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Integrated Approach to Aftercare and Employment for Criminal Justice Clients

NCJ Number
189979
Journal
Offender Programs Report Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: July/August 2001 Pages: 19-20,32
Author(s)
Harry K. Wexler
Date Published
2001
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes an integrated approach to aftercare and employment for ex-offenders.
Abstract
The article presents an approach to rehabilitating drug-involved offenders and helping them move into mainstream society. The approach integrates recovery, education, and work. While cooperation between the criminal justice and treatment communities has succeeded in creating effective programs capable of reducing recidivism rates, there is a growing need for programs that focus primarily on meaningful employment. The article describes an approach that integrates services and benefits clients, agencies, and employers. It reduces recidivism and relapse, and turns individuals who have been a costly societal burden into productive tax-paying employees and contributors to society. The article describes the effectiveness of aftercare in reducing recidivism; details the Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities method of case management; examines the synergy between aftercare treatment and employment services; and reviews programmatic difficulties and how to overcome them. References