism. For the youth, this encourages them to seek the company of persons similarly situated, such as joining criminal gangs. Education intervention offers a chance for ex-convicts for a better life rather than engage again in criminality. Technical training is best for most prisoners because it is less academically oriented, but adult and juvenile prisons should receive the same level of education as those in mainstream schools. This will make it easy for the youth offenders to integrate back to their schools or continue with higher