Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Jennifer Rounds-Bryant

Abstract

Failure to participate in rehabilitative programs during or after prison has led to increased recidivism, which, in turn, has contributed to overcrowded prisons and lack of rehabilitation services for offenders. The purpose of this descriptive, quantitative, regression study was to explore the relationship between inmates’ program participation (i.e., during prison education program, during prison drug treatment program, during prison alcohol treatment program, and during prison sex offense treatment program) by and subsequent recidivism. Banduras' social learning theory provided the theoretical framework for the study. The study data were drawn from recidivism data of 38,624 prisoners who were released in 1994 and followed over 3 years (1994-1997). The dataset resulted from a longitudinal study of 4 measures: rearrests, reconvictions, resentence with imprisonment, and confinement (with or without a new sentence). These data were used to generate outcomes that measured during prison intervention programs effects on recidivism. The goal was to examine how program interventions help an ex-offender in avoiding the recommitting of crime and reentering the correctional system. According to the findings, the lack of participation in any correctional program, offered to ex-offenders during prison, elevated the reoffending. Not only participation but completion of the intervention program in which ex-offender participated was an important aspect to reduce the rate of re-offense. From these findings it is suggested that, for a positive social change in the community better resources and interventional programs implementation is necessary. The judiciary and policymakers should review the use of alternatives to incarceration, which would improve rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration back into communities.

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