Importance of Evidence-Based Corrections (EBC)

The whole criminal justice system is not based solely on arresting offenders and reviewing lawsuits in a court of law. The criminal justice system additionally established initiatives that can be helpful in terms of reducing crime rates and providing assistance to offenders in terms of rehabilitation and adaptation to lives without crime. Most frequently, the research of correctional methods, policies, and protocols using social scientific methods is used to boost efficiency in the utilization of resources that are already accessible. For this purpose, evidence-based corrections (EBC) are crucial, which not only help reduce recidivism but also find the most efficient approaches to rehabilitating offenders.

Criminal justice and correctional organizations are constantly looking for the most effective strategies to stop people from committing crimes or stopping them from reoccurring. The evidence-based paradigm employs empirical data to identify what is beneficial in correctional institutions, namely, which programs are successful in achieving correctional objectives like recidivism reduction and crime prevention (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2020).

Evidence-based programs (EBP), a notion that is closely related, describe the use of programs that have been researched and shown to be successful (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2020). In turn, cost-benefit analysis, which aims to evaluate the efficiency of correctional measures in relation to their costs, is a crucial part of EBC (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2020). It is worth mentioning that evidence-based programs are being implemented as the norm for all procedures and guidelines by an ever-increasing number of correctional departments and agencies at the national and state levels. Thus, EBP offers guidelines that, based on the findings of the research, identify the most successful technique for a particular area rather than adopting processes that may be helpful in one circumstance but not another.

However, there are specifics in terms of evidence-based corrections utilization. To guarantee that evidence-based initiatives are executed faithfully and that new programs are assessed to establish their success, this method necessitates thorough quality assurance and assessment (Montana Department of Corrections, n.d.). The department assesses whether programming is grounded in best practices using the Correctional Program Checklist (CPC) (Montana Department of Corrections, n.d.).

Recidivism and guilty party satisfaction are two examples of outcomes that must be specified and measurable in order to be committed to evidence-based treatments (Montana Department of Corrections, n.d.). In this case, correctional experts usually must investigate, supervise, and rehabilitate those persons during their detention while law enforcement professionals capture the culprits. As a result, the goal of evidence-based policies and procedures is to lower the risk of offenders returning to criminal practices, which reduces new crime incidence and boosts public safety.

Hence, evidence-based corrections (EBC) are essential since they not only work to lower recidivism but also identify the best methods for rehabilitating criminals. Organizations involved in criminal justice and corrections are always seeking the best ways to deter criminal activity or prevent it from happening again. The evidence-based paradigm uses empirical data to determine what is advantageous in prisons, especially which programs are effective in accomplishing correctional goals like recidivism reduction and crime prevention. This approach demands extensive quality assurance and evaluation to ensure that evidence-based initiatives are implemented correctly and that new programs are evaluated to determine their performance. Therefore, the objective of evidence-based policies and procedures is to decrease the likelihood that offenders would resume criminal behavior, which lowers the frequency of new crimes and increases public safety.

References

Montana Department of Corrections. (n.d.). Evidence-based programs (EBP). Web.

Schmalleger, F., & Smykla, J. (2020). Corrections in the 21st century (9th ed.). McGraw Hill.