Correctional Dilemma

Recidivism as a Dilemma in the Criminal Justice System

The mission of the United States correctional facilities is to rehabilitate criminal individuals to become law-abiding citizens. This is done by keeping convicts in a controlled environment where they cannot cause harm to members of society. A major concern is the issue of recidivism, where former convicts still engage in crime despite having served time in prison. According to statistics, three out of four released inmates will be rearrested, with over half of those released being sent back to prison (Katsiyannis et al., 2018). This begs the question of the efficiency of the correctional facilities to help individuals become law-abiding citizens.

Future Direction

With the current situation, the criminal justice system must seek ways of ending cases of recidivism. This shall require a review of the current processes in the correctional facilities to determine existing gaps in the realization of the main mission. This way, stakeholders can introduce more effective approaches to rehabilitation, including equipping incarcerated individuals with skills to assist them with productivity once they are released. Recidivism is usually a result of the lack of opportunities as most of those incarcerated lack the relevant skills to join the workforce. As such, equipping incarcerated individuals with the relevant skills during rehabilitation in correctional facilities shall come in handy in reducing recidivism.

Impact on the Criminal Justice Career

Recidivism overwhelms the criminal justice system with thousands of cases to deal with. Improving the situation shall come in handy in reducing the backlog of cases in the criminal justice and improving efficiency in the provision of services. Personnel in the criminal justice department shall become more efficient as fewer cases of recidivism are reported. This shall come in handy in the realization of the main mission.