That would do wonders.
Overall, reconviction rates did not change significantly from 1983 to 1994. Among, prisoners released in 1983, 46.8% were reconvicted within 3 years compared to 46.9% among those released in 1994. From 1983 to 1994, reconviction rates remained stable for released:
- violent offenders (41.9% and 39.9%, respectively)
- property offenders (53.0% and 53.4%)
- public-order offenders (41.5% and 42.0%)
How? Well it does involve medication in the format below. But is medication the only treatment for TBI?
PRISONERS in Scotland’s jails should undergo tests for signs of brain injury and be prescribed mood-altering drugs to help bring down re-offending rates, according to experts.
Studies have shown that up to half of the prison population have suffered brain trauma caused by accidents and assaults that could be a factor in persistent offending.
Now the Howard League Scotland, a penal reform charity, is urging the Scottish Prison Service to introduce screening programmes to pick up injuries that could be treated using drugs. Research has found that criminals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – which can be caused by brain injury – who took drugs such as Ritalin were between 32 and 41 per cent less likely to re-offend.
Reporting this in no means indicates an opinion on the efficacy of Ritalin in this context.
This would be a dramatic improvement in a significant portion of the population that are essentially organically predisposed to engaging in activities outside the social norm to the extent they are branded criminals.
All those children that get slapped in the face or otherwise hit in the head by their parents do have continuing behavior problems because of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
A TBI is caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain. Not all blows or jolts to the head result in a TBI. The severity of a TBI may range from “mild,” i.e., a brief change in mental status or consciousness to “severe,” i.e., an extended period of unconsciousness or amnesia after the injury. The majority of TBIs that occur each year are concussions or other forms of mild TBI.2
We recognize that Veterans have to receive extended care due to TBI but we expect abused children to pull themselves up by their bootstraps upon adulthood. Which means most likely prison or worse.
But over 60% of the survivable violent injuries to children are striking related.* Thus preventable. Or at least easy to mitigate. Which means education. 'Beat your kids and you both go to prison' really isn't catchy.
But it is important to recognize many of our social ills are self inflicted.
*To get the data set in the previous link go here (CDC). Select the full decade range. And limit the search for under 18.