Program Comparison Law Research Paper Coursework Essay

Program Comparison
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Institution
Program Comparison
One of the key goals of a correctional facility is to reduce recidivism. Correctional facilities seek to reduce recidivism through the implementation of different programs to help individuals transit smoothly into society. Two such programs are the Mentally Ill Offender Community Transition Program (MIOCTP) implemented in Washington and the Allegheny County (Penn.) Jail-Based Reentry Specialist Program. This paper compares these two programs and proposes one to be implemented in the correctional institution.
The MIOCTP was established specifically for individuals whose mental illness drove them to offend and would benefit from a publicly supported intervention (National Institute of Justice, 2017). In this sense, if an individual’s risk of offending is increased by their mental illness and they have the capacity to benefit from the public intervention in the community, then they are a target of the program. With the main goal being the reduction of recidivism, specific criteria had to be met by participants. Some of these criteria include having a major mental illness that contributed to a previous offense, reduced likelihood to offend if provided with mental health treatment, and a lack of treatment or housing from other sources. MIOCTP is characterized by five key components. The first component is the coordinated prerelease planning where the individual is assessed, treatment planning is carried out, and entitlement is applied up to three months before their release. The second component is postrelease case management services where the participant is linked to group treatment services that are characterized by a multidisciplinary team. The program’s third component is residential support while the fourth one is close coordination by community corrections officers (CCO). The fifth component is the treatment of co-occurring disorders such as substance abuse and mental health issues. With such detailed components, it is deducible that the program is well-designed to reduce recidivism among individuals with mental health problems.
On the other hand, the Allegheny County (Penn.) Jail-Based Reentry Specialist Program was a two-phase intevention whose main goals were reduction of recidivism and the improvement of inmates’ transition into the community (National Institute of Justice, 2016). The target group comprised of males and females that had more than 6 month sentencing and were returning to Allegheny County after their release. The participants also had to have been categorized as medium- to high-risk under the Proxy Triage Risk screener (National Institute of Justice, 2016). The tool evaluates the participant’s risk of reoffending based on the number of previous offenses, first arrest age, and current age. In the program’s ...