Design Context Blog: Article Research

Article Research

Social support is the perception and actuality that one is cared for, has assistance available from other people, and that one is part of a supportive social network. These supportive resources can be emotional (e.g., nurturance), tangible (e.g., financial assistance), informational (e.g., advice), or companionship (e.g., sense of belonging). Social support can be measured as the perception that one has assistance available, the actual received assistance, or the degree to which a person is integrated in a social network. Support can come from many sources, such as family, friends, pets, organizations, coworkers, etc.
Social support is studied across a wide range of disciplines including psychology, medicine, sociology, nursing, public health, and social work. Social support has been linked to many benefits for both physical and mental health, but social support is not always beneficial.
Two main models have been proposed to describe the link between social support and health: the buffering hypothesis and the direct effects hypothesis. Gender and cultural differences in social support have also been found.

Criminal justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts. Those accused of crime have protections against abuse of investigatory and prosecution powers.

Social justice is about equality and fairness between human beings. It works on the universal principles that guide people in knowing what is right and what is wrong.

All definitions from: www.wikipedia.org

Research

When i was researching into best ways to cut crime I found that Birmingham University had created a study into the policing in communities and they found that during periods where people where covering areas more offenses & crime where detected so the therefore the crime rate tended to fall overall, suggesting that police activity do have a direct impact on criminal activity. Although these did not seem to have an effect when deciding on the spending cuts, and chose to cut spending by reducing the number of police officers.

Andrew Neilson said that the research ignores the "clear failure of prison as spelled out in reoffending rates". He added: "Lengthening prison sentences at additional cost when prisons are already failing will not provide lasting solutions to crime."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/jul/07/longer-prison-sentences-cut-crime

Social Support

Then i did some further research into how social support could help offenders when they have been released:

Social support services help to bridge the relationship between poor socio-economic circumstances and crime participation rates. It is therefore important that social support services reach everyone in the community. This can only happen if the providers of that support look at the barriers which can prevent services from reaching particular individuals and groups.

Social support also aims to prevent re-offending behaviour. Again, support services for the community as well as offenders need to be appropriate for culturally diverse groups. In relation to young offenders from ethnic backgrounds, the Ethnic Affairs Commission is working with the Department of Juvenile Justice to make programs accessible. Again, it is about looking at the programs that Juvenile Justice delivers and making sure that everyone in the community can access them.

http://www.crc.nsw.gov.au/publications/documents/speeches/documents/prevention

And how they could benefit from social support & why is would be beneficial:

When someone is sent to prison they often lose their home and their job, and family and social relationships frequently deteriorate. This can sever any positive ties an offender may have with the law-abiding community, and makes it all the more likely that they'll fall back into a cycle of offending. In many cases, prison does not challenge an individual's behaviour, it does not highlight the damage caused to victims and communities, and it can make matters worse by normalising criminal behaviour and severely affecting an individual's mental and physical health. More than 70% of male prisoners suffer from two or more mental disorders, two-thirds of male prisoners have a reading age of 11 or lower, and more than a third of the prison population have committed 15 or more offences. Put simply, prison is not the right place to rehabilitate the vast majority of offenders.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/16/longer-prison-sentences-civitas

Prisons

Then i wanted to know what other countries did to combat the problems we are having:

Prison is important, but it should be reserved for those who commit the most serious crimes and for those who present a danger to society. We must look to other European countries, such as the Netherlands, that have managed to reduce their crime rate and their prison population simultaneously. To achieve this, as part of a number of policy changes, the Netherlands introduced milder sentencing tariffs, including a maximum sentence of six years for domestic burglary, in comparison to the UK's maximum of 14 years. At the same time, the Netherlands has made in-patient psychological treatment and drug and alcohol support available for all offenders. This is a prime example of successful policy-making that does not rely on simply locking people up for longer. Yes, people who commit crime should be punished, but we must use prison for the right reasons. If we do not, we will fail to make the lasting impact on crime and reoffending rates that the public deserve.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/16/longer-prison-sentences-civitas

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