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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1979
REINFORCED POST-RELEASE PROGRAMME URGED
FOR PERSISTENT RECIDIVISTS
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A REINFORCED POST-RELEASE PROGRAMME SHOULD BE DESIGNED TO HELP CRIMINAL RECIDIVISTS LEAD NORMAL LIVES, ACCORDING TO A REPORT PRODUCED BY THE RESEARCH SECTION OF THE PRISONS DEPARTMENT.
THE 35-PAGE REPORT CONTAINS THE FINDINGS OF A RANDOM SURVEY OF 126 PRISONERS CARRIED OUT TO ESTABLISH THE TYPICAL PROFILE OF A PERSISTENT RECIDIVIST.
THE REPORT ADDS THAT PROGRAMMES FOR THE TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION OF PERSISTENT RECIDIVISTS SHOULD INCLUDE TRAINING
IN SOCIAL SKILLS, EXTRACTION FROM TRIAD INFLUENCES, DRUG ADDICTION TREATMENT AND THE RESTRUCTURING OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN RECIDIVISTS AND THEIR FAMILIES.
SIXTY-FIVE OF THE 126 PRISONERS SURVEYED WERE DEFINED AS PERSISTENT RECIDIVISTS HAVING SERVED TWO OR MORE SHORT-TERM SENTENCES FOR CRIMINAL OFFENCES.
THE RECIDIVISTS HAD AN AVERAGE OF 17.8 PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS EACH AND HAD SERVED ON AVERAGE 13 PRISON SENTENCES EACH.
THE TIME LAPSE BETWEEN DISCHARGE FROM PRISON AND SUBSEQUENT RE-ADMISSION INTO PRISON WAS BETWEEN FIVE AND 15 MONTHS.
EIGHTY PER CENT OF THE RECIDIVISTS WERE DRUG ADDICTS WITH AN AVERAGE LENGTH OF ADDICTION OF 12 YEARS.
OVER 93 PER CENT OF RECIDIVISTS WERE FOUND TO HAVE HAD ASSOCIATIONS WITH TRIAD OR OTHER CRIMINAL ELEMENTS.
SAYS THE REPORT: AN EXAMINATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE PERSISTENT RECIDIVIST SHOWS THAT THREE SIGNIFICANT EVENTS OCCURRED APPROXIMATELY AT THE SAME TIME IN HIS LIFE, HIS ADDICTION TO NARCOTICS, HIS COMMENCEMENT IN HIS CRIMINAL CAREER AND HIS INVOLVEMENT WITH TRIAD GANG ACTIVITIES.+
THE REPORT GOES ON THE PERSISTENT RECIDIVIST CAN BE DESCRIBED AS A MALADJUSTED INDIVIDUAL WHO IS UNSOPHISTICATED IN HIS SOCIAL SKILLS AND IS UNABLE TO HANDLE REAL SITUATIONS RATIONALLY.+
+FROM THE DATA GATHERED IT APPEARED THAT MOST OF THE PERSISTENT RECIDIVISTS WERE PETTY OFFENDERS WHO SIMPLY WOULD NOT CONFORM TO THE LAW POSSIBLY BECAUSE THEY VIEWED CRIME AS A WAY OF MAKING A LIVING AND ALSO PERHAPS BECAUSE THEY WERE NARCOTICS ADDICTS.+
THE SURVEY FOUND THAT THE QUALITY OF THE RECIDIVISTS' FAMILY LIFE IS POOR AND WHAT LITTLE FAMILY COHESION THERE IS IS CONSTANTLY DISRUPTED BY THE RECIDIVISTS' REPEATED RETURNS TO PRISON.
THE REPORT CONCLUDED THAT A REINFORCED POST-RELEASE PROGRAMME SHOULD BE DESIGNED TO FACILITATE THE RE-INTEGRATION OF RECIDIVISTS INTO SOCIETY.
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