Treatment Programs for Criminals Essay Example for Free

Treatment Programs for Criminals Essay Research indicates that helping and guiding individuals who are regarded as criminals and abusers is a very hard task for an individual who is not well experienced due to an increase in crime as a result of various reasons that include poverty, misuse of drugs, and fighting for power among others. Many societies have come up with programs that enable the support of criminals without harsh conditionality. Since the society has developed a growing concern over the criminal behavior which is ever increasing, the justice system is urged to provide a delinquent preventive measure that will be aimed at preventing the young from indulging in criminal activities. Due to growing concerns over the increased number of criminals, countries have formulated programs that will ensure that the criminals involved are restored back to being good people in the society and in the process they have identified rehabilitation and counseling programs as the best way to nature them. As a result such programs play a major role in ensuring that these individuals will afterwards change and become productive members of the society (James and Richard, 2003). Rehabilitation normally involves the teaching and training the criminals who are addicted to a particular behavior to stop the defective behavior and try to become acceptable members of the society. Therefore under this, the society is given the responsibility of assisting these addicts or criminals by helping them to get hope through various programs that they will be educated thus helping them to heal their bodies and mind. The strengths associated with rehabilitation policies are that the criminals will achieve through these Programs education, which allows the offenders the opportunity to re-enter into the society as a responsible and productive citizen. For example, the people who undergo rehabilitation programs are normally allowed to receive counseling and guidance. For example, a rehabilitation program may involve the offenders in doing community work, such as cleaning the environment and activities that they think suits to the foundation of their interests. This will make them appreciate who they are and accept their presence and roles in the particular society (Gask and Usherwood, 2005). Strength for rehabilitating criminals is that there is always a collective supervision that is it will be able to provide an environment favorable enough to meet the special needs of the criminals which will help them to join the society newly as responsible and respected persons. However, rehabilitation is prone to some weaknesses which hinder the process of trying to help the offenders to be good and reliable people in the society. For example, the criminals or offenders subjected to rehabilitation programs feel isolated in the society and thus will not cooperate during the entire process. They view themselves as rejected people in the society who are treated cruelly and unjustly. These aspects make them to feel unworthy in the society and hence after the rehabilitation programs they don’t change but instead continue with bad behavior that they used to engage themselves in, indeed they become more hardened and thus becoming worse criminals. Also another weakness is lack of government support in supporting rehabilitation programs, for example laxity in funding the programs thus few criminals for instance the drug addicts and criminal offenders are subjected to such programs. (James and Richard, 2003) Counseling as a program is regarded as an essential tool in dealing with criminals who have been affected psychologically. This practice is usually used in helping this people to handle issues which are found to be causing factors of the psychological disorders. Occasionally, this practice requires skilled professionals who can deal with issues ranging from education, marriage, individuals and family matters. To do this the counseling professionals are therefore required to have the following in their practices in order to understand the person’s problems. The counselor should have good listening skills, empathy, and be genuine which will require the practitioner to tell the truth even if the subject matter is not that good to the criminal. Therefore one is required to bring out the truth in a way that the criminal will be able to handle and understand his situation; the counselor should give unconditional positive regard and also should have concreteness in providing any information about the problem. (Pham-Kanter, 2001) In this case of criminal cases, we find that many counselors indulge in a number of activities that usually assist the crime victims to come back to their normal status. The following are the methods that are used by the experienced counselors in order to resolve such issues; Therapeutic relationship; under this we find that a better relationship between the criminal and the counselor is established. The criminal is therefore required to build trust and safety on the counselor although sometimes it is argued that the victims finds it hard to build trust on the counselor thus they end up not giving full information about the causative factor of the crime. According to the counseling practices safety is considered as a leading factor to a safety therapeutic trauma work. In this case, the victim may be found to be having a number of characteristics that may hinder him from building trust and safety on the counselor. These factors may include personality temperament. We may also find that when the victim is found to have undergone a number of traumas, the chances of him or her building his trust on the counselor are always high (Eysenck and Hans, 1996). The other method used in counseling is the Dialectical Behavior Therapy which has an objective of dealing with individuals especially the criminals who are known to be suffering from the personality disorders. This therapy indicates that individuals are always found to be responding to the emotional stimulation not normally; this may come up as a result of biological factors and also the way the victim was brought up. This therapy is usually carried out in two forms; that is the weekly psychotherapist that involves the addressing issues that are said to have affected the individual during the week and also coming up with the best resolutions for such factors leading to the victims indulging in crimes. (Gask and Usherwood, 2005) The second form is the group therapy which is directed towards the handling of the interpersonal skills, the regulation of emotions and also enabling the individual to accept and also tolerate the disorder. The importance of the Dialectical Behavior Therapy is that it helps the criminals found to be suffering from the personality disorders to respond to such conditions positively and also bringing up a number of characteristics including that of self-esteem, having and looking for more goals in life and also learning of new methods of behaving. Cognitive way of therapy can also be used whereby it gives the criminal an opportunity to be optimistic and create reality in his prospects and thus reduction of depression. Cognitive therapy aid the dejected individual to be acquainted with life tribulations which are decisive and those that are of no importance which help him to come up with positive life objectives. Also problem solving therapy technique can be applied whereby the cause of depression is identified then it is solved to avoid further damage to the individual attacked. (James and Richard, 2003) Counseling plays a key role in treatment of psychological disorders and criminals with such disorders should be subjected to such programs in order to aid them to recover slowly from such attacks which may affect their lives. Counseling programs designed should be well formulated to address all the problems that the patients with such disorders are facing in the society in order to avoid the repeat of the attacks. These counseling services should be made easier in terms of getting access to it for example building counseling centers in all parts of the country. The relevant authorities should also chip in and offer the counseling services for free or at affordable rates to the members of the society. (Gask and Usherwood, 2005) Relapse prevention therapy can also be utilized to support the criminals to behave normally. It was originally designed as a maintenance program for replace victims. â€Å"RPT entails treatment of addictive behaviors which is used as stand-alone program that in most cases is designed to teach individuals to try and maintain changes initiated in the treatment process† (Pham-Kanter, 2001). Each person has an effective response system to cope with incidences of high risk situations but the problem is the guts to do so† (Pham-Kanter, 2001). Post-implementation survey on suitability of relapse prevention therapy has shown that relapse had decreased significantly as a result of the program. Pham-Kanter explains â€Å"RPT strategies are categorized to three groups; lifestyle modification, coping skills training and cognitive therapies†. â€Å"RPT strategies round up to both cognitive and behavioral techniques and approaches that provide victims of relapse with ways to reframe their habits once more and change processes in learning experiences with setbacks on how they can meet challenges of recovery† (Lorimar, 1999). Life modifications strategies include; exercise, spiritual practices, meditation among others. The professionals who are found to be taking care of the criminals should therefore provide education as a program for healing especially the school going children have to be taught on the repercussions of crime and also the use of drugs. It is a concern that crime is destroying the lives of many people in the world in general. The criminals will therefore be taught on the effects of indulging in crime and other practices like taking drugs because it is the drugs that influence them to engage in criminal activities such as gun crime (Gask and Usherwood, 2005). Drugs really affect the general mechanism of the human body. Sometimes individuals who have taken drugs like marijuana, cannabis, cocaine among others, cannot even go to work. The brain is adversely affected that when children take them their growth is adversely affected. When they know the adverse effects of taking these drugs, they will not desire to carry out crime. Nobody will desire to destroy the lives of their brothers and sisters. Education in this sector can be done both formally and informally i.e. in school and within the homesteads. It can be done informally through plays or video tapes. The media can be used to educate the general public on this issue and that is why operation trident is applauded for its work. This will help in eradicating the vice among the criminals. (James and Richard, 2003) Reference Pham-Kanter, G. (2001): Substance abuse and dependence. The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine Second Edition Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, Pp 39-45 Lorimar, M. Palmer, R (1999): Relapse prevention: Overview of Marlette’s cognitive–behavioral model. Alcohol Research and Health, 23(2), 151–160. Ending The Revolving Door Of Crime and Creating Productive Lives Retrieved From: http://www.criminon.org/ Accessed on 1st august 2008 Eysenck and Hans J (1996)-Personality and Crime- Where do we stand Psychology, Crime and Law 2 pg123-134 Gask L and Usherwood T (2005) medical psychiatric issues for counselors London Retrieved from: http://psy.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/43/2/93 Accessed on 30th of July 2008 James, Q. and Richard, J. (2003): Crime and Human Nature New York Simon and Schuster pg