Introduction
Recidivism refers to a patterned behavior whereby an individual repeats the mistake that made him or her reprimanded. Even though an individual would have experienced some negative impacts of a certain behavior, he might be willing to repeat it without adequate reasons. Recidivism is mostly associated with hardcore criminals because they always go back to their initial behaviors even after being taken through a rehabilitation process.
In many societies, the term is used to refer to the rates at which former convicts are rearrested. Research shows that there is a direct relationship between criminal recidivism and stress management. People suffering from criminal recidivism are unable to manage stress because it is evident that nervous tension makes them to commit the same mistake that put them in trouble before.
This proposal suggests a study that would delve into the relationships between criminal recidivism and stress management. The study utilizes a quantitative method to arrive at certain conclusions. To arrive at these conclusions, the proposal looks at the previous works by different scholars in the literature review section. Under the methodology section, a clear sampling design and data collection techniques are discussed. The study looks at the issues surrounding reliability and validity because every study must meet a certain threshold.
Literature Review
A number of studies confirm that stress is directly related to criminal recidivism. The major aim of many criminal justice initiatives is to handle stress among former inmates because it would definitely reduce criminal recidivism. In this regard, reduction of criminal recidivism has been the subject of research for many scholars in the field of psychology and other social sciences.
Levenson and Morenson (2006) noted that many studies focusing on recidivism reduction try to understand some of the ways that sex crimes would be reduced. In this regard, other scholars such as Ryan and Yang (2005) observe that juveniles are always at risk because they often repeat the same mistakes that might compromised their integrity before.
Belenko (2006) contributed to the topic by observing that certain factors force individuals to engage in similar behaviors that put them in jail. These factors include drug abuse and mental problems. Policy makers and program implementers in many organizations dealing with criminal rehabilitation focus on reducing certain risk factors such as poly-substance abuse.
This is reduced through offering strategies that would reduce stress. Even though scholars have conducted extensive research related to the relationship between stress management and criminal recidivism, few of them have focused on bridging the gap between individual and social offender needs. In this regard, it should be understood that recidivism is an overarching phenomenon that ought to be understood through critical analysis.
The current state of research focuses on risks that are associated with recidivism meaning that these risk factors are directly related to stress. If these risk factors were managed effectively, criminal recidivism would not be an issue in the current society. Individuals in society are likely to repeat similar crimes because of the lack of basic needs such as employment and housing.
All these are caused by lack of efficient programs within society that would have helped ex-convicts to be incorporated back into society. If prisoners were provided with some of the basic needs that would help them cope with the challenges of society, they would not engage in criminal behaviors that characterize a number of ex-convicts. The society, through criminal justice programs, should come up with initiatives and programs aiming at helping individuals not to repeat the same criminal behavior.
To achieve this, some scholars suggest a number of programs including offering education to ex-convicts, which would help them in acquiring a decent job, offering employment related skills, providing treatment to reduce mental illnesses, and strengthening family relationships. Austin and Hardyman (2004) suggested that the behavior of each individual with a criminal record should be identified for easy categorization of individuals. Those at high risks should be offered treatment to help them cope with stress.
Categorization of individuals with criminal records is very important because it is true that each individual has different needs, which call for specialized strategies and programs. Some studies suggest that an individual with a past criminal record would be suffering from numerous problems meaning that different techniques would be applied to help such an individual cope with stress.
Flavin (2004) conducted an extensive study, which revealed that stable employment reduces the chances of an individual repeating a past mistake. Therefore, it is factual that employment is one of the stress management initiatives that reduce recidivism. Consistent and stable employment plays a critical role in alleviating the chances of an individual becoming poor.
Flavin noted, “Employment is a better predictor of recidivism than a summary risk index.” In particular, women offenders are better assisted through providing them with a stable job because economic conditions force them to engage in criminal activities.
This is true for single parents who struggle to provide their families. Holtfreter (2004) posited that economic hardships and lack of basic needs forces individuals, particularly those with families, to engage in certain actions that are inconsistent with societal rules and regulations. The situation is even worse for those who have ever engaged in crime because they would not find it difficult to repeat a crime.
Employment tends to increase the social capital of individuals, what is usually referred to as the networks of shared norms and values, which augments the access to the much-needed necessities (Flavin, 2004). From this finding, it is eminent that providing employment opportunities to individuals believed to have criminal records would reduce recidivism. In other words, offering jobs and other skills that strengthen an individual’s social capital reduces stress, which in turn contributes to social orderliness.
Research confirms that lack of employment results to idleness, which is the breeding ground for criminal behavior. People are frustrated because they lack something substantial to do meaning that they feel the vacuum by engaging in criminal behavior. Tewksbury and Lees (2006) agreed that sex offenders are likely to engage in the same behavior in case they lack an alternative means of attaining their economic objectives in society.
Messina (2006) was also of the same view, but he believed that those believed to engage in drug abuse would definitely go back to their initial behaviors when they lack something to do. As Vacca (2004) noted, employment reduces the chances of stress because it helps an individual in fulfilling other social responsibilities such as providing food for the family, taking children to school, abiding by with the law, and strengthening social networks.
Lack of housing facilities compels individuals to engage in crime. This implies that housing is a significant factor as far as reducing recidivism is concerned. The scenario is even worse for parolees who lack relatives and friends to support them after being released from prison. Barh (2005) noted that people feel comfortable when they are provided with a place to stay, with stable facilities. For an individual to continue with a normal life, housing must be available.
An individual is able to settle for him or her to look for a job. In fact, it would be difficult for an individual work without a housing facility. Moreover, social networking would be a dream without housing. Research shows that people living under stable housing conditions are unlikely to engage in criminal behavior. This means that those who live in good conditions are law-abiding citizens as compared to those who live in slums or in streets.
If an ex-convict is allowed to live in slums or in streets, he or she may perhaps come across another parole with similar problem. They would go back to their initial status since they would not be having other options of obtaining their basic needs. Nilsson (2003) observed that the issue of housing is usually faced by substance abuse offenders.
The findings of Barh (2005) confirmed that offenders moving within a short time would definitely reoffend as compared to those who move within a long time. With adequate housing, an individual would have a social capital and some form of investment that would encourage him or her to abide by the law. Such individuals would not engage in crime because they stand to lose a lot.
Laub (1998) conducted a study confirming that an individual with investments and high level of resources would rarely engage in behaviors that would put him or her at risk of being arrested.
In a different study, it was established that offenders who are provided with basic needs such as housing facilities would do everything under their power to avoid engaging in crime. Holtfreter (2004) conducted a critical study, which found out those women given financial assistance to establish small business and construct houses were unlikely to engage in crime.
The study established that more than 83 percent of women given financial assistance would comply with the law at all times. Therefore, it is confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that provision of housing services is just one of the ways through which criminal justice programs would reduce stress among recidivists. This would definitely reduce the rates of crimes that are executed by the ex-convicts.
In terms managing stress among recidivists, a healthy family and strong relationships between the ex-convicts and the community plays a critical role. In fact, establishing a strong link between societal members is one of the best ways of encouraging social conformity and law-abiding culture. Barh (2005) conducted a thorough investigation on the relationship of family ties and criminal behavior. His findings suggested that close relationships among family members, particularly the quality of the parent-child relationship, played a major role in reducing the repeated cases of crime.
Austin and Hardyman (2004) concluded their study by noting that, “healthy family relationships are consistent predictors of success after releases.” In fact, a number of studies confirm that the family would definitely determine whether an individual goes back to the initial behavior or adopts a new way of life.
This would be through offering support or withholding it. If the family supports an ex-convict, he or she would not repeat the mistakes that took him or her to jail. The family would perhaps support an individual through re-socialization, which would facilitate conformity to the law. Moreover, the family may ensure that social contacts between the offender and the family are extended beyond the family level.
This would boost the confidence of the offender, forcing him or her not to engage in crime in future. Through family support, the convict would allow the provision of secondary needs, which is provided through string community ties. In their analysis, Ryan and Yang (2005) observed that the support that the family provides to juveniles determines whether they would recidivate. This implies that the family plays a critical role in ensuring that its members maintain law and order.
The family that is ready to welcome one of its members from prison would likely provide adequate support, which would go a long away in helping an individual to keep away from criminal acts. However, the family that does not appreciate the role of the member from prison would definitely demoralize such an individual to an extent that the family member would simply repeat the crime to survive.
A study conducted by Bayse (1991) observed that family members should be included in offering treatment to an ex-convict. This means that a family member would give encouragement to the patient hence allowing him or her to recover faster. This would also reduce the risks of recidivism.
Austin and Hardyman noted a positive relationship exists between family relationships and recidivism. In particular, the spouse plays a critical role in controlling the behavior of an individual as regards to criminal action. For a married individual, the relationship with the spouse would determine whether such an individual would repeat the crime.
In this regard, a welcoming spouse would give hope to the convicted individual while those spouses that do not welcome the criminals back to their lives are likely to discourage them, forcing them to engage in other crimes. In a study conducted by Hairston (1990), it was noted that the number of visits and contacts influence recidivist rates. The family has always played a critical role in the life of the individual, which is related to offering primary care. This aspect is always present in an individual’s life even after adulthood.
Regarding the use of substances, individuals commit crime under the influence of an illicit drug. This has always been due to stressful events that make individuals to engage in drug use. Research shows that over 80 percent of those arrested in the United States are tested positive with drugs. In a study conducted by Belenko and Pugh (2005), many inmates in the American prisons are users of alcohol and other serious drugs such as marijuana.
Therefore, a large number of crimes are committed under the influence of illicit drugs. The issue is prevalent in urban areas where drug acquisition is easy. Even though many individuals utilize drugs because of different reasons, stress is one of the major reasons, which forces people to engage in drugs. This affects people’s chances of employment because it has led to loss of jobs and inefficiencies.
Moreover, drugs are associated with violent conduct meaning that it results to other forms of crimes such as aggravated assault, rape, and carjacking. Belenko (2000) proved through research that drug users rarely comply with parole supervision requirements meaning that ex-convicts would reluctantly go back to their usual behavior in case they engage in drug abuse. Helping the offenders to rediscover their potentials and quit the use of drug is one way of reducing recidivism in society.
Stuart (2005) noted that drug abuse is the major cause of violent recidivism, particularly the domestic violence, which is performed under the influence of the illicit drug. Moreover, the study by the above scholar revealed that incarcerated women are more likely to have high rates of drug abuse, which leads to violent recidivism, as compared to incarcerated men.
The introduction of programs that aim at containing the prevalent rate of drug abuse would definitely reduce the rate at which offenders repeat the same mistakes that put them behind the bars. Continuous use of drugs is a sign of stress because people try to avoid the many problems that affect. Therefore, addressing the issues surrounding the use of drugs is one way of resolving recidivism cases in society.
Finally, a mental health problem is a factor that affects individuals as regards to recidivism. Studies show that a majority of prisoners are affected by this problem since the bureau of statistics in the United States suggested that sixteen percent of adult convicts had mental problems. The study further suggested that the rates could be higher, but they are mostly related to drug abuse.
The official data from the US bureau of statistics confirm that only five percent of the American population suffers from mental problems. It is shocking to note that a high percentage as sixty-seven represents those incarcerated. People suffering from mental illness are difficult to handle and even to treat because they require specialized services. Mental problems range from depression, drug addiction, schizophrenia to stress meaning that it is difficult to identify specific areas of concern.
Those suffering from mental problems would definitely engage in violent and other unethical behaviors that are dangerous to all members of the society. As earlier noted, addressing issues related to mental problems is costly meaning that it deserves adequate resources. Coming up with strategies that would mitigate these problems would be the best to apply as far as reducing recidivism is concerned.
Method
Participants
This study obtained its sample from three jails in one of the cities in the United States. Those sampled were 102 male inmates who. Between the ages of 18 and 21, there were twenty-three participants. The ages of other participants and their respective number is shown below.
22 to 25-18
26 to 32-20
33 to 39-14.
40 to 54-24
55 and above 3
Only seven inmates of those interviewed had been jailed once in their lives meaning that the rest were recidivists, who had committed a similar crime more than once. From the total figure, fourteen inmates had been twice while twelve were serving their prison terms for the third time in their lifetimes.
Moreover, the study revealed that nine prisoners were serving the fourth prison term in their lives while sixty prisoners were serving their fifth and above prison terms. This was a shocking revelation because it meant that the rate of recidivism was going up. As observed in the literature review, fifty-six inmates were single while only nine were married with children.
This shows that married individuals are unlikely to engage in criminal behavior after serving their first terms in jail. Sixteen individuals of those interviewed had divorced because of mainly drug abuse. Twenty-one inmates were in unstable relationships while others admitted that they were simply cohabiting. In terms of education, it was established that inmates interviewed had various qualifications since others were highly trained while others were simply school dropouts.
This proved that education is not an important factor when determining the relationship between stress management and criminal recidivism. Out of those interviewed, ninety of them confirmed that they had completed high school while thirty inmates had high education because they had diplomas. Twenty-two of the inmates had completed GED while nineteen had engaged in post-secondary training.
Twelve inmates were degree holders in various fields. Unlike educational level, employment is a key variable that influences individuals to engage in criminal recidivism. This confirms the data provided in the literature review because unemployment is an issue that makes people to engage in crime. Fourteen individuals reported that they had never been employed in their lifetime while forty-five reported being employed casually. Forty-three inmates reported to have been employed for very short periods.
Research Design
The main aim of this study would be to arrive at certain generalizations that would represent the bigger picture of the relationship between stress management and criminal recidivism. The study would identify some of the factors that influence criminals to repeat the mistakes that sent them to jail for years.
The study would therefore utilize a small sample of one-hundred and two inmates from one of the cities in the United States to arrive at the conclusions regarding criminal recidivism. Therefore, the survey design would take the form a cross-sectional study, which would be utilized to capture the views, attitudes, and behavior of inmates in a cross-sectional point of view. The main instrument used to collect data would be the questionnaire (Krathwohl, 2004).
There would be only one key method used to gather information in this paper. This would be through a questionaire, which will be delivered electronically to the sample population. The questionaire will seek to capture various actions of the sample population regarding their opinions on the relationship between stress management and criminal recidivism.
The second source of information that will be used in this research will be literature on various aspects of poly-substance abuse and the operational activities that take place within the selected individuals. The focus of the literature review will be to find information on the application of counseling techniques in organizations offering help to the addicts and also to determine the current state of research in relation to depression. The questionnaire will have four parts.
The first part will seek to capture the background information of respondents. The second part will deal with the demography and gender of the respondents. This will be to ascertain the prevalence of views in varoius categories in order to ensure that if any differences will come about then they would be captured in their demographic space.
The third part dealt with academic credentials and work experience of the respondents. The motivation for this section came from the understanding that different sections of population respond differently to issues, based on age and academic status. The fourth part will delve into the specific issues relating to the perception of the community on the effects of poly-substance abuse on depression.
The questionaire will also employ a mix of open and closed ended questions to capture different aspects of issues studied. Open ended questions will be used because they give respondents more time to figure out their opinions, which would make them volunteer more information related to feelings, outlooks and comprehension of the subject. On the other hand, closed-ended questions are analyzed easily.
That is why they will be used in this study. Each response can be coded for statistical interpretation. Nonetheless, closed-ended questions are compatible with computer analysis package. The technique is more specific meaning that its answers are consistent in all conditions. Finally, closed-ended questions take less time to administer unlike open-ended questions, which are detailed hence time consuming.
Data Collection Instrument
To understand the relationship between stress management and criminal recidivism, a survey would be designed. The survey would involve a cover letter outlining the major aim of the study meaning that consent will be sought from the local authorities, as well as the school administration.
The consent will entail the full details of the study, definition of major terms that would bring about confusion, major risks, and opportunities of the study, time limit, and commitment, the issue of confidentiality, secrecy meaning that inmates will be requested to participate voluntarily, and other instructions outlining the instructions for the completion of the survey.
As earlier noted in the previous section, the researcher would develop a survey consisting of five questions. These questions would be related to demographic variables such as age, as well as other variables such as the number of times that an individual has ever been incarcerated, the marital status of inmates, the level of education of an inmate, ranging from primary, secondary to tertiary.
Moreover, the employment history of the inmate would be determined through asking the inmates whether they have ever been employed. Each inmate would be given fifteen closed-ended questions that will be answered on a five-point Likert scale, which is intended to measure the attitudes of the respondents (Hughes, 1997). One would represent those respondents that disagree with the idea that offering support and other incentives would reduce the rates of recidivism among criminals.
Letter 5 would represent those who agree with the idea that they would be willing to continue with their lives if given incentives such as free treatment, provision of housing, and employment. The existing body of knowledge, which was discussed extensively in the literature review section, inspired the development of these questions.
Validity
The validity of a measurement instrument can be measured by the degree to which the instrument measures accurately what it is supposed to measure In this survey, content validity was measured where the representativeness, or sampling adequacy, of the content of the measurement instrument was checked with the help of experts in the field.
In this study, the validity of the instruments was preserved ensuring the accuracy of the measurement where each variable’s indicators of existence were extracted solely from the literature of the work of previous researchers in well-established papers.
The population characteristics, interaction of subject selection and research, descriptive explicitness of the independent variable, the effect of the research environment, researcher effects, data collection methodology, the effect of time have all been taken into account. In this study, internal validity was ensured through checking the representativeness of the sample.
The researcher ensured that the sample used, captured all-important characters at Ministry of Higher Education in the National Center for E-learning and Distance-learning. External validity was ensured through triangulation that is, the researcher used more than one technique in collecting data. Other than the questionnaire, the researcher observed the facial expression of the respondents and other bodily languages. External validity was also guaranteed by asking respondents to give their views.
Reliability
Reliability means appropriateness, applicability, and truthfulness of a study. It refers to the ability of research instruments to produce results that are in agreement with theoretical and conceptual values. The consistency of the measure, the probability of obtaining the same results again if the measure was to be replicated is referred as reliability. It is the relationship between the true underlying score and the observable score.
Internal consistency is also important for the survey since it indicates the extent to which the items in the measurement are related to each other. The most commonly used index of internal consistency is Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. This index ranges from zero to one, where a reliability of zero means no relationship, and reliability of figure 1 indicates a perfect and positive relationship.
Since the reliability declines as the length of the question increases, the questions would be designed to be straight to the point. The idea behind internal consistency procedures is that questions measuring the same phenomenon should produce similar results. In internal consistency reliability estimation, single measurement instrument is administered to a group of people on one occasion to estimate reliability.
Data Analysis
This chapter is dedicated to the analysis of the data to help confirm or reject the hypotheses developed in the research proposal. The previous chapter gave a detailed explanation of the methodology of the research. It clearly indicated the research methodology to be used in order to obtain the desired results.
From the discussion in chapter three, it was evident that the researcher intends to use two sources of data. The first source of information has been discussed comprehensively in chapter two of this research. The literatures are invaluable sources of information in any research.
Previous researchers have looked at this topic and other related topics. They have given a comprehensive outlook of this topic and have given out their findings. Their reports therefore are of great significance and any piece of scholarly or professional research cannot afford to ignore them. They help define the research, especially when it comes to giving necessary approach that a new researcher in this field should take.
A research is always a development on a finding made by others. It also refers to a body of knowledge that the researcher wishes to confirm, reject, or make developments on. It is therefore very important for any researcher to go through these secondary sources of information in order to determine the best approach to take, which would help appraise the existing pieces of information.
The researcher therefore reviewed literatures from journals, books, electronic resources, and reports on issues of recidivism and stress management (Diriwächter, & Valsiner, 2006).
The second source of information was collected from selected individuals within the three prisons in one of the cities in the United States. The process of collecting this primary data, as explained in the previous chapter, took two fronts. The first approach would use questionnaires, which would be sent to 102 respondents that were randomly selected.
The second approach would be by face-to-face interviews, which would cover over 50 respondents. In this chapter, the researcher would use qualitative approach to analyze the data, with a few data being analyzed quantitatively, as was explained in the above chapter. This would involve systematic empirical study of phenomena using statistical tools.
Data analysis refers to the process of transforming raw data into refined useful information that can be of use to people. Before settling on a method of data analysis, it is important that a clear data analysis approach be developed. The research can take quantitative, qualitative, or categorical approach.
This research took a quantitative approach. Depending on the type and accuracy needed, data analysis can take a simple descriptive form or a more complex statistical inference. The technique used in the analysis can be univariate analysis, bivariate analysis or multivariate analysis. In selecting the appropriate method, a researcher should ensure that assumptions relating to the method are satisfied.
In analyzing the collected data, the researcher will use appropriate statistical data analysis tools such as descriptive and inferential statistics in analyzing quantitative data.
In relation to the quantitative analysis, the most commonly used sets of statistics include mean, frequencies, standard deviation, median, and percentages. The researcher will code and enter the quantitative data into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 20). Using SPSS, the researcher will use cross tabulation to present the information.
The tabulation would help give a clear picture of the impact of drug abuse on the psychological health of an individual. The researcher will also use descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, percentage, and frequencies to describe the properties of the target population.
Further, the researcher will use tables, figures, and charts to present the findings of the study. Because the research entails determination of the impact of drug abuse on the emotional wellbeing, there will be some form of comparison. The comparison will be done on how depression changes the attitudes of individuals. Correlation analysis would be important to make this a success. Therefore, chi-square tests will be used to test the hypotheses.
Inferential statistics like chi-square tests help to test whether the observed relationships between the variables are genuine. The statistical significance level used in the research is 0.05 indicating whether the observed association occurred by chance in 5 out of 100 results. Chi-square is the most widely used measure of association in social science research, being suitable for use on nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio data.
Results
In offering a thorough analysis to the relationship between stress management and criminal recidivism, a comparative review of the average score of those with stress in each group would be undertaken.
Moreover, the researcher will come up with a scatter plot to establish the pattern among variables. In this regard, it is expected that the results would confirm the hypothesis stating that a relationship between stress and recidivism exists. Inmates who go though some forms of treatment are always expected to stick to the societal rules and regulations.
Moreover, the results are expected to confirm that recidivism rates would be low in case the criminal justice department aspires to train inmates in order to equip them with adequate skills so that when they leave the facility, they would be competent members of society. A statistical package for social scientists was the major tool used to analyze data in this study. All variables were subjected to some form of analysis to establish their reliability.
Discussion
The study conducted proved a number of facts that were present in the literatures reviewed in the previous chapter. One of the factual information is the rates of criminal recidivism is always low when inmates are provide with services and resources such as free treatment, housing, support services, and financial assistance.
In the literature review section, available literature conformed that employment, mental health treatment, and provision of counseling to drug addicts are some of the ways through which recidivism would be reduced. Regarding the views of the respondents on the support they would receive from their relatives and the community, a majority were optimistic that they would quit their unruly behavior when given adequate support.
However, only a small percentage confirmed that they would really be supported. This means that lack of support amounts to criminal recidivism. In order to end criminal recidivism, management of factors that cause tension between criminals and other members of society should be managed. Participants complained that criminal record of accomplishment has always jeopardized their chances of integrating well in society.
This means that they lack employment whenever they are released from prisons. In fact, the ideas of Western (2002) are in line with this claim because poor records affect the chances of ex-convicts in any society. Some inmates were of the view that better jobs and high earning employment would reduce their chances of repeating similar mistakes that took them to jail. This implies that the prison department should provide adequate knowledge to inmates to make them competent in society.
Limitations
This study would suffer from issues related to validity and reliability because of the sample used. The sample is too small to be scientifically significant. Moreover, the sample did not involve all genders because only the views of men were heard. This is a challenge because the views of female inmates are equally important.
Finally, the major limitation to the study is the sampling procedure and design because the one utilized was not representative. The sample should have been obtained randomly to minimize biases and increase the chances of each inmate being sampled.
Implications for Future Research
Future researchers should always ensure that the sample used is adequate meaning that it should be large enough to accommodate the views of the majority. The one used in this study do not bring about the generalizations in the desired manner.
Moreover, future researchers in this study should ensure that both genders are involved in the sampling process because the views of each inmate, irrespective of gender count in a serious topic such as this one. Finally, demographic variables ought to be utilized effectively in future. These variables include age, level of education, and marital status.
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