Correctional Counseling Client Project

Correctional Counseling Client Project

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Correctional Counseling Client Project

The correctional counseling agency that I interviewed was North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations, which is located along Railroad Avenue in North Dakota. It is a fundamental governmental agency that is within the criminal justice system of the United States. The agency is involved with unlawful victim issues where it seeks to protect the society by providing the criminals with corrective programs and regulations. It seeks to reduce the risks of juvenile criminals in engaging in unlawful behaviors in the future.

During the interview, the head of the agency told me that its mission is to ensure the society is safe from criminals, which it does by helping the unlawful victims avoid engaging in criminal behavior in the future. It has a highly qualified workforce that is very committed to its work and the mission of the organization. He said that the agency achieves this by utilizing best practices for correcting criminals. Most of its practices include the use of inclusive approaches on inmate psychoanalysis. It also applies risk-screening tools, sex-offender assessment tools, as well as actuarial tools. In addition, it uses the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) that is a theoretical method, which makes use of risk-needs assessment instruments to find out the needs of each criminal.

To ensure efficiency, these tools and instruments are administered using GPS in high-risk sex offenders and use of electronic arrangement of all the trial and parole files. This allows the staff to access all the necessary information concerning an inmate from one central point by typing their names as opposed to perusing through many files. The head of the agency was very happy with the use of electronic file systems that allows the workforce to administer its operations efficiently such assessing the behaviors that require changing. Its main advantages were allowing quick access and the ability to update easily. However, the head of the agency also cited its main advantages can be a threat. He said that if such information goes to the wrong person, it can be used against the inmates or to their advantage where someone indicates successful correction while an inmate may not be ready for release.

One of the most important parts of the whole process is how the agency assesses its inmates. It does this by making referrals to the results attained from the tools and instruments, which have been very important in improving equity and consistency within the judicial system. The tools also help in improving the outcomes of the offenders. The outcomes from these tools are further used in making any decisions concerning provision of medical services that can help the inmates in improving their behavior and avoiding criminal activities.

During the interview, the head of the agency went ahead to associate their success to the assessment tools, which he mentioned, were very beneficial in achieving its goals. In addition to the assessment and inclusion approaches used by the agency in correcting the inmates, it also seeks to develop a plan for releasing them back to the society after completing their terms. He mentioned that using such assessment tools, the attributes of an inmate can be addressed, subsequently helping them conduct self evaluation tests while not in the correctional facility. This way, he says it would help the inmates in identify their criminal behaviors, which will in turn help them work towards eliminating them and attaining better ones.

From the interview, it was clear that the agency seeks to help the criminals in getting back to the society where they can live a respected life. The release plan for these inmates is expected to be conducted in several ways, both orally and non-verbally. The oral assessment will entail face-to-face communication between the offender and the assessor. It will involve asking the right questions, whose answers will indicate the fitness of the offender, whether they can be released or not. This will also indicate their ability to engage in normal social interaction with other people. Non-verbal assessment will involve written texts, as well as clinical checklists to assess the behavior of the inmates, in terms of their fitness to live within the society. The assessments will be based on the individual behaviors the agency seeks to correct in each inmate.