Showing category: Research and Statistics

Assessing rehabilitative outcomes of a theater program in a Singapore prison – Full Research

The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) enhance inmates’ employability with vocational and work place literacy programs. However, these do not specifically address the social and emotional development needed to help the rehabilitative process. The Theater Arts Program (TAP) offers performing arts as a means to improve, among other things, communication, self-confidence and teamwork. Assessments of these desired outcomes are in the form of the generalized self-efficacy scale (Schwarzer and Jerusalem 1995), a self-assessment and reflection form, written reflections as well as interviews. Results of these assessment methods show an overall improvement in participants’ language and socio-emotional skills.

2017 Singapore Prison Service Annual Statistic Release

The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) today released key statistical data that reaffirms its commitment to rehabilitate inmates through enhancing their employability and reduce their risk of re-offending.

Criminological Highlights – March 2018

This issue of Criminological Highlights addresses the following questions: 1. Are complex algorithms for predicting recidivism helpful? 2. Is the presence of substance abuse treatment programs in a community associated with changes in crime rates? 3. How does contact with the criminal justice system affect the mental health of an accused person? 4. What do the police need to do to encourage Muslim communities to report suspected terrorism activities? 5. What can we learn from the failure to replicate an experiment involving the police? 6. What can be done to help people with criminal convictions find housing? 7. How does pretrial detention affect crime? 8. What should we do to […]

Criminological Highlights – October 2017

This issue address the following questions: How can school policies affect crime? Why do Black Americans have less confidence in the police than White Americans? What kinds of jobs will reduce offending among those who have been involved in crime? How do courts punish those who have not been found guilty? Does what men look like affect the sentences they receive? What are the challenges facing First Nations police services in Canada? Do drug courts encourage police to charge minor drug offenders? Why does the incarceration of parents lead, eventually, to lower earnings for their children?

Criminological Highlights – July 2017

This issue of Criminological Highlights addresses the following questions: 1. Why is it in the public interest to allow people to free themselves from their criminal records? 2. What kinds of events are likely to cause an increase in police use of force in dealing with ordinary citizens? 3. Do highly informed citizens think that sentences are too lenient? 4. What can be done to create more smoothly running prisons? 5. What is the first step that cities should take to prepare for events that might involve citizen protests? 6. Do transfers to adult court hurt youths’ life chances? 7. How accurate are predictions of future intimate partner violence? 8. […]

Criminological Highlights – Volume 16, Number 3

Criminological Highlights is designed to provide an accessible look at some of the more interesting criminological research that is currently being published. Each issue contains “Headlines and Conclusions” for each of 8 articles, followed by one-page summaries of each article.

Criminological Highlights – Volume 16, Number 2

An Inspection of Through the Gate Resettlement Services for Short-Term Prisoners

A joint inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation and HM Inspectrate of Prisons. ‘Through the Gate’ is a flagship policy of government, intended to bring about a step change in rehabilitation, and so reduce reoffending. New services have been rolled out in prisons to prepare prisoners for release and resettlement and increase their prospects of leading a better life. When the policy was introduced in spring 2015, post-release licence supervision and rehabilitation support was extended to those formerly ineligible (serving short sentences) so as to increase the impact on reoffending overall. Released October 2016

Nordic Correctional Statistics: 2010-2014

Nordic cooperation in producing correctional statistics goes a long way back. Since 2007, an English-speaking series of Nordic correctional statistics can be downloaded on the national web sites of the Nordic correctional services. A new report is now available. I will give a brief description of the Nordic cooperation, and as a final point, I will put together a few examples of results that can be derived from the report. Exact statistical comparability is naturally difficult to attain given that legal definitions, practice and methods of data compilation vary between the Nordic countries. However, the Nordic countries are sufficiently similar in legal structure and political culture, which make comparison feasible […]

The Potential of Community Corrections to Improve Safety and Reduce Incarceration

As the size and cost of jails and prisons have grown, so too has the awareness that public investment in incarceration has not yielded the expected return in public safety. This creates an opportunity to reexamine the wisdom of our reliance on institutional corrections—incarceration in prisons or jails—and to reconsider the role of community-based corrections, which encompasses probation, parole, and pretrial supervision. However, it could also be an opportunity wasted if care is not taken to bolster the existing capacity of community corrections. With this report, Vera’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections provides an overview of the state of community corrections, the transformational practices emerging in the field (including those […]