Day Reporting Centers Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Day Reporting Centers - Research Paper Example Segregation of cells may prove to be useful for a while but the psychological and social impacts of the practice proved detrimental to many offenders who may not actually deserve such harsh treatments. Alternatives to imprisonment and rehabilitation process for inmates were an evolution of the penology system. This paper will discuss day reporting center as an alternative to imprisonment and as a rehabilitation program. It will determine the positive and negative aspects of the program through consideration of actual studies and recommend proposals for consideration. Section 1: The Day Reporting Center chosen for this essay is the Hampden County Day reporting Center. It supervises inmates who are within four months of release. These inmates live in their homes, they have work, and were involved in positive activities in the community (McCarthy, 2011). Day reporting centers hae become an alternative to jail sentencing with the integration of community service while serving the sentenc es of inmates. Intensive programming with cost-effective system and intensive supervision to ensure community safety are some of its features (Marciniak, 1999). Prior to the formal launching of the day reporting center in October 1986, Hampden already had a history of a pre-release center. The area used was the Sheriff’s House as initiated by county Sheriff Michael Ashe. The inmates who were part of the pre-release program work and join community service as well as participate in activities for Alcoholics Anonymous, work-out regimens at YMCA, and Narcotics Anonymous (McCarthy 2011). The history of the use of day reporting center dates back to early 1970s in the United Kingdom when there was a clamor for an option for older petty criminals (Larivee, 1990). In addition, probation officials also noted the need to inmates for continued family and social ties as well as secure or continue employment. The UK Parliament created the day treatment centers as requested by the British H ome Office in 1972. Prison overcrowding was also an immediate reason for the adoption of local probation agencies and open centers for group rehabilitation (Parent, 1990). In addition, the prison officers were also having problems addressing behaviour of offenders who have the least criminal cases (Mair, 1990). Day treatment centers were formalized with the passing f the Criminal Justice Act of 1982 so that there were already about 80 that existed by mid 1980s in England and Wales (Mair, 1990). Characteristics of day reporting centers, however, varied (Marciniak, 1999). There are various other reasons for the justification of the creation of day reporting centers such as cost-effectiveness, incapacity, retribution, and rehabilitation. It has been considered as different from other rehabilitation programs for its marked concentration on rehabilitation as the staff assess individual needs and offenses prior to consideration for day reporting enter participation (Marciniak, 1999). The launch of the Day Reporting Center was due to the worsening overcrowding. The staffs are those already experienced in the Sheriff’s House so that the program drew from actual experience. Key program features include the monitoring of behaviour, thus, the participants were required to report and call daily at the center and observed by the staff. They also follow a strict daily schedule such as being home when expected to there, and they are monitored through