Community corrections play an essential role in the criminal justice system, especially for special populations. The community provides supervision and the correctional services necessary to address these populations; it is an alternative form of correctional measures used to correct someone who has been sentenced to community supervisor rather than jail in prisons (Butts & Schiraldi, 2018). Typically, community corrections are done by home confinement or supervised by a probation officer. The most common offenders give this type of sentence are the special populations in the community, usually non-violent and are not considered a threat. The special populations that benefit from this type of correctional measure are people with physical or mental disorders that account for the most people with special needs in a community and need to be provided with special care regardless of their offenses.
People with physical or mental health are critical in the criminal justice system; they ought to be given special attention by the system and provided with favorable conditions while serving their sentence. Therefore, community correction acts as the best option to use and ensure that these populations serve their correctional term under close supervisor of their family members, specialized probation officers, and the community (Adam, 2018). Social support is crucial for such a population; as a result, community corrections are structured to address this problem. Incarcerating special population offenders may worsen their condition rather than doing them any good. Suppose a victim is mentally ill and is not addressed effectively; in that case, they are likely to keep repeating criminal offenses and keep cycling within the correctional system recurrently because their special needs are not addressed or ignored.
Special population offenders are likely to suffer from low self-esteem, stigma, and personality problems that negatively influence their abilities to transform from the crime they committed. Therefore, community corrections programs provide a favorable environment where community correctional officers provide effective transformational services based on their special needs to avoid criminal relapse. Community correctional programs have proven effective and an essential item in the criminal justice system (Cullen et al., 2017). Most of the special population who have served through community correctional systems have shown positive outcomes; most of them develop an understanding of the crime they committed and understand the need to avoid them. It is a valuable tool to help mentally ill or physically challenged offenders who do not pose a serious threat to the community.
Community corrections are important for special populations because the supervision level required for such people depends on the individual condition. The incarceration facilities are not in a good capacity to provide individualized correctional services for special populations. Therefore, community correctional programs allow the officers responsible for monitoring and ensuring that the victims under community correctional programs serve their sentences effectively and transform into better citizens regardless of their special conditions. Populations with social needs constitute a significant category of vulnerable offenders in the criminal justice system. Society’s failure to consider their special needs is considered by incarcerating them in detention facilities (Cullen et al., 2017). Therefore, community correctional programs remain the best option that the system must consider to provide justice and help victims transform rather than change from bad to worse.
Community corrections are a crucial option to the corrective phase of these populations in the court; the government has developed programs and structures with community corrections to address these groups. It provides social support, information, and physically or mentally challenged-based services. Community corrections provide correctional management services toileted to address most special needs such as offenders suffering from depression or physically challenged (Butts & Schiraldi, 2018). Community correction programs have well-established efforts and coordinated programs to provide community supervision for such populations. For example, community correctional officers can assist with the interventions and observations and play a special role in community corrections. Community corrections also provide a successful multidisciplinary approach to address both the special needs of a particular offender and the criminal issue. It provides a conducive environment for the collaboration treatment of mental conditions and correctional services for mentally ill offenders.
Conclusion
Conclusively, community corrections play a vital role in the criminal justice system for populations with special needs. The correctional officers at a community level can assess and facilitate interventional services to assist the offenders in overcoming the criminal cycle instead of incarceration. Population with mental health issues are the major beneficiaries of community corrections because they can access correctional service and mental health treatment under favorable conditions. Community corrections are where special populations, especially the physically and mentally challenged offenders, can serve their sentences. While they receive customized service for their special needs, they access a conducive environment to transform, understand the course of their crime, and overcome them. The nature of these populations in the criminal justice system calls for special attention and requires critical social support; correctional officers and other specialized community correctional personal who are not available in jail or prisons can provide effective care for these populations. Community corrections, therefore, form an integral part of the correctional system as far as special populations are concerned. The criminal justice system should consider expanding community correctional services to reduce the special population in the cycle of crime because offenders serving community correction programs have low chances of recidivism.
References
Adam, M. (2018). Community corrections and the health of criminal justice populations. Journal of health and human services administration. 41. 116-151. https://jhhsa.spaef.org/article/1851/Community-Corrections-and-the-Health-of-Criminal-Justice-Populations
Butts, J. A., & Schiraldi, V. N. (2018). Recidivism reconsidered: Preserving the community justice mission of community corrections. https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/d8-ejvq-hw45/download
Cullen, F. T., Jonson, C. L., & Mears, D. P. (2017). Reinventing community corrections. Crime and Justice, 46(1), 27-93. https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A639850/datastream/PDF/view
