Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

Chris Veeh, University of Kansas (veeh1221@gmail.com)Kim Bruns, University of Kansas (kbruns@ku.edu)Jaehoon Lee, University of Kansas (jaehoon@ku.edu)To date in the United States, the prisoner reentry literature largely points to an overall failure ofnationwide reentry programs to effectively reduce recidivist behaviors. Despite the millions ofdollars poured into the early 21st century reentry-rehabilitation efforts, most programs yielded atbest, ambiguous results. This paper presentation reports on multiple measures used to assess thesuccess of a statewide and a local prisoner reentry program, with success defined as offendersincurring fewer incidents of recidivism than matched reentering prisoners who received a lessstructured course of reentry services and/or reentering prisoners who received no reentry servicesat all. In addition, a subsample of offenders participated in the same reentry program at leasttwice, making it possible to test a relapse prevention hypothesis, i.e., that rehabilitation involvesa process that extends over multiple failures and multiple program exposures. The results of thelarge scale program evaluation and of the multiple exposure analysis suggest the need for a moredynamic approach to offender rehabilitation, involving the whole of the offender: mind, body,assets, and liabilities; and the whole of the community: economic resources, public policy, and aspirit of patience and tolerance.172. Two-Stage SentencingTwo-Stage SentencingAlbert Kruger, High Court, Bloemfontein, South Africa (albertkr@vodamail.co.za)Traditionally courts sentence a person for a criminal act. The act is the basis for sentencing. InSouth Africa section 286A of the Criminal Procedure Act makes provision for an indefinitesentence to be imposed on a dangerous criminal. Dutch TBS legislation and psychopath laws inother countries can usefully be compared to section 286A. After the period determined by thejudge imposing the sentence (usually between 10 and 20 years) the convicted person has to bebrought before the same judge again. At that stage the judge gets a report from the prisonauthorities, dealing with rehabilitation. The judge then re-assesses the sentence, and can at thatstage impose further imprisonment, or order release. The Children’s Act 75 of 2008 provides insection 76 that the court sentencing a child under 21 years can direct that the child be broughtbefore the court when the child reaches the age of 21 years. The court then re-assesses thesentence.Two-stage sentencing procedures create the means for the court to impose a sentence, and todetermine later whether the sentence has had the desired effect. The two-stage sentencingprocedure should be encouraged and expanded.403