Corrections_Today_November_December_2023_Vol.85_No.6

S pecial populations inside a correctional facility can be females, sex offenders, substance abusers, juveniles, and inmates that have mental health issues. The question is, what type of treatment should these offenders receive? Cognitive-behavioral interventions allow the offender to look at his or her own thoughts and emotions; this type of intervention also allows the offender to recognize their thoughts and emotions that are escalating quickly and allows them to change their behavior and thinking. The changing of an offender’s behavior and thinking is a crucial part of the rehabilitation process within the criminal justice system. No treatment program or intervention is expected to work for every inmate or offender; providing too many services or the wrong services fails to improve outcomes (Marlowe, 2018). Every offender who is incarcerated should be in a treatment program while incarcerated or on a community corrections program. Cognitive behav ioral treatment is based on techniques and practices that attempt to change thinking and actions (Glick & Prince, 2016). The premise of cognitive behavioral treatment is if a person’s thinking is altered, it will then change their ac tions and behavior. According to Glick & Prince (2016), the corollary principle is that if an offender can change their actions by training new prosocial behaviors, then

their thinking will change; one’s actions and behavior control a person’s thinking. Albert Bandura was a Canadian-born psychologist trained in the United States; he is considered the father of Cognitive Skills School within the cognitive behavioral intervention movement. He spent his early years training as a developmental psychologist studying children and adolescent behaviors (Glick & Prince, 2016). Bandura did go onto study the behaviors of adults. According to Glick & Prince (2016), Bandura considered behaviorism as a valid explanation for human behavior; he had also observed that he thought it was inadequate to explain the phenomena he was explaining. Female offenders and substance abuse Half of the female offenders in state correctional facilities have used drugs, alcohol, or both at the time the incarcerating offense was committed, while female offenders had a higher drug related crime then males did (Sacks et al., 2008). Not all incarcerated offenders have the same needs. The offender needs to be met with

Adobe Stock/JEGAS RA

Corrections Today November/December 2023 — 49

Made with FlippingBook Annual report maker